Tuesday, November 3, 2009

God's Army...

Tonight the kids had their orientation for a "Life Lessons Class" that BM signed them up for. It seemed simple enough...it's supposed to be a class geared towards teens on how to handle challenges of becoming an adult.

Um...yeah...so we thought.

As we sat around the dinner table and asked how it went, and what it's all about we came to find out it's something much different. It's not only run by a church (not a church the kids go to...they have not been raised with a specific religion), but a program run by the SS friend's dad. We know this family is a religious family, and we are ok with religion. However, neither the love of my life or I believe that kids should be pressured into a specific religion, but ok...mom can have her say too and signed them up for this.

The problem is that not only are they learning life lessons like don't kill, steal, or be mean to people, but they have to wear military type uniforms and have about 28 commandments about following God, and accepting to be "born again". The "commandments" range from being a good person to accepting God into your life and at the end "recruiting others".

Does this sound a little "cultish" to anyone else?

This is where the 2 houses stuff gets really sticky. If it's something that dad is totally against...how does he stop it? One of the kids, SD12, is kind of ok with it, but SS14 is not. They say they don't have a choice, but I find it hard to believe (even though BM is a nut job) that she would be ok with this kind of forced religion.

We told the kids to really look through their manuals and think about if this is something they are spiritually interested in and committed to, and if not they need to discuss with their mother. I told them that they should offer to do some other kind of life lesson thing, and read/learn about multiple religions so that they can get the full spectrum of ideas. This is where my own beliefs may or may not rub off on these kids. If they are really truly interested in doing this for themselves, we will support them, but if not...we will do everything to try to take them out of it.

The whole thing turns my stomach, and I hope that the kids make the right decisions for themselves. I also hope that if they don't want to do it they will not be forced to, and if forced...that the love of my life will take proper action to do whatever he can to pull them out of it.

Praise JESUS that this shit doesn't last like all the other stuff that is never really committed to at "the other house".

6 comments:

  1. Religion has become a common topic lately in other stepmom blogs; I agree this is where having two households' makes this more complicated. I think the class sounds crazy, religious/boot camp classes like this make me want to run for the hills. (Those poor kids.) Do any of the classes overlap with your scheduled time with the kids?

    You wonder if the BM really even knows the details of the class. I know you cannot protect the kids from everything out there but this class could have been avoided had they not been signed up and that is where I would be frustrated.
    Like you said hopefully it will not stick, we have a similar thing going on at our other house as well. Every month is a new thing the son needs to be working on, it is crazy, he is not even 3 yet. Let the kid be a kid!

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  2. That is a little scary... What "religion" is this? I am familliar with quite a few, and none of them require you to wear military uniforms or behave like they are in boot camp. That sounds like some fanatical guy that is off his rocker... I am all for allowing kids to explore their own beliefs and religions, but they still need to be protected from being preyed upon by crazy people who say they are the "Messiah" ect. You hear about it in the news every so often about how these people brain wash people and their kids.

    I hope you can get it sorted out, and I hope BM will follow along if the kids don't want to go.

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  3. So, is it in a church or in someone's home? Is the church some weird off beat sect or something traditional?

    I'd be wary, that's for sure.

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  4. This brings to mind the case of Phillip Garrido who was having "church" in his basement, you know?

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  5. No, the "church" is at a church. I don't think I'd ever be cool with them being in a home much less a basement. So far the kids want to go so we've decided that we will have a different focus religion each month at our house that they will learn about. At the very least they will get a well rounded idea of multiple religions to help them decide what's best for them.

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  6. The way things kind of work in our households is a No overrules a yes if that makes sense. If one parent is not comfortable and the other is all for it. Then the one uncomfortable wins.

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