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'I trust you'll be doing a follow up on #ExposeMuslimSchools'
New York Times reporter Dan Levin covers young Americans "and the issues they care about" — and just before 6 p.m. Thursday he tweeted a call for interview subjects that's going viral.
Levin said he's "writing about #ExposeChristianSchools. Are you in your 20s or younger who went to a Christian school? I'd like to hear about your experience and its impact on your life. Please DM me."
I'm a New York Times reporter writing about #exposechristianschools. Are you in your 20s or younger who went to a Christian school? I'd like to hear about your experience and its impact on your life. Please DM me.
— Dan Levin (@globaldan) January 24, 2019
Well, that set off a firestorm of replies — nearly 8,000 as of Friday morning — far outpacing the "likes" his post received. In Twitterspeak that's called being "ratioed."
While one might assume a deluge of stories came in about how Christian schools messed up people's lives, quite the opposite occurred for the most part. Here are some examples:
Others doubted Levin's objectivity and suspected he's preparing a hit piece on Christian schools, but he denied that and insisted he'll include positive accounts in his piece.
Some other replies:
Less than an hour later Levin posted and pinned to the top of his Twitter page a new message, clarifying his intent.
"I write about American youth, and the hashtag #exposechristianchools, which I didn't create, went viral in recent days," he noted. "I'm writing about the response to it and want to hear about all experiences, including positive stories/impact about your time in school. Plz DM me."
I write about American youth, and the hashtag #exposechristianchools, which I didn't create, went viral in recent days. I'm writing about the response to it and want to hear about all experiences, including positive stories/impact about your time in school. Plz DM me.
— Dan Levin (@globaldan) January 24, 2019
But many of those responding to the new call for interviewees weren't having it:
So, what's the deal with the "expose Christian schools" hashtag? What's it all about? The following might provide some insight:
*Nobody* is attacking Christians who want to practice their religion.
We're attacking Christians who teach kids to be ashamed of who they are, who teach that science isn't real, and who promote racism and homophobia in school.#ExposeChristianSchools
— emilia (@PoliticalEmilia) January 19, 2019
#ExposeChristianSchools is exposing the lack of empathy in those who continue to embrace their Christian school training.
When someone says that a system harmed them, the proper response is empathy, not trying to silence them with positive stories about the system.
— Heretical Jesus Follower (@bibleblvheretic) January 20, 2019
Mike Pence @VP asks "what kind of anti-Christian bigot would keep us from being anti-gay bigots?"
The problem w/the #ExposeChristianSchools hashtag is that these homophobic schools aren't Christian - they're Evangelical Supremacist.
https://t.co/bIVz5XqBKx via @HuffPostPol
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) January 19, 2019
"I wish pro-life Christians could manufacture the slightest bit of reverence for the sanctity of LGBTQ lives; a fraction of the compassion they so readily wield for what they claim God breathes life into."https://t.co/SBfqQPEzrG#MarchForLife2019 #ExposeChristianSchools
— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) January 19, 2019
But Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire had the following to say about the hashtag:
The earliest and greatest universities in the West were established by religious institutions. Enlightenment values were rooted in religious notions of individual value and an understandable universe. #ExposeChristianSchools
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 25, 2019
The funniest thing in the #ExposeChristianSchools tag are the people complaining about the "anti-science" agenda of Christian schools. Do you guys have any idea what sort of anti-science gibberish they teach in public schools? Let's start with the idea that girls can have penises
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 25, 2019