I will be that asshole standing in front of the school with a megaphone and fliers if I have to.

Thank you.

I find the term "worldly" obnoxious. It makes it sound like they're trying to find a word to describe the kids skipping class and hanging out in the back parking lot smoking.

David, that group sounds REALLY similar to the Freak-Ass Church that I was in. It is manipulative and damaging. Burn it down.

HULK SMASH!!!

I couldn't sleep last night. I was too busy being furious.

Seriously, targeting kids (under 18) is reprehensible. Though targeting college students isn't much "better," but at least they're legally adults. Targeting kids -- it's just so glaringly manipulative.

Smash on, Hulk!

I find the term "worldly" obnoxious. It makes it sound like they're trying to find a word to describe the kids skipping class and hanging out in the back parking lot smoking.

It's from the bible, actually -- St. Paul (who had HELLA issues) says that Christians are to be "set apart" spiritually from the rest of the world, BUT in order to evangelize, they're supposed to be "in the world, but not OF the world." So "worldly" has become the shorthand for the unsaved heathens.

And the whole "be in the world, but not OF the world" schtick leads to cult members faking interest in whatever their targets are into: sports, video games, superhero movies, etc., because it creates this (false) connection and sense of friendship.

I remember one time, when I was still in the FAC, I had started watching BTVS, and was talking about how good "Hush" was. One of my friends, who was also one of the leaders of either the high-school group or the middle-school group, said "I should probably watch that so that I have that commonality with the students." And my reaction was like "Or you could watch it because it's GOOD, but what do I know." (This wasn't too long before I left the group.)

Go get 'em, Smay!

I went to a couple of meetings in college, by which time I'd been reading and digesting a fair amount of theology and comparative religion, and even as someone who was solidly Team Religion Yay! I had -- not alarm bells, exactly, but ick bells going off. These people were not Merton or Dorothy Day and when they appealed to emotions it wasn't in an ecstatic, inclusive Francis of Assisi way but in a way that just got my back up although I couldn't quite articulate how. (Maybe reading too much Flannery O'Connor at a young age is what did it?)

It was easy enough for me to ghost my way out of that group after just a couple of meetings, but if I felt uneasy and manipulated as a college student, I can't imagine what it would have felt like to me as a middle schooler. (Actually, I'm sure YL was active in my hometown, but the pretty, popular, athletic kids loathed me and anyone like me and they would've cut off a limb before inviting any of us to anything; we were totally unworthy of their Jesus.)

So when Matilda handed me the letter and permission slip, all the ick bells went off again, way closer to alarm because middle school is SO fucking different from college, and I just took it without saying a word to her and went online to Google the shit out of it. I didn't dig deep enough to find the really disturbing shit Hec did, but enough for a good strong HELL NO.

because middle school is SO fucking different from college

Because they aren't legally adults. It's so gross. They bank on the idea that parents, when handed a permission slip, will think "Oh, well, it's CHURCH, so that's okay, then." Reprehensible.

And now talking to another parent, I discover that this guy bought these kids ice cream at the local store while handing out his applications to psycho Jesus camp. So freaking skeezy and manipulative.

We're in a literal "don't take candy from strangers" scenario.

::checks clock::

Okay, I've heard back from the parent who is doing humanitarian work in Kenya before I've heard back from the school. I presume school admins are running around in ass-covering mode but I am about to escalate.

They bank on the idea that parents, when handed a permission slip, will think "Oh, well, it's CHURCH, so that's okay, then."

You'd think they would know better in San Francisco. Here, even the churchy people give church stuff the side-eye and very, very little benefit of the doubt. Especially in public schools, but really pretty much everywhere and at all times.