A reader writes:
I must certainly be one of those "militant atheists" I read about if I'm bothered by this video about Christ-camp for the developmentally disabled. I guess it pushes my biggest button about religion, which is that it is absolutely imposed upon kids by trusted adults from before an age where they're able to think for themselves, and then you have one of the camp staff saying of these vulnerable young disabled kids, "In everything that we do, we're trying to point them to the lord." Amidst all the footage of frolicking in the pool, we saw plenty of glimpses of prayer sessions, sermons, and oddIy creepy images of kids just sort of… hanging out around crosses. I realize that the campers who are competent to give consent may well have asked to come there, but this is such a vulnerable population, and for those who aren't, I wonder if these indoctrination sessions are as mandatory as mine were growing up. There's that slippery slope toward the type of "instruction" that was documented in Grady and Ewing's eye-opening film Jesus Camp.
I also have my feathers ruffled by the conceit that Christians "accept everyone" (not my impression of the state of Christianity today) or that this "saving grace" type of compassionate enterprise is somehow uniquely Christian. Not to mention the disturbing moral undercurrent to the co-founder's statement, "You learn God's love because it's the only way you can deal with it…": apparently, you need a supreme overlord breathing down your neck in order to be nice to disabled kids? I'm being overly harsh in response to an organization that is clearly doing some good things for kids, but having witnessed a great deal of intellectual, moral, and physical violence from the Christian church I am not so eager to grant them "saving graces," especially of the kind that are offered indoctrination-free by secular institutions.
Tangentially, I wonder how many times Catholic churches in Maine will require second passings of the collection plate in order to care for those dumped from their medical insurance plans, or if that's just to collect money to defeat marriage equality.
The Dish 