Tag: Thomas Prosser

To understand the following rant, please take a moment and read this article on “Comment is Free”

I was just going to call it rubbish on Twitter and be done with it, but figured I wanted to expand on it a little more then simply saying “rubbish”. I’d mostly just like to ask a few questions, based on what this dude has said:

Leaders passionately inform children and teens of their conviction that evangelical doctrines, all of which are of course highly questionable when considered soberly, are absolutely true.

So Thomas has researched all doctrines. Good start.

With the benefit of this research Thomas then rips into a few of the talks he’s watched on god.tv:

Children at Soul Survivor meetings have, for instance, been told that their generation can help bring Jesus back to Earth within their lifetimes. The “conversions” of children on the basis of such techniques is exploitative and can cause emotional pain when, in later life, it is discovered that such beliefs simply do not bear rational scrutiny. Other lessons preached at these camps are even more potentially damaging to children. At recent Soul Survivor meetings that have been featured on God TV, leaders have told young people they will be judged by God on the content of their thoughts when they die, that witch doctors can stunt the mental and physical capacities of children by cursing them, and thatJesus can heal children of medical ailments.

Now I’ve heard rumours about witch doctors, and I’m fairly sure that everything else he takes exception to is fairly basic Christian stuff…

At an Audacious event, a boy about 13 years old described how he had been healed while at a meeting of the organisation.

So…. Is he saying that the kid wasn’t healed? If so why would the kid say it? What’s really being suggested here?

Oh and just for the record, I’ve been to Soul Survivor for two years, and attended a local Christian camp for a couple of years, but I really dont think I have any emotional damage as a result.I’m also really not sure what physical damage I would have got from going along, which wouldn’t have ended up happening in some shape or form anyway.  In fact the only “damage” that has possibly been done to me is that I disagree with the writer of this article.

Besides teenagers really can make up their own minds about stuff. This guy needs to visit the youth club I help with at somepoint to see what I mean.

Thomas then ends his rant with:

The proposal that I would like to make thus falls far short of this. I believe a public commission should be established that issues non-legally binding guidelines on the forms of doctrines that it is desirable that children are taught. The preaching of hellfire or of divine faith healings to children could form part of such guidelines. Non-compliers could be “named and shamed” by such a commission.

So only what has been passed as ‘ok’ can be taught by churches? Would this apply to other religious groups as well? And who says what could be taught? I’m sorry but this sounds more like a dictatorship then a liberal society to me.

For someone who doesn’t like right wing Christians… He sounding quite right wing himself…