[Carlhole]

Atheist Ireland

The winner this month however is another case of some of the religious amongst us targeting something else that children keep in their trousers. This time… their phones.

Reminiscent perhaps of how Santa Claus leaves notes for Children at Christmas, while eating and drinking the offerings lovingly left out by his believers… leaving half chewed scraps as evidence the next morning…. God has been phoning children at St. Nicholas of Myra vacation bible school in North Dighton, Massachusetts.

One wonders if this would not be more awe inspiring if God did not have to communicate with the Matrix through phones like “The One” in the film. A voice manifesting itself from an area of thin air in the centre of the room might have been beyond the budget of the volunteers who saw fit to spend their money on a “Science Station” based on showing children how to draw circles.

Ah, it warms the heart to see our young ones learning to believe in huge lies.

"...targeting something else that children keep in their trousers. This time… their phones".

[Cog]

Too bad you didn't see fit to post the more positive elements to the story in your rush to slam Christians. Good job Carhole. You live up to my low expectations everyday.


http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x272 ... s-from-God

Phone calls from God still had some children in awe Thursday morning at St. Nicholas of Myra vacation bible school.

“He told me to fish for people,” 8-year-old Noelle Nunes said, “and tell everyone about him.”

“He told me to follow in his footsteps,” 7-year-old Jack Dubois said. “The phone call really surprised me. He didn’t say an awful lot, he just told me to follow him.”

Every child participating in this program received a call from God Wednesday as they took part in games, music and crafts all this week at the church’s vacation bible school.

This was the first year for the program organized by Greg Bettencourt, faith format director and the religious education teachers at the church. The one-week camp ran from 9 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday.

Bettencourt wanted a program to keep kids involved in their faith outside of school during the summer months while at the same time bringing the parish community together.

The theme for the week was “Baobab Blast.” Bettencourt said the baobab is type of tree found in Africa that has very long branches, under which animals gather for shade.

“As Christians, we’re asked to gather to be thankful for His gifts,” he said.

The five-day camp hosted 21 children from ages 6 to 9 years old. Along with a main theme, there was a theme word and animal that centered around the morning’s activities of crafts, science, music, games and snacks. Topics for the week were trust, love, caring, following and sharing.

Volunteer Susanne Martel guided children at the science station with hand games.

“One of the stories in the Bible is about a good Samaritan who helped a stranger on the side of the road,” she said. “So, we’re playing games to see what hand works better to help us do things and talking about how we can help others.”

[yeahbut]

The five-day camp hosted 21 children from ages 6 to 9 years old. Along with a main theme, there was a theme word and animal that centered around the morning’s activities of crafts, science, music, games and snacks. Topics for the week were trust, love, caring, following and sharing.

Those are wonderful qualities to encourage in children, and well done to all those who do so. I know plenty of people who manage/have managed it without recourse to a 'higher power'. I wish that those bible school people were doing it without pretending (lying) to the kids that a supernatural entity was calling them on the phone.

[Carlhole]

Too bad you didn't see fit to post the more positive elements to the story in your rush to slam Christians. Good job Carhole. You live up to my low expectations everyday.

Glad you enjoy it.

[Ibon]

The best way to reach children is the old fashioned way......through cartoons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR7DCFCkqao

[yeahbut]

The best way to reach children is the old fashioned way......through cartoons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR7DCFCkqao

"Jesus, I'm gonna need a shovel!" Thanks Ibon, I'm gonna be chuckling all day

[Xenophobe]

Why is a thread like this allowed to exist at all?

[yeahbut]

I made a single crack about Christians homeschooling their kids from the Bible and had the comment erased and someone told me to stop talking about such things.

Why is a thread like this allowed to exist at all? And if I make an anti-Born Again comment here, will it also be erased? Or are only certain people allowed to bash religion?

Is that the sound of a tiny violin I hear?

Xenophobe/shortonsense, maybe you need a COC refresher.

5.2 Do not publicly accuse the moderators or administrators of bias, complain about moderation decisions, or post correspondence you receive from moderators and administrators. If you have an issue regarding moderation that needs to be addressed, please contact any moderator or website administrator by sending a private message.

[Xenophobe]

5.2 Do not publicly accuse the moderators or administrators of bias, complain about moderation decisions, or post correspondence you receive from moderators and administrators.

I modified my comment.

[Outcast_Searcher]

The five-day camp hosted 21 children from ages 6 to 9 years old. Along with a main theme, there was a theme word and animal that centered around the morning’s activities of crafts, science, music, games and snacks. Topics for the week were trust, love, caring, following and sharing.

Those are wonderful qualities to encourage in children, and well done to all those who do so. I know plenty of people who manage/have managed it without recourse to a 'higher power'. I wish that those bible school people were doing it without pretending (lying) to the kids that a supernatural entity was calling them on the phone.

+ 1

I have to credit my mom, who had plenty of shortcomings as a parent, unfortunately, for a, IMO, pretty awesome handling of the situation when I learned there was no Santa Claus.

She explained that while there really is no actual Santa Claus, that the SPIRIT of Santa Claus, that of giving and goodwill between all of mankind was very much a real thing, and the embodiment of the Christmas season (my words, her meaning - this was over 40 years ago).

It's too bad, IMO, that mainstream Christians (and people of all religions, actually) can't grow up, and realize the important (and real) thing is the idea/spirit of the central teachings of the religion.

But no, apparently we are far too immature as a species at this point for that view to take hold. And now, the religious fundamentalists can commence to attack me (in a Christ-like manner, of course) for having a world view contrary to theirs.

[jbrovont]

I just can't agree that any enhanced sense of morality or social lessons taught through this outweigh the psychological damage that's been done to these children. Any faith in their religion that they develop from this, or values that they incorporate into their world view because of this experience will be invalidated when they eventually learn they are based on an intentional deception by their (presumably) trusted church leadership. The other, possibly worse effect will be that the individual will be unable to cope with the prospect that their world view is based on a deception, and they will reject the possibility that God did not call their cell phone when they were a child. The adolescent or adult will either face a crisis of faith, or end up with a delusional world view based on a material deception designed to manipulate their actions and thoughts.

I would imagine that pretending to be God with the intention of actually making someone believe that you are would put you solidly in "false prophet" territory. This doesn't seem Christian to me.

[Xenophobe]

How is this for an appropriate comment....the children are led to believe that God is talking to them on their phones...but haven't been taught to check the caller id to see who really was doing the calling.

Certainly we can't teach them to think critically prior to the belief system being installed, that would defeat the entire purpose of their religion in the first place!

[Carlhole]

Christianity is the belief that a cosmic jewish zombie who is his own father can make you live forever and save you from eternal fiery damnation if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a woman who was made from her husband's rib was convinced by a talking snake to eat a fruit from a magical tree.

This is why it is important to get that phone call kids!

Jeez! Bullshitting your little 'tard about Santa seems so much easier.

[skiwi]

Why is a thread like this allowed to exist at all?

So I can watch the funniest cartoon in a long time even if I haven't watched any cartoons in a long time
and then get to read Carlholes last comment which was just as funny. Chill out a little dude and don't even bother reading open discussion posts let alone replying to them. Jesus Christ some people........

[Fiddlerdave]

Phone calls from God still had some children in awe Thursday morning at St. Nicholas of Myra vacation bible school.

“He told me to fish for people,” 8-year-old Noelle Nunes said, “and tell everyone about him.”

“He told me to follow in his footsteps,” 7-year-old Jack Dubois said. “The phone call really surprised me. He didn’t say an awful lot, he just told me to follow him.”

Yumm! Dream customers for telemarketers, pedophiles and demagogues.

[2cher]

there is no god, if you think there is... IDIOTIC MORON

[wisconsin_cur]

So is it my imagination or did this degrade from targeting a straw man of religion (taking the stupidest story of what some Christians somewhere are doing) the short distance into name calling?

Classy guys and gals, real classy.