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Fundamentalist Christian Predators Target School Children
more from Hrafnkell Haraldsson
It's a scary world; not the world I grew up in where we kids could run up and down the street and walk safely to our elementary school just under a mile away, play at the park and generally make the whole neighborhood our play area.
Today you’d normally worry about sexual predators but there are those who prey on children’s minds as well – we call them fundamentalist Christians.
Meet Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF). They should be on a wanted poster. For creepification factor they rank pretty high, right up there with the infamous Hitler Youth-like Jesus camps.
These people think your children are fair game. All children are fair game. They have not only a right, they think, but a moral obligation to brainwash any child they come across. And your children aren’t safe as a result.
Time magazine took a look at them back in 2001 (they’ve been around since 1937), the CEF calling themselves “America’s best kept secret.” First Amendment group Jews on First warned about them in 2006. And scary as they are, they’re still not widely known.
This is how they describe themselves:
Child Evangelism Fellowship® (CEF®) is a Bible-centered, worldwide organization that is dedicated to seeing every child reached with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, discipled and established in a local church.
And they know how to get kids – just like a sexual predator: candy. As Time related:
To sustain interest in the club, leaders use every imaginable child enticement: colorful Jesus dolls, cheery songs and mountains of sugar. The Pleasant Gap session starts with a round of cookies. At another club nearby, kids who answer scriptural questions get pelted with candy fired out of a spring-loaded catapult. Children get $1 in fake money for coming and $2 for bringing a friend. Every few months, they can redeem the "money" for–guess what?–more candy.
At every meeting, the club leader asks if anyone would like to accept Jesus as his Saviour. If a child raises his hand, the leader has a one-on-one conversation with him to see if he is ready to be "saved" then and there.
Not my kid, Thor willing. There is a reason my Heathen ancestors saw Red Thor as their defender against the White Christ: the missionaries wanted their children as well. Unfortunately, in those days the fundamentalists could not only threaten violence but engage in it so they got the children – and the parents – in the end anyway.
This is also why Radbod the Frisian told the missionaries he would rather join his ancestors in hell than to heaven with a handful of beggars. This is why Charlemagne had to slaughter the Pagan Saxons by the thousands.
Some of us just don’t want to be proselytized to. It should be illegal. They should have the right to put the information out there: we’ll find it if we want to. But they should have no right to go after people.
It won’t be quite as easy for them this time but fundamentalists have always been sneaky. They will use any avenue you give them – rather like that Satan guy they like to talk about. Funny their tactics should be so similar – or is it?
By their own admission, there are many tentacles to this Cthulhu-like creature:
The Good News Club and 5-Day Club ministries take place in neighborhood settings such as homes, backyards, schools and community centers all over the world. These fast-paced, one-hour programs are designed to bring the Gospel of Christ to children on their level in their environment.
The Truth Chasers Club is an exciting Bible correspondence course designed to disciple children and adults. God has allowed us to reach over 387,000 people (70% of that number children) in more than 130 countries!
Along with these clubs, CEF also has fair, camping, open-air, and internet ministries for children. Last year through these combined ministries over 10 million children worldwide heard the good news with over one million making professions of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The problem comes in with, as might be expected, a Supreme Court ruling during the Bush presidency. From Wikipedia:
Both of these programs focus on training church members from various evangelical churches to effectively teach children in homes, neighborhood centers and schools. On June 11, 2001 the USA Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing CEF's Good News Clubs to meet in public elementary schools after school hours, based on equal access and protection from viewpoint discrimination. Since that time CEF has been working to establish Good News Clubs in public schools around the USA. Currently, there are Good News Clubs in over 3000 public elementary schools.
As far as their curriculum goes, that’s a little tricky, as psychologist Valerie Tarico related last year on her blog (reposted at K-12 News Network): "If you ask, they won’t share the curriculum or lesson plans. The materials are tightly held, so parents don’t have a good idea of what this is. They had posted that parents are welcome, so we sat in on two of their sessions and saw some stuff that was not actually kosher. Then they told us that we were no longer welcome."
They teach a very fairy tale version of the Christian faith. For example, they give the kids little puzzle toys that are fun to play with but really it is a wordless tract. A black heart shows the original sin in each child, gold is heaven, a red cross represents the blood of Christ, a white heart represents the pure child who has found salvation. My kid played with it for 20 minutes. I didn’t tell her what it is supposed to represent. The idea is that the kids bring it to school and other kids ask about it.
These kids are easy to manipulate. Cake, cookies, balloons are very attractive to them. They use enticements like these to get children to say to their parents, “Can I go?” Children can’t tell the difference between good news club and school sponsored activities like chess club.
Remember, what they told Pagan critic Celsus 1800 years ago still holds true today: “Do not ask questions: Just believe!” You can examine this “black heart” bit for yourself on their site here.
Wikipedia relates one method of protecting our children from this spiritual predation:
The Child Evangelism Fellowship was prohibited by the Elk River, Minnesota board of education to distribute materials in that district's schools during open houses in 2007 and 2008. The Fellowship took the matter to U.S. District Court. In February, 2009, Judge Ann Montgomery ruled that the school district's order deprived the Fellowship of its freedom of speech rights. She went on to say that the school district could still prevent the group from distributing materials if it adopted a policy of closing the schools to all such groups, which the school district did in March, 2009.
It is a pity that the innocent must suffer so that the innocent can be protected but that is the sorry state of things in a nation with First Amendment protections. Justice David Souter dissenting from the 2001 decision, writing: ''It is beyond question that Good News intends to use the public school premises not for the mere discussion of a subject from a particular, Christian point of view, 'but for an evangelical service of worship calling children to commit themselves in an act of Christian conversion.' ">
Groups like the CEF will take every advantage and then some. According to Valerie Tarico,
CEF has systematically violated all of the conditions of the supreme court decision. They clearly are not about character education they are about reaching children who are unchurched and bringing them into their belief system. In this mission, they try to leverage the legitimacy of the school setting. By putting fliers in kids’ back packs they are clearly using the school’s communication channels. By trying to put an Ad in the PTA auction book at our school they tried to use the other vehicles of the school to legitimize what they are doing and to integrate it with the school’s activities.
We have already seen the ruthlessness with which the Christian fundamentalist-bolstered GOP treats its enemies. There is no lie they will not tell in the pursuit of what they see to be a greater truth and no low to which they will not stoop to push what they see as their privilege on others. One of them told Time back in 2001: “"We're not trying to grab kids and indoctrinate them. We're not a bunch of weirdos,"
But that is exactly what they’re trying to do, grab kids and indoctrinate them, and not their own kids, but your kids, our kids, my kids.
The old Christian cry of Deus vult (God wills it!) dating from the First Crusade – or at least its spirit – is with us still. And like those who found themselves in the path of those crusaders, chilled our hearts should be.
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34 Responses to Fundamentalist Christian Predators Target School Children
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Shiva (Moderator)
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 8:09 am
There is one thing in our favor. When the candy stops life gets interesting. You have to think for yourself. Most of this stuff will wash off in time I think once the kids hit the real world.
I remember the Good News Club newspapers we used to get in school when I was very young. I was a voracious reader and really never thought of them as religious but something to read.
The little kid singing about "homo's" that we have all seen is an indication that sharia laws are in place and working. You WILL beleive.
SinghX
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 8:17 am
We must have the Vulcan mind meld going of something, Harf…I just picked up Katherin Stewarts book, "The Good News Club" from the libarary this week. I finally had the stomach enough picked it up and start reading it last night . ..I knew it was going to make me disgustingly ill.
An amazing story told by the author was of a community that went to the pastor of the church "sponsoring" the local grade school club. They thought perhaps they could talk to him about the predatory behavior of the woman leading the club, breaking all the rules, and bringing an attorney with her, threatening to sue the PTA if they tried to remove the club…
The parents asked if the thought Jesus intended to divided people. He said,
"I think based on what scriptures says his message does…Our role is not to cause divison but to teach people what Jesus taught. And as people accept that message or reject taht message it will divide…Whenever it's a belief about anything, you will unite some people around that belief and others that reject that belief, it will cause division. I don't know if I would say it's our role to do that but, it is the afteraffect".
Obviously, the parents got no where. The story devolves with a divided community, children not playing with other children, local ministers calling the evangelical fundamentalist fascist. One minister told the parent,
"This group is no differnt that the Lord's Army in Africa, the Nazis with their Hitler's Youth. That is where you start if you want to build a facsist movement."
Enough said…
Sally
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 11:37 am
Isn't it interesting that Bachmann and other fundies warn constantly of Obama and 're-education camps' that don't exist, while they support this kind of brainwashing of children with no parents present? I believe in God, and actually attended these afterschool things for a few years, but was mostly interested in the craft projects and interaction with other kids. Grandma took us to her church, and I guess I was brainwashed, but as I grew older, I began to question things, and gradually made peace with what I believe versus what these agitated 'agree or die' folks think. Jesus was never about violence or violent conversion. He walked, he spoke, he accepted any willing to come to him. But he never threatened, never ordered, never bribed. These people are truly mentally ill.
Reynardine
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 8:21 am
I’d like to see Wiccan and other non-monotheist groups try to hold such meetings on school premises. Their refusal could make a factual case that the school system is in fact establishing a religion.
Meanwhile, our kids need to be taught that, “Want some candy, little girl#” is not just a gambit of physical kidnappers and child-molesters. See, also, that your child’s after-school hours and need for belonging are both wholesomely filled, and be the kind of parent they can come to with questions (and, within reason, for cookies).
Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 8:28 am
I can just see me trying to offer readings of the words of the High One (the Hávamál) at my son's school: "Let me tell you what Odhinn says about that!”
That would go over real well (sarcasm intended), though it probably better received (I might not get tarred and feathered and driven out of town) here than in NE Indiana!
Shiva (Moderator)
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 9:03 am
I agree. Parents need to push this law and see how far it can go before it bends
Sally
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 11:40 am
Spot on! All these people insisting on opening our public places to their prayer need to realize that once that gate is open, the courts will have to allow every religion there, every prayer method taught, and every belief system a time and place. That should go over well with the anti-evolution crowd, who can't accept scientific facts in public school, let alone a different religious system than theirs. I want to say to them: "There is ONE God, and He accepts all kinds of worship."
SinghX
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 12:06 pm
…again, nice try…people have already tried this. The CRF keeps an watchful eye on all the activities in the schools they invade for "interlopers". They send one of their church members to sit in on the activity and take notes. They then intimidate the group leader and threathen them with action for persecuting them via "the others" belief….you know, after school kid-based yoga is a BIG recruiting tool used by them Hindus to pull children into Satan.
They make sure "the other " is marginalized; they get the "best" most visible room by showing up early in front of the activities areas with tables full of candy, balloons, trash and trickets so that the after-school kids have to get through their gaunlet in order to go to other activities. If you were 6-7 would you know the difference of an "activity" your parent "authorized" or, would you want to join the club that with all the cookies you can eat!
They don't know that the Pied Piper isn't taking them to "Candyland" but plans on stealing them from their parents…
SinghX
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
correct, the CEF…hit the wrong key
A Walkaway
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
This reminds me of something I learned about the Assemblies of God several months ago. They teach their "ministry students" how to do this sort of thing… specifically. Not only how to get center stage and try to capture all the attention, but also how to restrict access to any other tables that are set up. They're trained even how to approach tables of organizations/churches they don't like and want gone… and it was pointed out to me when they tried to block a table we were manning.
The Assemblies are essentially where dominionism started.
Susie
Jun. 10th, 2012 at 4:04 am
This is very much the strategy I would prefer, as it doesn't allow CEF to adopt the victim stance that its rights are being threatened. In fact, we would see how much these people genuinely believe in freedom of speech per se, i.e. for everyone, no matter what their point of view, as opposed to for themselves alone.
A Walkaway
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 10:56 am
They're teaching the kids the "Biblical" justification and reasoning for killing all nonbelievers, which is becoming standard fare in their churches. It's only one facet of why I fear violence within the next few months.
www.talk2action.org/story...
Reynardine
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 12:19 pm
The day and hour these viciously-programmed elementary school kids actually kill a classmate, we might see some action…but even then, I can’t be sure. As a small kid, in what should have been a more enlightened time and place, I faced that kind of violence repeatedly. I never had an injury serious enough to require medical care, but generally, I was blamed for existing.
A Walkaway
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 4:59 pm
I think it's actually happened, but because "they're a CHURCH, they can't be that bad!" the religious aspect of the severe bullying was ignored. I know that there are a lot of LGBT kids who have committed suicide because of the vicious bullying they get, but the "powers that be" don't want the churches identified as the real culprits.
I know a young man who was suicidal in third grade because of the bullying, including from his teachers. Reason – he's American Indian. I suspect that the churches were behind it, but you can't tell him that now… he's gone at least extreme (young earth creationist) fundie, if not full-blown dominionist.
He has no love for the white culture, I can say that!
Reynardine
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 7:06 pm
Do you know of any cases of below-twelves dying from peer abuse?
A Walkaway
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 7:33 pm
I'm going to have to think for a while, as I don't keep up on that issue and my memory is vague. It seems to me I've read of a few cases and there may be a journal article available on it. I know the one situation (he didn't commit suicide, thank God), but would have to get permission before saying any more.
I'll drop you an email.
SinghX
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 11:56 am
Those of you who really believe the law will intercede better think twice. The US Supreme Court in "Milford" determined that the Good News Club is an "activity aimed at serving the interest and concerns of those children whose parents authorized their participation"…HA!
They USE the children to "spread the good news" via a nation wide program of a "point" system based on prizes and rewards for the children who recruit their friends into the club. They even pit children against their own parents as part of the process, too. They believe if they recruit the kids, the parents will eventually be coercived into taking the child to a "bible-believin' church"…you don't want your bible-believing child to think you're to go to hell do you…you gotta' think of the chillllllldren!!!
This is a packaged program that is already well-established right under our noses…just try and stop them…the parents in the book (see above comment) would not give names as they feared retaliation and all said repeatedly that there were times they feared for their lives!
A Walkaway
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 1:31 pm
I think a lot of us can attest to having that fear, and they have good reason for feeling that way.
molly malone
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 12:20 pm
Federal law is pretty clear about prosthelizing on publc school premises: because taxpayers of all faiths and no faiths fund public schools, no religious organization(s) shall be allowed to use school facitilities to the exclusion of other belief systems. Thus, if the Christians get to do their thing on public school grounds, then Wiccans, Pagans, Muslims, Jews, atheists, etc., must be granted those same priviledges.
Trouble is, if preferential treatment is given to one religion, and there are no challenges from people holding different beliefs, nothing happens. On the plus side, a simple request for equal time and opportunity can sometimes be enough to cause school administrators to shy away from allowing any religious use of school facilities. Downside is, this can make the previously favored folks very, very angry with you.
Hrafnkell, one of the things that puzzles me is how many ignorant and downright weird preachers sail under the flag of "Baptist" or "Pentecostal" or some other recognized as legitimate Christian religion. How can they get away with that? Don't those denominations have any basic scholarship/seminary requirements? I googled "How to start your own church" and was surprised to find sites to guide one step by step through the process. What I could not find was what one needs to know in order to qualify as, for example, a Baptist, a Pentecostal, Seventh-Day Adventist, Christian Science (to name a few) preacher.
Seems to me that anyone with a third grade education, who hears God telling him to preach the Gospel, ought to come equipped with warning lights and alarm bells.
SinghX
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 12:54 pm
Sorry Molly…they're way ahead of the Federal Law; If a school denys them access to have a "club" they are liable under the First Amendment for a law suit. They only way to keep them out completely is for a public school to re-write all their rules pertaining to clubs and close the doors once the final bell has rung.
These predators have figured out how to sue ASAP if they are denied access to public schools. They claim they are there to teach character development, patriotism, morality and community involvement. Therefore, everything they do is "legal" and no different than anything else taught, even art, music…they're just "teaching" from a christian perspective, therefore there is nothing they can't address from a christian perspective…equal means equal access…and, they have never lost a "Good News Club" case. Sorry, Molly, but we're screwed…they are way ahead of us and they know it.
They don't care about the school environment or love they neighbor; they're mission is to "change the planet" by focusing on 5-12 year olds. They view the public school is a war zone where Satan has taken over since the 60's…they are battling America for the hearts, minds and souls of it's children.
This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around…
molly malone
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
Singh, I believe you hit upon the reason why these people are legally able to get away this garbage. The key word here is "club." If a school allows clubs of any kind–chess club, Art club, drama club, etc.–any clubs that function outside and independent from the regular school curriculum–this opens the door to other types of clubs/programs/activities, which then cannot be discriminated against under law.
For this reason, some public schools prohibit ALL such "outside" activities on school premises. Seems like a sensible policy to adopt. I would love to see the litigation that would ensue should a public school allow these "predators" to use school facilities and deny Wiccans equal opportunity to teach, oh, say, Herbs and healthy living.
A Walkaway
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 1:01 pm
I can answer this. The Assemblies of God and many other Pentecostal denominations are very lax – about all you do is have to have some sort of Bible study and a letter of approval from your pastor in some instances. Plus there are all of the "independent" churches where all someone has to do is set themselves up and call themselves pastor/minister/whatever. Even the best of the dominionists only require four years in their "bible Colleges" (aka now "University") plus the letter or letters of recommendation. Some groups even "ordain" people via mail and I've heard of a "ThD" ("Doctorate of Theology") given for a somewhat comprehensive Bible study.
Their "Bible Colleges" were a joke back when I hung out there (30+ years ago). I heard of classes where all the students had to do is pray, and grading was based more on the instructor's opinion on how the student was progress. I also hung out with the ministry students who were being trained to take over other denominations – down to specific training for specific denominations and what to say and not say - and the most effective ways to influence those churches into becoming more dominionist/Pentecostal (steeplejacked, and the process is called steeplejacking).
Recent conversations with a person who was such a student only a few years ago suggest that they haven't changed all that much in some ways, but the grading is marginally improved because the school in question has achieved at least partial accreditation (and now is called a "university").
A Walkaway
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 1:04 pm
Comprehensive Bible study from the point of view of what one usually encounters in a church. It's a joke compared to what I'd call comprehensive Bible study.
molly malone
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 2:24 pm
Strange, isn't it, Walkaway, that we have some strong laws with regard to environmental, health and safety regulations, but nothing to protect the religious faithful from grifters, nutjobs, and emotional vampires.
Peter
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 12:38 pm
When in Middle School, a young girl who is dear to us was cornered in such a group after school at the evangelical Hope Church in Wilton, CT by several brainwashed friends led by an overzealous mother. The other girls ganged up and bore down, pleading with her to "believe what we believe and accept Jesus right now because we want you to be in Heaven with us forever; otherwise you won't be saved."
The girl's parents subsequently had words with the pastor. The mother was spoken to and the incident caused quite a row, with church members divided over the advisability of such behavior and tactics (perhaps the question was "do the ends justify the means?") The pastor ended up leaving and hopefully the practice has since ended.
Meanwhile, the victimized girl was so traumatized that to this day she rejects all notions of God, Jesus, and religion and often reacts to them with in anger. It seems these well-intentioned people caused the baby to be thrown out with the bathwater. How does that save souls?
A Walkaway
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 1:20 pm
I see that frequently… hear of it all the time. My wife and I have spent many hours helping people in that sort of situation – especially walkaways, or people who belonged to the church but walked away. I myself sometimes feel that way (30+ years later), and I am a Christian (although most wouldn't accept that). They drive far more people away than they "win", and I would argue that they're winning people for the inverse-of-Christ.
molly malone
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Peter, "the ends justify the means"religious folks have no moral boundaries; anything and anyone is fair game in furtherance of a desired objective. As a "there are no ends, only means" kind of person, I find such people pretty damn scary. And ugly, too. Not to mention, downright inhumane.
Were I a religious person, the possibility of spending eternity with people like this would make Hell seem positively inviting.
Reynardine
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 1:01 pm
Actually, the school could simply ban the after-hours serving of food on the premises, except at class picnics and other actual school functions. That’d at least take the candy away from these spiritual diddy-diddlers.
SinghX
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 3:00 pm
You would have to eliminate anything dealing with any kind of a "reward system" like scout badges…and they couldn't have cookies and milk which is usually suppiled by a parent on a rotating basis…also, you would have to eliminate all posters, flyers, advertisement of the clubs; remember equal means equal access.
What would probably work is, after-school clubs "renting" spaces from "friendly" houses of worship, like the Girl Scouts used to be able to do at the Catholic Churches until as of recent (in Indiana, at least).
It's all pretty sick creating a divisive playground based upon who is "saved" and who "isn't" but, that's exactly what they are doing. They have organized a systematic, legal method of using social bigotry to keep superiority over the "other"…they have ruined community-based programs that have worked for decades and are running their theocratic "tanks" over the playgrounds of public school causing everybody to run scared…parents don't even volunteer in these schools anylonger for fear of reprisal as what ever they do is precieved as violating the Christian facsist "religious rights"…it's sick.
We need laws like Europe has stating that orgainzations cannot use recruitment to take children away via ideology from the family structure as it is considered a negative that destroys the "peace of democracy".
A Walkaway
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 3:43 pm
That's the first I've heard of that European law… and I like it.
The dominionists also have lots of volunteers in the schools, to watch for the things they don't like… like exposing children to evolution, or to the idea that other cultures exist who don't think like them and are just as advanced and valid. It can even come down to "I don't like the substitute teacher, because she's American Indian and I found out"!
Reynardine
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Well, no, you can eliminate non-school food on the grounds that it’s not subject to health and sanitation control, and therefore the school cannot allow it on the premises. Without the cookies and candy, it’s hard for the pervs to lure little kids. Badges and gold stars don’t smell or taste very good.
SinghX
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 7:59 pm
True and good point. But, at the rate these people "multiply" their efforts by having meetings to compare notes. They'd find a way around it…they'd start giving kids gift cards for candy and cookies at malls/outlets or they set up outside "open house night" or PTA meetings outside the school and hand out their garbage to passersby…kids don't know the difference and they are ruthless and relentless about taking over de verld!
Side bar: when my eldest was in the military, this pesky "minister" showed up at the hanger one day looking for lost souls…since my kid was the "Sarge-in-charge", the minister was stopped at the door.
The Sarge, "Where are all the goodies?! You can't come here without goodies! The other ministers always bring us cakes and pies, enough for everyone to take home to their families….no goodies, no entrance. Don't come back unless you got the goodies?" He threw the guy off every time with another, "you didn't bring the right bribe" game…or dressed him down and then begged him for a "big hug for Jesus!"; Pastor Willey Coyote finally gave up…
Ah learned my kids up rite! Don't even get me started on my other one tormenting the street preacher with the old "Jesus is this BIG" routine…
Reynardine
Jun. 9th, 2012 at 8:34 pm
Well, yes, they can hand out coupons, but those aren’t tasty, and tender young kids- the kind they want- aren’t into delayed gratification.
Dan Skinner
Jun. 12th, 2012 at 11:45 am
The Republicans have embraced every crazy person on the planet.