Religous Family Quits US Gets Lost at Sea
Source: ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/religious-family-leaves-us-lost-sea-19926919
A northern Arizona family that was lost at sea for weeks in an ill-fated attempt to leave the U.S. over what they consider government interference in religion will fly back home Sunday.
Hannah Gastonguay, 26, said Saturday that she and her husband "decided to take a leap of faith and see where God led us" when they took their two small children and her father-in-law and set sail from San Diego for the tiny island nation of Kiribati in May.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/religious-family-leaves-us-lost-sea-19926919
They allege "state controlled" churches in America. These people are beyond ignorant.
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)They should be charged.
LiberalElite
(14,691 posts)God's in charge...
that just shows you how demented religious fanatics are .
Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)over jailing folks for carryin' a joint!
secondwind
(16,903 posts)HeiressofBickworth
(2,682 posts)they aren't allowed to beat their children or refuse them medical care, kill their neighbor for eating shellfish or wearing cloth of different fabrics, or refuse to pay taxes, then they are right. But otherwise, if they decide to worship the divinity of a cockroach, as long as they aren't breaking any laws, they can do as they wish.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)These people were out and out STOOPID.
Heather MC
(8,084 posts)perdita9
(1,144 posts)Trusting an invisible sky fairy to watch over you while you do something stupid, is the height of ignorance.
rurallib
(62,413 posts)paleotn
(17,912 posts)roguevalley
(40,656 posts)TriEssent
(2 posts)And what do you believe? You Probably believe that the universe came from nothing, and that all of life started from a one celled animal in some primordial soup! Is that what you trust in?
perdita9
(1,144 posts)Sky Masterson
(5,240 posts)(hides) I keed,I keed. Atheist power!!!
RKP5637
(67,108 posts)wordpix
(18,652 posts)Rozlee
(2,529 posts)At least they weren't lost for forty years.
Berlin Expat
(950 posts)and you'll hear the tale
The tale of a fateful trip,
that started at this tropic port
aboard this tiny ship.
They're lucky they're still alive. Like the old saying goes, "God watches over drunks, fools and children".
itsrobert
(14,157 posts)blaming their vices on the devil.
msongs
(67,405 posts)snort
(2,334 posts)prepares one for a journey at Sea. Gawd!
csziggy
(34,136 posts)In early 2012, the government of Kiribati purchased the 2,200-hectare Natoavatu Estate on the second largest island of Fiji, Vanua Levu. At the time it was widely,[23][24] but incorrectly,[25] reported that the Government planned to evacuate the entire population of Kiribati to Fiji. However, in April 2013, President Tong began urging citizens to evacuate the islands and migrate elsewhere.[26]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiribati
Great plan!
MADem
(135,425 posts)deutsey
(20,166 posts)or socialists or something.
Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)Last edited Sat Aug 10, 2013, 11:15 PM - Edit history (1)
That'll be the new plan. Can't wait to hear what message God was giving them that ultimately had them back where they started in the United State-Controlled Churches of America.
At least they didn't send the kids adrift in a balloon.
Quantess
(27,630 posts)someone else might write their story for them, and make some bucks.
broadcaster75201
(387 posts)nt
longship
(40,416 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)Along with his defeat of Marvin the Martian and Yosemite Sam... My hero.
livingwagenow
(373 posts)drm604
(16,230 posts)This couple, with a baby and a 3 year old in tow, were deliberately trying to settle in "the least developed country in the world", and it's only through sheer luck that they and those children (who had no choice in the matter) didn't drown or die from exposure.
These two are not fit to be parents. They'd probably say that I'm trying to interfere with their precious religious beliefs when I say that, but too bad. They took a real and grave risk with the lives of those children because of their baseless feelings of persecution.
At the end of the article they're quoted as saying that they're going to return home and make a new plan. I hate to think what their new plan will be.
I hope Social Services will soon be paying them a visit. Those children deserve better.
Cronus Protagonist
(15,574 posts)It's not their fault, but Darwin awards are nature's way of saying, "your parents fucked up".
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Quantess
(27,630 posts)More upcoming child endangerment to follow, is what she is saying.
Some people really are too stupid to raise children. The poor kids will be lucky if they turn out to be normal adults.
sakabatou
(42,152 posts)jtuck004
(15,882 posts)And they have now ordered 4 lawn chairs, 36 surplus weather balloons, some sandwiches and a BB gun. And a new bible, 'cause God took the last one back at sea, not wanting any evidence around that she had a damn thing to do with their first silly plan.
W T F
(1,147 posts)Lugal Zaggesi
(366 posts)while he tries to think of a new, better plan.
[center][/center]
Tom Ripley
(4,945 posts)Lugal Zaggesi
(366 posts)that pay for abortions we don't agree with."
I have a problem paying taxes that pay to rescue idiot Americans that risk their children's lives.
Their flights home were arranged by U.S. Embassy officials. The State Department was not available for comment.
This family is getting billed for those flights, aren't they ?
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)excerpt from article...
Hannah Gastonguay said her family was fed up with government control in the U.S. As Christians they don't believe in "abortion, homosexuality, in the state-controlled church," she said.
I'll bet we could raise enough money to send their asses elsewhere that's more to their liking. Maybe they could ask Putin for asylum.
Lugal Zaggesi
(366 posts)they might feel right at home in Russia, where they are actively trying to increase their population, stamp out homosexuals (or at least keep them hidden), and allow the Russian Orthodox Church to flourish once more - independent of the State, of course.
Can they sail there from Arizona ?
Bay Boy
(1,689 posts)...not believe in abortion or homosexuality? They are real things. Maybe they don't approve of them.
I might also have said: "If you don't approve of abortion don't have one. If you don't approve of homosexuality don't do that".
Turbineguy
(37,324 posts)to this vale of tears.
Maybe that's a positive sign.
Squinch
(50,949 posts)Turbineguy
(37,324 posts)Although it's probably pearls before swine.
Squinch
(50,949 posts)they're talking about will cost us.
The next project where they try and get away from all that they think the government is costing them.
What a bunch of maroons. To quote a wise rabbit.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)I know many people gain some benefits from literal, religious journeys, but I don't think children should be taken on them if there is greater than normal danger. God will not protect them, or anyone for that matter, so parents need to be the protectors. The first rule of protecting someone is to not put them in needless danger.
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)You can't cure stupid. A waste of taxpayer dollars on people that think Govt and Liberals are evil anyhow.
rurallib
(62,413 posts)that would lead them to such a stupid decision
Squinch
(50,949 posts)Bossy Monkey
(15,863 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)The brevity and the wit, together-a winner in my book!
Bossy Monkey
(15,863 posts)Tom Ripley
(4,945 posts)Bossy Monkey
(15,863 posts)Hassin Bin Sober
(26,326 posts)Bossy Monkey
(15,863 posts)Ash_F
(5,861 posts)Bossy Monkey
(15,863 posts)Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)I wish I'd thought of that ...
Bossy Monkey
(15,863 posts)1ProudAtheist
(346 posts)Enough to actually believe in sky spooks and trolls carrying pitchforks would even consider doing something this ignorant. Religion kills.
Lugal Zaggesi
(366 posts)"be fruitful and multiply" clause.
Because if you have a big litter, a few of them might live to reproduce:
tonekat
(1,814 posts)had been dropped off in Kiribati. We have more than enough fanatics screwing things up for the rest of us.
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)Those poor folks have enough on their plate as it is. No doubt, that family of kooks are also climate change deniers. If they ended up in Kiribati they'd have to build an ark.
Lucky Luciano
(11,254 posts)TNNurse
(6,926 posts)After evaluation by Children's Services, someone should teach them that the only people in this country who are interested in a "state controlled church" are right wing Tea Party fanatics and that the rest of us know that they are 1)wrong, 2) ignorant 3)not really following Christian teaching and that the separation of church and state thing is really very much necessary.
But I am afraid that they are past help. You might explain to them that I do not like my taxes going to support right wing organizations, corporate bailouts and tuition for congressional employees children....just to name a few.
1monster
(11,012 posts)government's help to come back here?
I'm sooo confused! (Or they are.)
Mariana
(14,856 posts)providing something that THEY want, it's doing Gawd's will. When the gov't gives some assistance to someone else, someone they don't approve of, then it's evil and is doing the devil's work. You see? It makes perfect sense.
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)At the risk of sounding rather heartless, they should have been left where they were. Okay, maybe rescue the children and leave the parents to get along just fine with no government interference.
What makes me so freaking crazy about people like this is that they simply define "government interference" to mean anything at all they don't happen to agree with. Well, guess what? There's a LOT our government does that I totally disagree with, starting with dumb illegal wars, continuing with every bit of black box funding there is, on through no universal health care and all sorts of other things that don't come immediately to mind. But I keep on hoping we can elect people who will make sensible changes in how the government spends its money (naive, I know) and meanwhile I understand how many basic things governments at all levels actually provide that I use and care about. Libraries. Streets. Sewer systems. Schools. Some health care.
struggle4progress
(118,282 posts)pitbullgirl1965
(564 posts)Attitudes like this are infuriating. They should have been left where they were. Freaks.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)We were in the thick of it, but we prayed, she said. Being out on that boat, I just knew I was going to see some miracles.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/family-leaves-us-on-sailboat-over-religious-concerns-to-start-new-life-becomes-lost-at-sea/2013/08/10/c8826fd8-0208-11e3-8294-0ee5075b840d_story_1.html
Yea, she just knew.
Safetykitten
(5,162 posts)Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)My guess she is hoping for a miracle too..that she wakes up and has non wacko parents who won't
terrify her again with their next plan.
Jamastiene
(38,187 posts)Kids from wacko families like that rarely ever smile.
Source: I live in the Bible Belt. It's a miserable place.
Once, at a stop sign in East Rockingham, in the middle of winter, a baby wearing nothing but a diaper, crawled out of his sooty* yard, knocked on the car door and asked to come home with my aunt and me.
Talk about heartbreaking. Knowing he would spend the next several years crawling around in the yard every day, alone, in the extreme heat of summer AND in winter (which was when he asked to come home with us, it was 40 degrees outside), we didn't know what to do.
We got the address and called the cops and begged them to go to that house and help that kid. We never heard anything else and the kid was out there the very next day. I know this because I worked in a house across the street. It took my aunt and my boss and my boss' husband to hold me back from becoming a kidnapper that next day and the days after that. The kid wore nothing but a diaper in that cold and was outside all day every day crawling around in that soot and half burned trash. The cops would do nothing about it. It broke my heart to see it and know the cops wouldn't put a stop to it. Worse yet, I could do nothing about it legally either.
This is the same area of Rockingham where they pride themselves on how Christian they are. They used to burn down a house or vandalize it if a black family (or Latino family) moved there, and the children never smile. The kids there have a haunted look in their eyes that turns into pure hatred by the time they are adults.
*They burn their trash in East Rockingham every day. Pretty much everyone over there does it. All of the yards over there are full of soot and half burned trash. To me, it is one of the most disgusting places on Earth and should be a Superfund site.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)am guessing from what you've described, they have their own standard of horrific. I am almost afraid to know what it
would take for authorities in that area to respond.
Nine
(1,741 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)even when their god fails they still believe.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)THE GASTONGUAY FAMILY
Prescott Valley, AZ
about
My wife Hannah, our daughter Bernice, God rest her soul, and myself Sean. Broke, homeless and driftin' playin music for the half drunk rounders roamin' the high plains of the Arizona desert.
music +
upcoming shows +
http://www.thesixtyone.com/TheGastonguays/#/artist/TheGastonguays/about/
SwissTony
(2,560 posts)Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)what is going on.
redwitch
(14,944 posts)I hope their living kids are ok.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)xfundy
(5,105 posts)Had they stayed and voted (R), they'd have been blessed with minimum wage jobs, lack of healthcare, GMO foods, hatred to gays, and all the rest of the Godly Republican platform!
They done did something to piss off the Baby in the Sky.
Baby Jesus says "HA!"
Safetykitten
(5,162 posts)wanted to you meet your match, he would not send you to an internet site.
He would hook you two up. No middleman involved.
Squinch
(50,949 posts)He's kind of high maintenance.
SunSeeker
(51,550 posts)Get caught smoking a joint and your kids get taken away. But an unhinged couples completely separated from reality takes their kids on a life-threatening 5,000 mile trip by small boat...and they keep their kids?! Why are they not at least being hit with child endangerment charges?
I mean, this alone should have resulted in charges:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57597994/religious-family-abandons-u.s-gets-lost-at-sea/
Those poor kids...
The kid's well-being, health, and safety is important.
struggle4progress
(118,282 posts)And it's only 3300 miles or so from San Diego to Kiribati, not much difference between the distance from Miami to Vancouver which anybody can do in two and a half days
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,326 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)The last scene shows Dracula and Cindy, transformed into bats, on their way to Jamaica. If only the couple had gotten their wings first. Squeak, squeak!
rdharma
(6,057 posts)Take your kids on a very unsafe journey to find your ...... "gawd"?
"US couple in jail after fleeing to Cuba with kids
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) The Florida parents charged with kidnapping their boys from their grandparents and sailing to Cuba on a boat called "Salty" to elude authorities are facing a judge for the first time since they were forcibly returned from the island nation.
Joshua and Sharyn Hakken make their first appearance in court Thursday to hear the charges they're facing, including kidnapping, child neglect, false imprisonment, burglary and interference with custody.
Four-year-old Cole and 2-year-old Chase are now with their grandparents, who planned to talk about the ordeal publicly Thursday morning.
The couple arrived with their sons in Florida early Wednesday morning, accompanied by federal, state and local authorities after being handed over by Cuban officials.
Tien1985
(920 posts)We were so close to ridding ourselves of these whack jobs!!! Why didn't we send them to Kiribati instead?
Actually, since the people of Kiribati are going to be evacuating and whack nuts like these folks don't believe in climate change, can't we just offer to trade our wacknuts for their evacuees? They can have their own little fundie island to enjoy without driving everyone else insane.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)Tom Ripley
(4,945 posts)god was on vacation at the time.
tofuandbeer
(1,314 posts)Ash_F
(5,861 posts)Not to mention a few other countries. Including our arch-nemesis(according to Republicans and some DUers) the Venezuelans.
It sounds like they are not going to be forced to pay for any of it. I bet the irony is totally lost on them.
SwissTony
(2,560 posts)'In June 2008, Kiribati officials asked Australia and New Zealand to accept Kiribati citizens as permanent refugees. Kiribati is expected to be the first country to lose all its land territory to global climate change. In June 2008, the Kiribati president Anote Tong said that the country has reached "...the point of no return." He added, "To plan for the day when you no longer have a country is indeed painful but I think we have to do that."'
'More recently, President Tong has spoken of climate-change induced sea level rise as "inevitable". "For our people to survive, then they will have to migrate. Either we can wait for the time when we have to move people en masse or we can prepare thembeginning from now ..."'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiribati
Edited to add: csziggy included the first extract.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Joshua and Sharyn Hakken seemed to have a charmed life, doting on their two young boys, buying a comfortable home and building successful careers as engineers. It all derailed last year when police in Louisiana found the family inside a hotel room with drugs, weapons and promises from the parents to take "a journey to the Armageddon."
The couple is now jailed on charges they kidnapped the boys from their grandparents in Florida and sailed to Cuba on a boat called "Salty" to elude U.S. authorities. The family arrived in Florida early Wednesday morning, accompanied by federal, state and local authorities after being handed over by Cuban officials. Four-year-old Cole and 2-year-old Chase are now with their grandparents and their parents in jail, closing a bizarre ordeal that began with an Amber Alert and ended with diplomatic intervention.
Friends of the couple said the family seemed happy and had no marital problems. "This is a train that went completely off the tracks, and I don't have any explanation for how it can go off the track that badly basically in a year and a half. It's very bizarre," said Darrell Hanecki, who employed Sharyn Hakken for nearly a decade at Hanecki Consulting Engineers...
The blinds at the Hakken household were drawn tight Wednesday. An "infowars.com" bumper sticker was pasted on their mailbox, a reference to conservative radio personality Alex Jones' Web site. A white SUV was in the driveway where neighbors said they usually saw a small boat parked. The boat was such a common presence that it was noticeable when it disappeared last week, said neighbor Simon Castillo...
Read more:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57578940/police-u.s-couple-who-fled-to-cuba-with-kids-vowed-journey-to-the-armageddon/
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014450461
Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)"Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:37
Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. Luke 17:33
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26
Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
John 12:25
If one was to take many words from the Gospels literally - It does not seem that far out - to go and do something completely crazy.
Squinch
(50,949 posts)Rain Mcloud
(812 posts)rpannier
(24,329 posts)In 2008, the government requested that Australia and NZ accept it's citizens as refugees as Kribari will likely be completely gone in our lifetime due to global climate change. The government also purchased land from another country to move some of their population as well
Maybe God forced them back because their decision was idiotic
wandy
(3,539 posts)country, you pack up little children in a boat that you most likely have only the smallest idea how to deal with. You get yourself lost at see and by some magic are rescued by people who probably have a very different idea of the invisible cloud being than you do.
And to top it off the godless country's state department has to arrange you're travel back to the godless country.
Where you will most likely bitch and moan about the godless country.
Yup. god sure does work in strange ways.
PD Turk
(1,289 posts).... but now are found
UpInArms
(51,282 posts)rendered by the American Coast Guard.
I protest paying taxes for dumbasses such as these.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)I'm sure there's a reason...Ours is not to question or to know, blah de blah de blah ...
valerief
(53,235 posts)radhika
(1,008 posts)in the form of an organized and staffed Coast Guard, search helicopters, Venezuelan boats, international communications --- all human-created entities as I recall.
I wonder if they have the self-awareness to even contemplate the universal concept "Seeing the god in everything"?
Namaste!
timstephens13
(30 posts)This just proves my point that god makes a much better cruise director than a ships captain.
Diclotican
(5,095 posts)LiberalElite
I do not believe they know what a "state-controlled Church" really is - and have no clue what so ever about what type of control a true state controlled Church is all about.... No clue what so ever...
But then again - I'm afraid to say - many americans seen to have little knowledge about most things.... But they sure is proud of the little they know...
Diclotican
Quantess
(27,630 posts)It's an infrared signal emanated from the WH, that contains subliminal messages. AKA, the state controlled church-ray. Totally real.
Diclotican
(5,095 posts)Quantess
Never heard about it before now But im are in no doubt that some belive that too...
Diclotican
Quantess
(27,630 posts)a few of our right wing stalkers will believe what I wrote! "An infrared obamaray with subliminal muslin brainwash messages? I KNEW IT!!"
Diclotican
(5,095 posts)Quantess
I would not be surprised about myself.. I guess we have to wait a few days - and get to know by some of the more extreme right wing groups out there, who believe it to be true...
After all - the President of the United States is a communist, marxist - fascist, Nazis, Kenyan born Islamic and terrorist.... So why not this too?
Diclotican
Mass
(27,315 posts)ozone_man
(4,825 posts)"It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Platonic mysticisms that three are one, and one is three; and yet that the one is not three, and the three are not one . . . But this constitutes the craft, the power and the profit of the priests. Sweep away their gossamer fabrics of fictitious religion, and they would catch no more flies." - Thomas Jefferson
jmowreader
(50,557 posts)To them, "state control" of churches means the church is not allowed to have total control over the government.
Except for the part about having to give up Christianity for Islam, the Gastonguays would feel right at home in the Taliban.
jasond54231
(51 posts)They'll make plenty of money from this publicity stunt, I reckon. Maybe that was their plan from the beginning?
PasadenaTrudy
(3,998 posts)while Bill Maher is on Summer break, too
Snake Plissken
(4,103 posts)atheists who were not in communication with God, and didn't realize he was trying to thin out the herd of morons
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)...it's prit' near the bottom of the world:
- Poor things. I guess it looks closer when you Google it than when you actually have to go there.....
pitbullgirl1965
(564 posts)I despise hypocrites!! And religious nuts.
darkangel218
(13,985 posts)The kids are NOT safe in their hands.
Snake Plissken
(4,103 posts)it's not like tried to smoke a joint or are in a gay or lesbian relationship, beside we are talking about actual children here, and not fetuses.