Why do mormon mishies sometimes hang around school playgrounds?
Why do fanatical Christians sometimes pass out their materials to school kids?
Why do evangelical churches tell children to recruit their classmates at school?
Answer: Because children have less experience and lack the personal wherewithall to fend for themselves. They're vulnerable. And this is exactly why parents and schools need to help them learn to take self protective measures against forces which marginalize them.
Fortunately, all but the most clueless church people know that it's wrong to target minor children. They know that public schools are't the places to preach and go after converts. But I hope parents and others who see this happening will say something.
I believe if I do nothing in the face of injustice, that I'm part of the problem and not the solution.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2010 12:26PM by Cheryl.
Morg mishes will "hang around" anyone who is gulliable, naive, and or prone to fall for a scam due to immaturity, etc. They need their numbers (baptisms) to look good in front of their MP, Family, Girlfriends, etc, so that they can be advance in the one-up-man-ship paradigm. Its a business.
here in the south. Since we moved here it has been nothing but churchy things with the school.... it has been a frustrating battle to fight. And I am definately labeled a terrible parent. People "feel sorry" for my girls. Because we "lack religion" or "morals" apparently. Screw them.
My girls are helpful and well rounded and very caring and kind and are very active in fundraising and donations for the poor/less fortunate.
But I do agree, it is rapidly becoming a bigger problem than when I was young and in school.... and I am only almost 30 sheesh!
but I probably should tell them that. Our neighbor stopped letting our children play together. And no one likes to hang out with me at the GS... I walk in and they go to their gossip corners :) Yes some things have been said to me about this.Like "how do you raise your children without a moral code or compass to go by?" I usually respond that "we do have a moral code and it is to be kind, loving and tolerant to even people like them. Who do not do the same in return. I tell them I raise my girls to be compassionate and giving no matter who and how people are. And that we should always try and help when we can" The only person happy to see me is my daughter :) I have thick skin and it doesn't bother me, but what does bother me is that so much religion is in our school.
If you want religion fine, keep it to yourself and don't press it on my kids at school. Or other kids for that matter.
thought it was ridiculous that another family didn't let their children celebrate holidays due to their religion(JW) and she(born again christian) was going to have her kids befriend these children so she could have a reason to invite them over and have holiday themed get togethers where the children could "have fun and have a real childhood"
Now I am in no way affiliated with any religion. I identify mostly as atheist.(but I do have a fascination with paganism...)But I had to step in and tell her that it was not appropriate to do so and I did believe that would be parental interference and she could get in alot of trouble for something like that.
So I can't win either way :) I was being mean and apparently now I must be against holidays too.... which isn't true.
I've been Pagan for over 20 years, and the claims about Christian holidays preserving elements of the old pagan cultures are mostly bunk. That's an idea that became popular among academics in the 1980s, leaked out to the general public in the 90s, and has since been thoroughly debunked.
I'm no preacher, in fact I find that as I'm withdrawing from the mormon church I am at the very least agnostic if not atheist.
I just find your stance on using your position at school to stamp out religious interaction to be such an abuse of what you were hired to do in the first place. You validate every fear I have of the government using schools to indoctrinate my children. I don't care if you think the child's eternal or earthly future is in danger, your job is to teach my children the abc's and 123's.
I would have no problem with this if we were talking about a private school but I don't believe that any of the children in your school are their because they or their families have the economical choice to attend a private school. They are a captive audience to you and you are choosing to use that position to indoctrinate them instead of simply presenting information and tools to learn.
Where do the missionaries hang around schools? They certainly don't here in Colorado.
Do you have issues with other non-religious groups indoctrinating children? Feminists? Nazis? Communists? Capitalists? What are you doing to stamp out these influences? If you are simply singling out religion that makes you just as much of a bigot as any other bigot. You just have a bigger stick and a group of captive children to release your religious bigotry on.
> I just find your stance on using your position at > school to stamp out religious interaction to be > such an abuse of what you were hired to do in the > first place. You validate every fear I have of > the government using schools to indoctrinate my > children. I don't care if you think the child's > eternal or earthly future is in danger, your job > is to teach my children the abc's and 123's.
You are so paranoid of this that you read it even when the opposite is stated. Please get some counseling.
"I just find your stance on using your position at school to stamp out religious interaction to be such an abuse of what you were hired to do in the first place."
It is not appropriate for schools to allow religious bullying -- particularly by adults towards children. I'm sure there are no missionaries hanging around schools in my area because our school would find such attention by adults towards the children in their care to be a huge red flag. (And yes, it doesn't matter if it's religious people or "feminists" -- although I've never heard of "feminists" knocking door to door to win converts either. Talk about your stupid analogies.) Anyway, pedophiles will claim to be anything that lets them near children and in my state they take that quite seriously and will escort anyone hanging around school property away. They'll press charges if it persists. And that's EXACTLY the way it should be. School is a place to learn about the three Rs. To learn logical thinking. To learn about other cultures. And so forth. It's not a place for ANY religion to indoctrinate the vulnerable.
Rebeckah Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > "I just find your stance on using your position at > school to stamp out religious interaction to be > such an abuse of what you were hired to do in the > first place." > > It is not appropriate for schools to allow > religious bullying -- particularly by adults > towards children. I'm sure there are no > missionaries hanging around schools in my area > because our school would find such attention by > adults towards the children in their care to be a > huge red flag. (And yes, it doesn't matter if it's > religious people or "feminists" -- although I've > never heard of "feminists" knocking door to door > to win converts either. Talk about your stupid > analogies.) Anyway, pedophiles will claim to be > anything that lets them near children and in my > state they take that quite seriously and will > escort anyone hanging around school property away. > They'll press charges if it persists. And that's > EXACTLY the way it should be. School is a place to > learn about the three Rs. To learn logical > thinking. To learn about other cultures. And so > forth. It's not a place for ANY religion to > indoctrinate the vulnerable.
I think a lot depends on your definition of religious bullying. Asking a kid what his religion is, inviting him to Primary, mentioning your beliefs, or discussing religion in a friendly way are not bullying. Telling a kid he is going to hell, repeatedly pressuring him to attend, starting rumors about him etc are bullying.There is a certain amount of common sewmse involved. BTW, other than what I have read on this board, I have never heard of any missionaries of any faith hanging around schools.I 'm not saying it never happened, but I don't think it a big issue most places.I guess I am somewhere in the middle of this issue.I also think it is unrealistic to expect the school to solve all incidents of this nature. Kids need to learn to deal with minor things such as other kids who disagree with them on things like religion.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2010 02:52PM by bona dea.
ExMormonRon Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Same reason cigarette manufacturers target 20 - 25 > year old males. > > Ron
I remember an RM who said that many people are most likely to join the church when they are involved with certain events in their life - a death in the family, a marriage, or the birth of a baby. He claimed these were spiritual events which made them susceptible to the HG.
She was in an unhappy marriage with an emotionally and physically abusive man. I was a year old, she was pregnant with my younger sister, and her husband was sexually abusing my older sister (who was not his bio daughter). She loved the message of the "Gospel" and hoped that it would help her in her life. She joined up, but it didn't help her.The abuse went on. She stayed with him while he continued to abuse her and rape my sister repeatedly over the years. She even had a 4th daughter. Finally divorced him when I was 7.
She left "the church" about 25 years ago after working for "the church" at the Family History Center in SLC.
Cheryl, I think you might be making most of this up to give yourself a little bit of a soap box from which to spout against schools and teachers.
I doubt very much that any school is under siege from a combination of pamphlet toting Missionaries, Christian Zealots, Evangelists.
As for kids conducting the 6 discussions in the playground, get a life. Kids will talk and discuss all sorts of stuff in the playground. Kids will be friends, then they won't be, then they will be again. What will you do if a child dares discuss sex with yours? Blame the school? Blame the parents? State that the school is under siege from condom manufacturers?
At one time as a teacher, my mail cubby had to be cleared two to three times a day of flyers and brochures from different organizations targeting children. Teachers handed this stuff out to their students and the kids either took it home or let it fly around the school yard and neighborhood as litter. Many times homework and official school business got lost in the mess.
I and several other teachers complained to the principal after getting the thumbs up from the union. We said that these materials got in the way of teaching the curriculum and much of it was from religious, politcal, or commercial organizations which were not in tune with the academic program we were paid to teach.
The school offices in the district started overseeing what was put into teacher boxes. We sent out only materials which were considered helpful to children and which enhanced education, the Campfire program, Scouting, Big Brother, Big Sister clubs, after school sports and such. Some people might not support all of these organizations, but at least we stopped giving a special leg up to Antabaptists, Church of God, a Hello Kitty boutique, and the Peace and Freedom political party. We also saved time and money on litter cleanup and time handing out materials. This is actually considerable when many teachers used to spend an hour or so a week collating and stapling the flyers and more time handing them to children.
In Utah I saw mormon missionaries in my mother's neighborhood use their bikes and bodies to coral children for long chats. Utah mormons might not mind, but if there are non-mos attending there, I don't think they'd like this kind of "fellowshipping" going on with their kids. Seige? no Bullying? no But is it intimidating to some kids? yes
At schools where I've taught we had to put a stop to Christians hanging out around the playground handing out Hellfire pictures and invitations to attend religious "haunted houses" in church basements.
One group passed out Bibles. Another, anti-fluoridation material. Also, advertising for video game shops and sport shoe shops.
Another group covertly left a stack of materials on coffee tables in the office waiting area and in the school library. This stuff ran counter to the school program.
Well over 99% of parents don't want their kids to have to deal with these kinds of affronts to their personal beliefs when they go to a public school.
Public schools are for a diverse public. Special interest groups need to go elsewhere to spread their agendas.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2010 12:35PM by Cheryl.
Jon Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Cheryl, I think you might be making most of this > up to give yourself a little bit of a soap box > from which to spout against schools and teachers. > > I doubt very much that any school is under siege > from a combination of pamphlet toting > Missionaries, Christian Zealots, Evangelists. > > As for kids conducting the 6 discussions in the > playground, get a life. Kids will talk and discuss > all sorts of stuff in the playground. Kids will be > friends, then they won't be, then they will be > again. What will you do if a child dares discuss > sex with yours? Blame the school? Blame the > parents? State that the school is under siege from > condom manufacturers? > > Total over reaction, in my humble opinion
I agree with you Jon. This sounds totally ridiculous. I live in the MorCor in a highly dense LDS area and I've never experienced any close to those 3 scenarios. Can it happen? Of course! But I think OP might be embellishing to get her point across.
I do agree that religious zealots go after the vulnerable. That's how I was duped. But not in the manners suggested by OP.
They do frequently. Then they mold school districts into creations of their own liking. And their creations are lousy for teaching kids anything but dogma.
This happened in the distrct where my sister was the school secretary. The community is about 5% mormon and the board was usually 100% mormon insisting on mormon values and standards. They banned certain supplemental texts and didn't allow school events on family home evening night.
Are Mormon missionaries really hanging around schools and preaching to school children?
That just does not sound credible to me. I have to utilize my own experience as a missionary.
I can only think of one occasion where I witnessed religious materials being presented to a minor without knowledge/consent of a parent or legal guardian.
It occurred when we were approached by a teenager who requested information about the church and as a result was given a copy of the Book of Mormon.