So, I recently went with a friend of mine to a church event. All of my classmates and friends are religious, but they're fairly moderate about it, so it's not unbearable. The church event was a trip to a place called Timber Lodge near where I live. Before we departed, we met at the Methodist church my friend's girlfriend attends (hence the entire reason we went), and a short sermon was given before heading to Timber Lodge.
Upon arrival, the pastor of the Methodist church, Mrs. Karen, I'll call her, went inside to coordinate with the staffers for the meal and pool, etc. and runs into a large group of students on spring break with their chaperone, and things get hectic. Mrs. Karen and the chaperone are both annoyed from travelling with large groups of a conglomeration of ages 5-19. Arguments ensue over what was prepared for whom, but those were resolved and it turns out, the chaperone serves the Lord! Happy day! He's a minister at a local Assembly of God church.
Mrs. Karen invites him to give an impromptu sermon in the rec room, so he does. I don't know if Assembly of God churches are this way, or if this one guy was just clueless, but he started giving his testimony to our group of mostly pre-pubescent children and a few teenagers, and the story was full of drugs, sex, abuse, and death. Afterwards, he asked if anyone would like to confess a struggle with drugs or sexual addictions. All the while, Mrs. Karen is nodding and saying Amen. He then asks if anyone would like to come to the Lord or rededicate themselves to god, because, and I quote, "You could be drivin' back in y'all's vans and get in a wreck, boom, dead. Just like that, would you be goin' to heaven or burnin' in hell forever?" Even my friend, who believes all these basic religious ideas whole-heartedly, was horrified and disgusted that this happened.
Keep in mind that the average age (yes, I did the math) of this group was 7.6 years old. Who the hell talks about drugs, sex, and death to a child?! What's worse, children actually stood and walked to him to be "saved". I don't know about you all, but it certainly seems like psychological warfare on children to me. If the same talk had been given to my school in sixth grade, the speaker would have been sued for psychological rape of children. Why is a church, which is a government-recognized, tax relieved establishment like a school, not be held to the same standard? I don't know if I can really call this thread a debate, but comments and opinions would be much appreciated. The whole ordeal makes me sick. I only wish I could have recorded it, because I know of no reasonable person who would not find this heinous, and he didn't say anything in his testimony that was not factual by his religion or holy book. If that's not rock-solid ammunition against child-indoctrination, I don't know what is.