A Lot of Students Had Traumatizing Experiences at Their Christian Schools

[NeoGreen]

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2019/01/30/a-lot-of-students-had-traumatizing-experiences-at-their-christian-schools/

A Lot of Students Had Traumatizing Experiences at Their Christian Schools
By Hemant Mehta, January 30, 2019

Less than a week ago, conservatives lashed out against Dan Levin, a New York Times reporter, for asking people to share their stories of Christian schools in response to the virality of the #ExposeChristianSchools hashtag. (His original tweet was deleted and a similar one later went up.)

That hashtag went viral in response to Karen Pence working at an anti-LGBTQ Christian school and after those MAGA hat-wearing students at Covington Catholic tomahawk chopped their way to infamy.

The conservatives assumed Levin only wanted horror stories so he could trash their faith.

Well, the story is out now… and as any reasonable person could have told you, it’s not just some anti-Christian screed. There are disturbing stories, sure, but there are also a handful of positive ones. (Don’t hold your breath waiting for an apology for the Right.)

A couple of them are especially troubling:

“Sex as a theme was very pervasive there. I took a vow of purity when I was 11. I was sexually abused starting at age 4, so by the time I put on that promise ring, in my mind I was already lying because I was already corrupted. My biology teacher taught us that sex creates an unbreakable soul bond through the exchange of blood and fluids. The idea is, if I slept with someone and then married someone else I wouldn’t be coming into that marriage as a whole person. Coming from a home where there was sexual abuse, learning that was heartbreaking and it took me years to undo that damage.”

“My education was filled with Christian alternative facts. Things like dinosaurs walked with man, men and women have a different number of ribs (due to the biblical creation story), and Noah’s son, Ham, who was cursed, was the ancestor of African nations. We were taught we would likely never get to grow up, because the rapture would happen so soon. I struggle to this day with anxiety that I will not get to live the life experiences I very much want, such as having a real career, and being stable enough to give back in a meaningful way, because the world could end at any moment.”

[Cartoonist]

1. G will be here soon

He'll have all the positive entries.

[trotsky]

5. And somehow try to claim that religion had nothing to do with this.

Despite bible verses specifically condemning homosexuality.

Naw man, it's just humans being human.

But when a Christian does something good, that's religion baby!

[Major Nikon]

6. Funny how that works

But not all that surprising given what we know about the effects of indoctrination.

[samnsara]

2. thank gawd im atheist

[MineralMan]

3. I would never subject children to such schools.

Since all religion, in my opinion, is based on faulty logic, there is far too much opportunity for that illogical world view to be taught as fact. Children are developing their methods for examining everything in the early grades. Why handicap a child by forcing him or her to learn myths as truth?

While some religious schools do a decent job of teaching some things, there's always that mythical undertone to everything. Some children will survive the indoctrination and realize the truth, but many will not, and might go through their entire adult life without even questioning the myths.

That said, I'm not in charge.

[Act_of_Reparation]

4. In before the theist with the positive anecdote about Jesuits or Ursulines shows up.

They had fun in Catholic school, so we shouldn't listen to or talk about any of the horror stories.

[MineralMan]

7. Yeah. Whatabout that?

[NeoGreen]

8. but..but..but...

...whatabout the Chinese! The CHINESE!!?

[MineralMan]

9. No, see. They don't allow religious schools.

Or so I understand.

[NeoGreen]

10. I guess that is worse than Germany...

...since in Germany homeschooling is illegal.

Homeschooling is illegal in Germany, so some families have sought asylum abroad in order to home-school their children.[16] The illegality has to do with the prioritization of children's rights over the rights of parents: children have the right to the company of other children and adults who are not their parents, also parents cannot opt their kids out of sexual education classes because the state considers a child's right to information to be more important than a parent's desire to withhold it.[17]

16) Tristana Moore (2010-03-08). "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Homeschoolers". TIME Magazine. Retrieved 2012-09-09.
17) Katherine Martinko (2018-02-08). "'Achtung Baby: An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children' (book review)".

Freedom and Rights for Children. Wish we had that.

[MineralMan]

11. Sing along everyone: "We don't need no education...."

"We don't need no thought control..."

Just another brick in Trump's wall...

[NeoGreen]

12. There is a reason...

...

[Voltaire2]

13. Understood.