Posted on 09/08/2009 11:02:37 AM PDT by JoeProBono
HARDINSBURG, Ky. (AP) -- A Kentucky woman says her 16-year-old son was baptized without her consent when he and fellow football players were taken to a Baptist revival by their coach.
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You’re missing the forest for the trees. We all know Catholics don’t hand out sacraments willy-nilly. That’s not the point.
The point is that any person of conscience should object to authority figures using their position to proseltyze.
If the Baptists and born againers on this thread don’t care about rules because they “earned” one more soul, that’s to their own disgrace.
Maybe this story is about different Christian denominations.
I was raised Catholic, and if I’d been taken to any type of Protestant event by a coach and then baptized there, my parents would’ve hit the roof. If a Protestant child were taken to a Catholic church and baptized there, his parents would hit the roof, too.
OTOH, I remember two fathers, both atheists, talking on a forum once. Both were married to Christian women. One gave this advice to the other: “Just let her take the baby to be baptized. My wife did it with our child. She called it baptism; I called it splashing water on the baby. But if it makes her happy...”
A retreat is what it is. It is one way Baptists and some others recruit to their faith. I would be stunned if most parents did not know what this retreat was.
Sounds to be like ignorance is the issue here with this complaint. The parent simply needs to decline any more invitations to retreats for her son and use her parental authority to forbid the kid to attend any other religious gatherings that she does not approve of.
I would be interested to see how that works out. She may be well along in the creation of a fine Baptist preacher.....or not...
I agree. You don’t take kids under your influence, as are athletes under a coach, and have them get baptized without any forethought. It’s easy, especially for teens, to get swept up in the emotion of the moment.
If the kid had taken a course of study on Christianity and made a solemn commitment over time, it would be quite different - and more meaningful - than a baptism after a single revival meeting.
The team-building aspect of football is pronounced. But everybody knows that, and if his mama was worried about it she needed to pull him off the team or else prepare him to "just say no." I would prefer the latter course, which is what I did with my kids.
I'm a Catholic, raised Episcopalian, Presbyterian high school. That was a bit entertaining, because to old time Southern Presbyterians we Piskies were just Rome Light. We were definitely outliers in the prevalent Christian culture, and since it was a church school there was plenty of pressure to conform -- required Bible study, Christian Emphasis Week, Young Life rallies, etc. But there's no way anybody could have forced me into doing anything I didn't believe in.
The idea of a Muslim-majority football team in this country is just ludicrous, by the way. This country is still overwhelmingly Christian, mostly of the white-bread Protestant variety, and you simply can't divorce the culture from its Christian roots. You can disagree with it, you can prepare your child to deal with it, but you can't wipe it off the map. Efforts to do so have NOT borne good fruit.
In ObamaWorld, it is a crime to witness your Christian faith to others, because a young man may accept Jesus, but your daughter can get an abortion that murders a innocent baby without your even being aware of it. What a Brave New World.
It didn't "take". And it won't "take" if a kid is properly educated in his own faith, whatever that happens to be.
Or ... imagine what they'd said if this coach had exposed the kid to (gasp!!!) Obama's televised Obama speech to school kids!
Indeed. I suspect many of the same people screaming about Nobama addressing school students with some drivel are now giving the school & coach a free pass on something I find far more offensive.
Likewise, the same people who constantly talk about how public schools get everything 100% wrong are more than happy to look the other way when the school wants to promote their religion.
Or, if you have an open enough mind, your brain may roll out.
In my vocabulary there is the word "retreat". This word has a meaning and is well understood by most people.
If my kid came to me and said I'm going to a retreat this weekend, I would know exactly what goes on there.
This complaint by this parent is either bogus and meant to garner attention against this coach, or it is out of sheer ignorance and misunderstanding.
There is no side to pick.
I am a Christian, and I hope the kid sincerely wanted to come to Christ. But an authority figure in a free society cannot coerce a student into doing so.
Frankly, I don’t see what your experience has to do with it.
The question is whether a public school football coach should use his position to bring his charges to a religious meeting.
The only possible answer is “no.” It’s wrong.
Since the parents weren’t told. Since they used a public school bus to get there, yes, evcen thought the fuel was paid for. Since the principal condoned it. Since the sponsor was also the football coach, who has too much control over the kid already. Since................. do you really need more answers to such a stupid question?
To some people, they would prefer that their kids turn to drugs and sex before they get involved in "that delusional Jesus stuff." Sad.
I don't advocate that you let your kids be overcome by cultish groups, but this incident seems pretty mainstream...unless you hate/fear/sneer at the God of the Christians.
That's true. Imagine the uproar if they did.
My experience is useful only for the purpose of pointing out that even full-bore proselytizing is ineffective against a properly reared child. In a private church school there is no barrier to full-time full-bore proselytizing.
In Topsy's immortal words, somebody ain't tellin' all they knows here.
That's the question, isn't it? Is it a tort to bait your players with a steak dinner, get them all "motivated" and then indoctrinate them into your religion?
I say it's not legal and will not withstand legal scrutiny.
This is the key. It's possible there no greater example of an "authority figure" in the education system than a high-school football coach is to his players. Merely by asking or inviting a player to do anything, is at least a bit coercive.
I'm afraid that if you haven't had the please to play high-school football, that dynamic would be lost on you, as it appears lost on some here.
So this is just a case of a parent not paying attention to what was going on. And a kid who's old enough to decide for himself going against his mom's wishes, which is probably the real reason she's so upset.
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