I cannot believe that the reporter suggested to the counselor that he might be "brainwashing" these kids. Has she never attended a church. or Christian sponsored summer camp?
When I was a kid I went to Victory Bible Camp. Which was great fun for me right up until Sunday morning when I had to be escorted to the prayer meeting against my will and forced to participate or risk losing my turn to go horseback riding.
I must confess that when I closed my eyes and lowered my head I didn't actually do any praying.
Which reminds me of the old adage, "You can lead and Atheist to a house of worship, but you can't make him buy into your bullshit."
That might not be an old adage, but it should be.
Atheist camp was just every camp I went to in the 70s. No prayers, no services. Just adolescents waiting to play spin the bottle, put food coloring in the water supply and sneak out of the cabins at night and swim in the lake nude. . . .
ReplyDeleteMy son and grandson went to an atheist camp a few years ago and really enjoyed the experience. The campers had fun hiking, etc. but also did some useful things like clearing a patch of buck-thorn from the camp.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Gryphen.
ReplyDeleteFor the reporter to "worry about brainwashing" is a typical response from someone who's either intellectually lazy, or just plain foolish.
Most atheists describe our belief as being the LACK of belief, or in other words, there is NOTHING to believe in as far as gods, fairies, sprites, idols, or divine beings of any sort.
How do you brainwash or indoctrinate someone when you are simply stating that there is nothing to believe in?
Yes, it's true that many so called religious people are wringing their hands about the rise of athiesm, but among the most insidious of the current mud slinging against us is the accusation that many are "anti-theist".
Reza Aslan has just written a column for Salon where he mistakenly claims that "New athiests" really aren't athiests, but that we are anti-thiest, meaning we hate religion, and are actively pursuing the abolition of religion.
I can't say I'm doing much to try and destroy religion, but I sure would if I thought there was some active way to do it that wouldn't involve being seen by society as a frothing at the mouth nutcase preacher.
http://www.salon.com/2014/11/21/reza_aslan_sam_harris_and_new_atheists_arent_new_arent_even_atheists/
I think Reza is dead wrong on his premise, and is very short sighted on what athiesm is at its core, and as a scholarly piece, this article falls way short of the mark.
Athiesm is like calling bald a hair color
Athiesm is a religion like OFF is a TV channel
I was shipped off, screaming and yelling, to Bible Camp every blasted summer for years.
ReplyDeleteIt was terrible; there was no place you could hide to escape the prayers and the preaching.
To even qualify for a hot rock for our sleeping bags, we were required to listen to long hours of rambling "religious instruction" so boring it was actually physically painful. So I amused myself--night after oh-god-will-this-never end night--by twisting wild strawberry runners into tiny hangman's nooses.
That was years ago and I don't remember a single thing from those lectures, but I can still make an excellent hangman's noose with thirteen wraps and everything. Funny how some things stick with you, and some things don't.
I was trotted over to the church every Weds. for Catholic Mass for our school. I have no memory of praying there. But I did get very good at dodging when the nuns would whack me on the back of the head for not sitting still.
ReplyDeleteI developed the mind control skills there that have served me well in endless, stupid, brain-washing meetings of the corporate world.
This comic, http://oglaf.com/conviction/, clarifies the importance of belief. The more you believe, the less you check facts.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry Gryphen that you had to go to Victory Bible Camp! I know a lot of people associated with it through the years and while some of them seem kind of nice on the surface they are all the same judgmental christians that try to brainwash innocent people. Bunch of freaky types that actually do the "drunk in the spirit" and "talking in tongues" type thing. Delusional and terrible people at heart and taking young people and trying to indoctrinate them. And yes, they do have horses, which young children love, but hey, there are other places to ride horses besides the "crazy christian camp".
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