Judge Philpot's White Savior Complex
1. INTRODUCTION
“White
Savior Complex” refers to a common trope, prevalent throughout much of US
popular culture, which validates white superiority by depicting individuals who
heroically rescue “less developed” cultures through dissemination of “western” values
and wisdom:
Judge
Philpot writes about his mystical spiritual experiences in India in his
autobiographical novel “Judge Z” and makes clear the importance of his
proselytizing mission in the acknowledgements
section of the book.
It is clear
that even in the 21st century fundamentalists can pervert great religions and
sow discord in increasingly interconnected societies. The judiciary should be
free of religious zeal that goes beyond passion for justice in interpreting the
law.
In the autobiography,
Judge Z writes that he previously visited India only once on a “judicial exchange”
rather than on proselytizing missionary trips, as was the case with the real Timothy
Philpot - who even got a photo-opportunity with Mother Theresa on one visit. Given the difference in legal systems, it is doubtful
that any such judicial exchanges existed and it may seem puzzling why that
seemingly edifying detail, in an otherwise evangelically minded book, was altered, while
many other Indian identifiers such as the name of Judge Z’s friend (Philpot’s
right-hand man in India) “Ghuna” or place names such as Oomachikulam or Madurai
were not? Even minor details such as that of connecting Delta airline
flights from Lexington to India are accurate. Timothy Philpot may have reasons
to be shy about discussing his continued leadership of an established, well-funded
organization whose purpose and goals may conflict with that of his government
job.
2. EVANGELICAL ACTIVITIES IN INDIA
On the
surface, the judge’s passion for Christian evangelical movements in India may
seem irrelevant and bringing it up might even be construed as a “cheap-shot,”
or distraction at best. In the United States, missionary activity is regarded
as a benign form of community service that reflects favorably on the charitable
volunteer.
In India
however, despite the presence of an ancient and well-established local
Christian church, foreign evangelism is a multi-billion dollar business and evangelists
are often viewed with hostility and suspicion. Fairly or unfairly, a parallel
is drawn with the cultural “assimilation” and conquest imposed on indigenous
people across the world.
Whatever
the rights and wrongs of missionary work, the fact remains, that the
accompanying proselytizing is a cause of visceral bitterness in many “third
world” countries because of the historical link with colonial racism and sectarian
strife. There are valid concerns that vulnerable societies may be further destabilized
by money channeled from abroad.
Even so,
almost 2% of India’s population identifies with Christianity and over the last
decade, about 170,000 per year have been converted to Christianity by
proselytizing foreign organizations that collect and spend about $1,650 from
abroad to fund each conversion:
Even if the
start-up is costly to these charities, homegrown converts can then be hailed as
success stories to outside donors and sent out as cost effective foot soldiers to recruit others into the
newer levels of the pyramid. Many of
these groups work very differently to the modest church organizations we may be
accustomed to, and follow a well-oiled business plan based on incentives and
targets.
Freedom of
expression and freedom of religion are basic rights enjoyed in most civilized
countries and quite rightly so. Furthermore, selfless individuals who travel to
perform good works outside their own country should be especially lauded.
However, the motives of some evangelical organizations are not as altruistic as
claimed.
Many US
proselytizing evangelical groups that target developing countries appear to be
at least loosely confederated under a few umbrella organizations such as the
Joshua project, US Center for World Mission/Frontier Ventures, or the
International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. These groups
share logistical and marketing resources and even a cursory review of their
materials available on their websites reveals a shared “playbook” of
catchphrases and sound bites that are (ironically) repeated like Mantras. The
common terms used in relation to Hindus and India are “darkness”, “lost”,
‘hopeless”, “emptiness” and “idol-worship”.
Conversion campaigns
are conducted with the planning and precision normally associated with military
offensives. The term “10 40 Window” is used to describe the latitudes of the
earth (from 40 degrees North to 10 degrees South) targeted for the most
intensive proselytizing efforts.
The
rhetoric aimed against “non-believers” from other cultures betrays a
patronizing arrogance that blends into frank racism and intolerance
indistinguishable from the Jihadist extremism that we all know to be
inconsistent with American values.
Just a
selection of media articles from a relatively “mainstream” group such as the
Southern Baptist Convention displays a degree of intolerance that if it were
less patronizing, we would immediately associate with a hate group:
A search
for “Hinduism at http://www.bpnews.net/search?q=hinduism displays
387 publications, of which the selection below is representative:
Beyond Hinduism & masses in poverty, India full of
diversity
Christianity growing in N India amid Hindu Hostility
Growing tension against Christians cited in India
Hindu festivals - A time for intercession
Hindu idol worship stirs Christian witness
How to share Christ with your Hindu friends
New International Mission Board prayer guide targets
Hinduism's spiritual darkness
While these
earnest pieces may not seem overtly offensive to some people in our locality
today, they will in the fullness of time, make future enlightened generations
squirm in the same manner that characterizations of minorities from fifty or
even thirty years ago embarrass us today.
To
distinguish them from genuine charity performing good works, the proselytizing groups
associated with Judge Philpot are better described as cults because they prey
on the most vulnerable members of society; first offering material or social
inducements and then by promising eternal happiness in the afterlife to
unwavering followers. The cult members attempt to usurp the role of traditional
societal and family relationships by isolating inductees from their former
friends and family who, they are warned, will be manipulated by Satan to try to
change their minds.
Unsurprisingly,
foreign evangelical cults often experience the same rejection they do in their
home country. The reactions experienced by spurned evangelicals are likely to
include bewilderment and disappointment followed by anger against their
ungrateful hosts. To have one’s preconceptions of a supposedly unenlightened
society jolted by the majority in that society not heeding your clarion call is
likely to be an uncomfortable experience, and it should not be assumed that
“What happens in India stays in India”
In recent
years some Evangelicals groups in the US, such the Southern Baptist Convention
have viewed the presence of religious minorities within the United States as a
new battlefront in their crusades.
The groups
have produced “prayer guides” to correspond with various festivals of other
religions designed to promote conversions. One Southern Baptist booklet
distributed during the Hindu festival of Diwali, asks prayer for the conversion
of Hindus, whom it described as ''lost in the hopeless darkness'' of their
faith. These statements essentially echo the expression used by the narrator in
Timothy Philpot’s memoir.
3. JUDGE PHILPOT’S INVOLVEMENT IN TAX-PAYER FUNDED EXTRA-JUDICIAL ACTIVITIES IS LIKELY TO RESULT IN CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Timothy
Philpot inherited his televangelist father’s successful business empire (The
Ford R Philpot Evangelistic Association), concentrated its focus on activities
targeting India and leveraged his position by establishing partnerships with
many kindred organizations in the fields of politics, business and religion.
While he
has had to dissociate with some of these organizations after becoming a judge, the
separation seems ostensible rather than real. The Ford R Philpot Evangelistic
Association has changed its name to Fishhook International (http://www.fishhook.org), now
concentrates on converting Hindu Indians and shares its offices, officers and
funds with several religiously themed charities and groups. Coincidently, the
financial institutions that host these organizations and assist in collecting
and disbursing their funds have buildings on the land sold by The Ford Philpot Evangelistic
Association in multimillion dollar transactions. The same offices also host
publicity events for Judge Philpot’s book. Fishhook International focuses its activities
exclusively on India according to its website, publications and submissions to
the IRS.
To the vast
majority of Indians who do not eat fish or meat, and who are the targets of
this group, even the name “Fishhook international” is immediately offensive and
insensitive. In spite of the cheery Biblical reference to “Fishers of Men,” the
name bluntly signals a mission to hunt, lure, skewer on barbs and ultimately
devour as many as they can ensnare from the teeming shoals of humanity in
India.
Past board
members of Fishhook International include Dr. Ernest Fletcher, former Governor
of Kentucky who appointed Mr. Philpot to his position as circuit court judge.
In its
annual reports submitted to the Kentucky Secretary of State, Fishhook
International lists Timothy Philpot as its director up until to 2011, after
which his name no longer appears in the official filings. However, he is listed
as chairman on at least the latest three Form 990 tax returns submitted by the
charity to the IRS. His presence remains on the website and at least one 2012 magazine
article states that he is chairman of the 15 member board.
This proselytizing
cult led by Judge Philpot justifies its activities on the premise that:
“Helping People is not a mindset of the general
population” of India where “Jesus wants to rescue people from hopelessness and
darkness.”
- Kim
Turkington, Executive Director of Fishhook International
Another
board member is Dr. W. David Hager who in addition to being pilloried by
women’s right activists, has been the subject of credible and unrefuted
allegations by his former wives of persistent and violent abuse spanning many
years of marriage.
While he cannot
be blamed for Dr. Hager’s personal conduct, Judge Philpot by retaining Dr.
Hager as a leader in his family run religious charity draws sharp attention to a
serious problem with the central thesis of the book. Divorce still carries a
religious stigma, so by seeking to introduce a “speed bump” in the path of divorce
seekers there is a very real danger of forcing vulnerable people to remain in
abusive relationships for fear of societal disapproval, often at great cost to
their health.
A common
theme in this shared ideology and one vociferously espoused by Dr. Hager and Judge
Philpot (prior to being muted by appointment to the bench) is the claim that
there is a “War on Christianity” being waged in the US and that Christians are
being relentlessly persecuted by outsiders at the behest of Satan:
Count the Cost. If You Aren't Being Persecuted, You Aren't in the Arena
by W. David Hager, MD Today's Christian Doctor - Fall 2003
Far from
being confined to the fringe, this worry about an “end of days” conflict is
being widely propagated in Kentucky.
Evangelicals feel alienated, anxious amid declining
clout. BENTON, KY. (AP) http://bigstory.ap.org/705be97dd9924d3c90f51532c2a99515
So extreme
is the fear generated by this sense of external onslaught that even
ideologically suspect pastimes such as the practice of Yoga exercises are
viewed as dangerous by respected leaders such as Albert Mohler, president of
the Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
Amongst the
rank-and-file, fear of Armageddon has boiled over into a paranoia that equates laying
out a Yoga mat with providing succor to the enemy:
“The
Dangers of Yoga (and what about Tai Chi?) It seems the enemy has a counterfeit
for almost everything the Lord offers”
These same
practitioners who claim that going to Yoga classes is identical to a meth
addiction have renamed the stretching and breathing exercises associated with
Yoga so that they can be safely performed by Christians without risking demonic
possession.
The
hysteria over such innocuous activities meant to help children stay fit and
healthy has resulted in wasteful lawsuits against schools.
The Yoga controversy is belabored here as a demonstration to those whose life
experience may not include living in a community as an outsider or member of a
minority. Research commissioned by the National Center for State Courts
confirms that it is no longer expedient for most people to voice overtly
prejudicial opinions however strongly held those opinions may be. Therefore in
order to discern discriminatory bias, it is usually necessary to analyze
indirect, less obvious cues related to the individual’s expressed beliefs and
how these beliefs align with common patterns of beliefs shared by others whose
actions or statements are overtly biased.
In the
above example, if a group shares the belief that their religion is under attack
from outsiders and that attending Yoga classes is akin to devil-worship because
of Yoga’s association with Hinduism, then it can be reasonably inferred that
they will regard actual adherents of Hinduism as a hard-core sub-group of
congenital devil worshippers. If they should encounter such individuals in
their midst they may be inclined to consider them as “lost” or “hopeless”
idolaters rather than demonic assassins, to forestall the need for an awkward pre-emptive
attack, but they are unlikely to give these outsiders fair treatment or
consider them as equally worthy humans.
Membership
of white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan is today considered
sufficient evidence of holding racist views even though members routinely argue
technicalities to deny that they are racist when such a label is
disadvantageous. There are however many dozens of hate groups similar to the Ku
Klux Klan whose racism is not immediately recognizable because they are less
well known.
It has been
argued that any discrimination exercised by proselytizing groups is not racist
because it is based only on a difference of religious viewpoint and any such
animus would be immediately dissipated by a convergence of theological opinion.
The differences of opinion however do not hinge on how many angels will fit on
the head of a pin, but who is a worthy human being and who is “lost in hopeless
darkness.”
While it is
certainly easier to change one’s religious or political opinions than to change
one’s race, Hindu identity is inextricable linked to daily customs, rituals and
complex relationships with family and society that cannot be broken simply by
mouthing a phrase and being dunked underwater. It is not akin to leaving an Episcopalian
church for a Unitarian one, for example- not that anyone should be coerced into
even that move. Therefore, Judge Philpot’s long standing and intimate
association with intolerant fundamentalist groups targeting Hindus in India is
a manifestation of racism that makes him unfit to fairly adjudicate cases
involving Hindus anywhere.
A repeated
message broadcast by Fishhook International in its appeal for funds is that
India has hundreds of groups of “unreached people” numbering in hundreds of
millions, who being poor, young and uneducated, would flock to Jesus if only
someone would pay for a messenger:
This perspective, while useful for
fund raising, flies in the face of the historical reality that Christianity has
existed in India (brought to Kerala by St Thomas in 54 AD according to legend)
since before it reached Western Europe and was the state sponsored religion for
over a century during the colonial era. Overseas based proselytizing cult groups
seem to be at odds even with the long established traditional Christian
communities in India, classifying them as “nominal Christians” rather than
“Followers of Christ”: https://joshuaproject.net/assets/media/handouts/why-india.pdf
A cursory
review of the publically available tax records and finances of evangelical
organizations connected to Timothy Philpot with branches abroad, reveals a
surprising number of inter organization donations and transfers, as well as a
large number of individuals who serve as officers of multiple “trading” organizations.
The mutual back-scratching, churning of funds and direct transfers to
untraceable foreign groups gives the impression of a racket at the expense of
donors and tax-payers.
While there
may be sound planning reasons for these tactics and overlaps, it should strike
most people as odd that trustees of charitable organizations should be shifting
money back and forth to each other, especially when the majority of those funds
seem to be government grants meant to relieve suffering overseas.
Timothy
Philpot has been a leading member of at least a dozen such interdigitating tax-exempt
religious organizations in the past but currently the Kentucky Secretary of
State lists him as an officer of only two active organizations:
Search result for “Tim
Philpot” at KY Secretary of State website performed on May 2016
|
CBMC International, CBMC India,
CBMC of the Bluegrass, The Barnabas Foundation Inc. , The River Foundation, The
Story Inc. ,The Family Trust Foundation, Christ Community Ministries, Bluegrass
Christian Adoption, Gospel Friends
|
Partial list of some other tax
exempt organizations with which Timothy Philpot has had financial dealings
|
According
to Fishhook International, Judge Philpot in addition to chairing its own board,
also serves on the board of a group known as Friends of the Good Samaritans
(FOTGS):
This charity
receives several hundred thousand dollars in grants, which it funnels to India.
FOTGS wired out about $417,000 to charities registered in India (also
controlled by Tim Philpot’s partners who are given a nod in the book) according
to its 2014 IRS form 990). Tim Philpot’s name does not appear, however on the
list of officers in the IRS form.
Tax records
submitted by Fishhook International for 2014 (Form 990 available from the IRS
or at Guidestar.org) shows a total revenue of $676,644 of which $673,295 was
from government grants. The remaining $3,349 came from investments.
From Form 990 2015 for
Fishhook International – Statement of Revenue
|
Total
public support from government grants to Fishhook International over the last five
tax years has been increasing and totals $ 1,395,705:
From Form 990 2015 for
Fishhook International – Public Support
|
The majority
of Fishhook International’s income appears to be spent as operating expenses
and travel, or wired abroad for “mission expenses.” While some of this money may
undoubtedly be put to charitable use, it is difficult to establish from the
available records how it is actually spent other than to fund trips abroad for
Judge Philpot and his partners. It is difficult to understand why the US
taxpayers should be giving a circuit court judge and his cronies several
hundred thousand dollars every year to spend in India. This money may promote
goodwill abroad towards the US, but Disney, KFC and many others already do that
at a profit, without fire and brimstone.
4. DUBIOUS, SELF-SERVING NEED FOR OPERATIONS BY TAX-EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS CONTROLLED BY JUDGE TIM PHILPOT
Other than
recruitment of converts, the operational goals of groups such as Fishhook
International are vaguely worded. Several schools and orphanages are mentioned
as well as the need to provide love to the poor and marginalized - those who
are perhaps the most vulnerable to coercive indoctrination.
Fishhook
International stakes its turf in India by making false claims on its website such
as:
“There is no free education given to the public by the
government of India,”
or ,as the
judge bemoans in the book:
“With no government programs in India, helping the
poor was everyone’s job.” (P 100)
While no
one should minimize the problem of worldwide poverty, the above justifications are
simply not true. India is the world’s largest democracy and its constitution declares
it a “Socialist Secular Republic.” Consequently, the government of India runs several
huge wealth redistribution programs. It has even implemented an initiative to
issue over 1 billion biometric ID cards and link them to subsidized bank
accounts so that over a 100 million people can receive government benefits
electronically. This “Addhaar” card program already saves the equivalent of over
a billion dollars every year by reducing fraud and corruption in India’s gigantic
poverty alleviation projects.
From 1948
to now, the Indian government has launched a series of social health insurance
schemes to ensure healthcare access to the middle and upper classes as well as
the poor and other special populations. The following table is a summary of the
plans:
|
14 From the national program for the health care of the
elderly operational guidelines
India has
the highest circulation of English language newspapers in the world and the
largest number of universities in any country, as well as an explosive growth
in internet, TV and mobile communications. Therefore, for Tim Philpot’s cheerleaders
to describe it as “unreached” is patronizing, self-serving nonsense.
Source of
funding can have an influence on the stands taken by even the most
conscientious public officials. While a state senator, Judge Philpot regarded most
HIV infection as wantonly self-inflicted violence:
"I don't think hate-motivated crime should be punished
at a greater level than greed-motivated crime," he said, homosexuals are
"the primary form" of anti-gay violence, via the spread of AIDS.
"All I'm trying to say to the gay community is, `Your conduct is killing
you; therefore, don't do it,' " Philpot said.
Quoted in Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
March 21, 1998
Section: Main News Edition: Final Page: A
10
by Chad Carlton, HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
In India however
where the memoir only mentions women and children as victims, he considers it
worthy of amelioration when such largess can be co-administered with a funded dose
of religious indoctrination .
Fortunately, Indian pharmaceutical manufacturers have stepped
up production of affordable anti-retroviral drugs that now allow HIV positive
patients to lead near-normal lives. In fact, India supplies over 80% of the
global market for these lifesaving medicines:
Of course,
progress made is no reason for complacency and poverty remains a scourge
throughout the world. However, India does not need Timothy Philpot to courier hard-earned
US tax dollars and donations. In fact, everyone would be better served if he saved
jet fuel and concentrated on the poverty under his nose at home.
More links
relating to background of proselytizing activities in India:
5. DISSERVICE TO US TAXPAYERS
While Judge
Philpot complains about his meager government pay in his memoirs, one perquisite
is the relatively flexible schedule that gives him leisure to pursue his
outside activities and travel.
Not only is
Judge Philpot’s salary paid from the public purse, but the numerous civic and
charitable organizations whose operations he controls and influences have
collectively received several million dollars in public funds through
government grants during his tenure on the bench.
The judge’s
private activities and prejudices expressed in his autobiography are of special
concern to those US citizens and groups against whom he displays a hostile
animus. All the evidence pertaining to Judge Philpot’s motivation reveals a
religious zeal, and particularly a passion for proselytizing abroad (more
specifically in India) that is central to his identity and ingrained in him
from his upbringing. This zeal targets many he perceives to have gone astray
but is most acutely focused on the subjects of the crusade whose commission he inherited
from his father; that is the unconverted natives of India. In this regard, it
is obvious to any neutral observer that he must regard unconverted Hindus in
the same light that a deer hunter would view a herd of whitetail, or in his own
case, a field of un-putted golf balls or a lake full of un-impaled trout.
Fishhook
International shares the strategies and tactics espoused in the playbooks and resource
guides of the other proselytizing groups mentioned here because these groups and
umbrella organizations have perfected the sound bites, images and slogans that are most effective in
winning government grants meant for overseas aid. If this aid can be packaged
with a religious message that increases evangelical clout, then political
support is guaranteed and grants are renewed regularly.
There are almost
a billion Hindus in India making up about 80% of the population and practicing a
religion that has existed for several thousand years. Over these millennia,
waves of newcomers have settled in the fertile plains bringing numerous cultures
and religions, most of which even if they arrived as invaders, have eventually
been peacefully assimilated by a society that values tolerant co-existence.
Fishhooks
mission to “harvest souls” in India is as futile a waste of taxpayers’ money as
a foray to Israel to convert from Judaism (someone better qualified has already
tried) or to expel infidels from the Holy land.
Although 9%
of adult Indian Americans live in poverty, their median income according to the
2010 US census was $100,547 reportedly making them the richest ethnic community
in the U.S.
Asian
Indian population from US Census
|
||
Census
Year
|
Population
|
Percentage
Increase
|
1980
|
361,531
|
|
1990
|
815,447
|
+125.6%
|
2000
|
1,678,765
|
+105.9%
|
2010
|
2,843,391
|
+69.4%
|
This
combined with their rapidly growing numbers makes them an important source of
the US tax revenues that support the Timothy Philpot’s neo-imperialist proselytizing,
as well as his salary.
Not only
are such taxpayers being shortchanged monetarily, but Judge Philpot’s leadership
of covertly racist head-hunting groups makes it even more egregious should
these individuals ever be unlucky enough to have him as their judge.
The 3
million or so Indian-American taxpayers who help fund Judge Philpot’s adventures
are exquisitely aware, being members of a minority, of the subtle
manifestations of racism and discrimination in modern society. It is more
difficult now than in the past for bigots to openly voice hatred and abuse
without some professional or business repercussions. Today’s society is attuned
to code words and phrases used to convey prejudicial sentiment. Most
disadvantaged groups or minorities will clearly see through the cloak of piety
and “traditional values” worn by Timothy Philpot and the cult like groups he
leads. To be blunt, if unconverted Hindu Indian Americans were to be canvassed,
he is likely to inspire a similar confidence as a Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard
presiding over a case involving African-Americans.
If there
were no inter-cultural marriages, some might argue that Judge Philpot’s biases
in family court would be evenly applied to opposing parties and cancel out.
Quite apart from the fact that inter-cultural and inter-racial marriages are
becoming commonplace, the examples from Judge Philpot’s own memoir demonstrate
that these biases are likely to damage both parties, increase conflict and harm
involved children.
Many other taxpayers
also have grounds for trepidation. However it is couched, Timothy Philpot’s
homophobia is as poorly concealed as his racial and religious bigotry:
Philpot said he feels called to
fight what he called "the gay lifestyle."
"I think it is a destructive
lifestyle, one that leads to destruction," he said. "It doesn't mean
you hate homosexuals. It's just that I believe that I should stop them. It's a
behavior, it's not genetic."
Lexington
Herald-Leader (KY) March 30, 1998
Section:
Main News Edition: Final Page: A1, by
Angie Muhs, Frankfort Bureau
In his
autobiography, Judge Philpot laments the legalization of same sex unions and questions
their validity. It is likely that Judge Philpot will encounter legally married
same-sex couples in his family court and the book’s tiptoeing around the
subject indicates that Tim Philpot is unlikely to have changed his opinion that
homosexuality is due to misbehavior rather than an innate biological
characteristic.
6. JUDGE PHILPOT OPENLY REVEALS HIS SPECIFIC RELIGIOUS PREJUDICES IN HIS WRITINGS
Speaking not
just as the protagonist but as a neutral narrator, Judge Philpot makes no bones
about his deep-seated antipathy for what he understands to represent Hinduism:
Paperback Pages
143-144
He had been to India once before on a judicial
exchange, and he could still remember the smells, the poverty, the sadness of
spirit, the overwhelming despair of a religion that said there was no hope on
this earth to escape a caste system that held everyone prisoner to the
past-don't even try, because you did something bad in the last life to deserve
your poverty.
The British were gone. But India was still poor and
sad. Hinduism was not working.
Paperback Page
145
The Indian smells and sounds and busyness rekindled
his love affair with India-a mixed bag of love and despair.
Presumably,
he is using the term “love” in the same sense as he did in his published
remarks directed at gays and other minorities:
"My God preaches love, which is different than
tolerance,"
Timothy
Philpot quoted in Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) March 30, 1998 Section: Main
News Edition: Final Page: A1
Returning
fully to his real persona in the Acknowledgements
section, Judge Philpot declares on Paperback page 256
I am living now on the borders of heaven because God
showed me love on a hot day in India.
Sweaty love
notwithstanding, having to choose between getting over the wall into heaven by shouldering
The White Man’s Burden or performing
secular duties impartially is likely to present a conflict of interest to any
member of the judiciary.
It is
difficult to imagine therefore, an experience more galling to Judge Philpot
than to encounter in his own courtroom non-Christians who have not responded to
the redeeming light that Judge Philpot has spent his life carrying to the benighted
natives of foreign lands.
7. CONCLUSION
Judge
Philpot's continuing participation in taxpayer funded proselytizing activities
abroad not only represents a misuse of public funds but also reinforces his own
biases and prejudices as a family court judge. It represents at least an
appearance of impropriety and is likely to undermine confidence in the fairness
of his rulings within a diverse community.
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