Homophobic parents paying to have gay children kidnapped
Kids Getting 'Kidnapped for Christ' Are Trapped in a Living Hell (VIDEO)
The amount of abuse and torment children suffer in the name of religion
never ceases to amaze (and disgust) me. And the worst part is, there's
so much more of that abuse going on at this very moment than most of us
know. Perfect example: Escuela Caribe, a military-style "discipline camp" in the Dominican Republic for "troubled" American teens.
Troubled teens with evangelical Christian parents, that is. Who consider something like being gay a "discipline problem" severe enough to pay goons from a "therapeutic boarding school" to literally wake their kid up in the middle of the night, drag them out of their homes (kicking and screaming, usually) and "transport" them to another country.
Sounds a lot like kidnapping, right? That's what the filmmakers behind documentary-in-progress Kidnapped for Christ think, too.
Yes, this really happens to real kids -- and their stories are heartbreaking. One of the most powerful accounts is given by a baby-faced boy named David who talks about his "transporters" tying a belt around his waist and using it to haul him to their car.
Why would an 18-year-old straight-A student be treated like a prisoner of war?
"I got sent down here because I'm gay and my parents just aren't okay with that," says David.
David's parents didn't offer any explanation for his disappearance to his friends, who of course were scared out of their minds with worry -- until David managed to slip a letter to one of the documentary filmmakers. See, "students" at Escuela Caribe aren't allowed to communicate with anyone on the outside, which makes a hell of a lot of sense when you see what goes on at the so-called school:
It's enough to make you sick, right? As a mom, I can't wrap my head around what parents who send their kids here are thinking. Are they completely brainwashed? Terrified of what people at church would say about their gay son?
Are they freaking insane??
Honestly, I feel like someone would have to be crazy to do this to a kid -- and even pleading insanity wouldn't get them off the hook as far as I'm concerned.
As for how these parents should pay for their sins, I think a biblically-inspired punishment is appropriate (Old Testament-style, oh yeah!): An eye for an eye.
Have fun at "thereapeutic boarding school," Mom and Dad!
Do you think parents who send their kids to places like Escuela Caribe realize the harm they're doing?
i am a christian, and i believe homosexuality is a sin, just like adultery, etc...but i dont hate the sinner, i hate the sin. so in my case, if my kids were to turn out to be gay, i would talk to them, pray for them, but i would never send them to a camp in the fashion of kidnapping! they are still my kids and i would never want harm to come to them. besides, this would just make kids want to hold onto what they believe is right even more so, and can emotionally damage them for life. this is just not the way.
I'm so sick of hearing lectures from churches on "morality" that I could just puke.
This is so sad. The religion I was raised in is against homosexuality but I personally am not. If my child told me that they were gay it would never change how I feel about them. I love them no matter what. I would never even consider changing who they are. I would be worried about them and the problems they would face in our society but then I would worry about them no matter what.
"Christ like" my ass.
This is NOT something Jesus would do.
"I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief" Gerry Spence
Eight Year Old Girl Given "Catastrophe Award" By Teacher
- parentalrights1
on Feb. 15, 2012 at 7:07 PM