Vilified Without a Voice

The Misrepresentation of Homestead Heritage

Michelle Del Rey has published an article vilifying our Christian community, Homestead Heritage, in The Independent, one of the world’s most widely circulated online publications. As a result, millions have likely read enough of this article—perhaps only the headline and first few paragraphs—to form an extremely negative impression of our community. According to her own testimony and those she quotes, Ms. Del Ray spent over a year contacting and interviewing six people who were hostile to our community, apparently giving total credence to their accusations.

A Biased Approach

About a month before the article was published, she contacted our community with a list of accusations, giving us four days to respond. We invited her to visit our community and engage in direct discussions, allowing us to respond substantively to these very serious allegations. She refused. Having only heard one side of the controversy from people she knew were antagonistic toward us, had she already made up her mind? She refused to give our side a fair hearing and failed to address most of the points we raised in our limited defense.

Perceptions of Heroism

Why would someone take such a one-sided approach? Could Ms. Del Rey have convinced herself that she’s engaged in a heroic effort, alongside our detractors, to bring down a handful of “cult leaders” who she believes are selfishly exploiting hundreds of innocent and intimidated community members? Does she see herself as a liberator, trying to help those she thinks are enslaved by a small group of manipulators using a false and terrifying ideology?

Could this be why she didn’t want to engage directly with those she’s labeled as “cult leaders,” fearing they might deceive her? Is this why she kept her distance, reducing the people she was attacking to impersonal abstractions, confident that no accusation would be too harsh if it served to “liberate” those she viewed as oppressed? The fact that she could have spoken to anyone she wished in our community—something we explicitly invited and which our online materials and visitor comments could have shown her—did that seem irrelevant to her? Did she assume our members were simply brainwashed and living in constant fear due to manipulation and intimidation?

Ignoring the Truth

Because of this assumption, Ms. Del Rey dismissed the testimonies of hundreds in favor of the views of three clearly antagonistic individuals. Could she have believed that even the former members with whom we maintain good relationships were still under the influence of the “cult”?

If we are mistaken in understanding her motives, could someone explain why else Ms. Del Rey would present such a one-sided assault without giving those attacked a fair hearing? Did she ever stop to consider that labeling hundreds of people as victims of this “cult” would also harm them? Did she convince herself that her words, read by millions, would only damage the reputation of the “cult leaders” without considering the broader impact? Has she thought about how her attack harms all the men, women, and children in our community who have freely chosen a way of life she neither understands nor sympathizes with?

The Impact on Our Community

Did it ever occur to her that those who read her words and later meet members of our community—men and women, single and married, as well as children—might view them with fear, loathing, or condescension? Did she ever stop to think that the harm she hoped to inflict on the “cult leaders” would affect all of us in our community? By placing this label on our entire community, she is suggesting we are all ignorant, naive people wasting our lives rather than enjoying the modern world.

Has it ever occurred to her that these individuals have consciously made a responsible choice to live in a way that they know is at odds with mainstream commercial and secular society? They have not done so because of intimidation or threats but because they love this way of life, choosing to step away from the dominant consumerist and pluralist culture.

The Choice to Stay or Leave

Could it be that Ms. Del Rey’s efforts to “liberate” them from a lifestyle they freely chose only serve to burden them with the weight of the notoriety she has placed upon them? Did it not occur to her that these people were not manipulated or deceived into choosing this alternative lifestyle? They made this decision fully aware that it would put them at odds with a predominant culture that has chosen a different path.

Ms. Del Rey’s article begins with what she evidently sees as a shocking fact: that one ex-member had reached the age of 30 without ever having gone to the movies. This woman was legally free to choose her own path when she came of age at eighteen. Our community policy has always been to encourage anyone who wishes to leave to do so freely. Indeed, over the years, a minority (about 10 to 15 percent) have left, with many later returning. Far from being held against their will, our community continually reminds children—especially teenagers—that they have a choice in how to live their lives. At eighteen, they are free to leave, as they are legally considered adults. The notion that this woman was somehow kept from leaving our community after reaching adulthood is completely misleading.

A Campaign of Vilification

Many of our detractors still have family members in our community and have been free to interact with them for some time. They claim they want to open the eyes of those who remain in the community, but they had plenty of opportunity to engage in discussions with their family members. While these accusations were not the ones they used in the past, they certainly sought to disparage our community and its leaders, especially in the eyes of their friends and family. If their goal was to convince their family members of the truth, they had their chance.

They failed in that objective and have now chosen another route. Do they really believe that smearing us in the mainstream press as members of a destructive cult is the way to persuade those who remain in our community? It seems far-fetched.

An Invitation to Fairness

Could Ms. Del Rey’s readiness to believe these accusations while denying a fair hearing to those accused stem from her own prejudices? Does she assume that the life she knows and has lived is necessarily better than the way of life chosen by those in our community? Most of her readers probably share the same bias, preferring what’s familiar and distrusting what’s unfamiliar. But now that she has so readily vilified our children, fathers, mothers, single men and women, will she be willing to meet them face to face? We would gladly welcome her in person, and she can be assured that she would be met with kindness and respect.

We wish no harm to Ms. Del Rey or our detractors—people we know, love and continue to care for. As with all those who leave our community, we hope they will have blessed and prosperous lives. We do not share their choices but certainly wish them the best.