Cult Education Forum Discusses Young Life and Parental Consent

Minors Are Forbidden By Law (Photo credit: Dan Dickinson)

The following is a quote from a forum on the Cult Education Forum Website.  You can read the whole thread here.  On page 4 of the thread, the moderator for CEF has this to say about Young Life and it’s lack of policies concerning parental consent:

biggun223:

No one here has said that Young Life is a “cult.”

Campus Crusade for Christ and Youth for Christ, are examples of evangelical religious organizations that have chosen to identify their religious agenda within their names.

“Young Life” has not.

I have interviewed both Young Life leaders and members.

I have received serious complaints from families about Young Life. The organization caused these families serious problems. The families would not have approved of their child’s involvement if fully informed from the very beginning (initial contact with their child), but they were not informed. They only found out when their child was profoundly influenced by the group’s religious indoctrination, which led to family conflict.

Young Life has chosen to target minor children in its proselytizing efforts. The organization has the responsibility to inform families from the point of initial contact, not families.

Attempting to place the responsibility and blame on families is wrong. They have no obligation to call you. It is you that are obligated to contact them to seek permission whenever you begin to initially work with a minor child.

You say, “The last thing I want to do is break up a family.”

If this is true then you should require every minor child to take home a consent form after first contact with that child. This form should fully inform the parent[s] and/or legal guardian that Young Life is an evangelistic Christian organization with its religious creed specifically included. The form should provide space for the signed approval/permission of the parent. It should be required that the signed completed form be returned and kept on file at the Young Life office before any further contact with that child.

In my opinion if this is not done Young Life is not operating in an ethical manner regarding its contact with minor children.

Parents have the exclusive right to determine the religious involvement of their own minor children.

You say, “I personally would want my child to have all options available to them so that they could decide for themselves what they choose to believe.”

However, you don’t have the right to make that choice for the children of other families.

You say, “…we will not tell them they have to leave because we haven’t asked their parents yet” and yet you admit that you are a “Christian outreach program…”

What you call “outreach” amounts to proselytizing minor children without parental consent.

Evangelical Christians support Young Life.

See [www.creationtips.com]

The National Association of Evangelicals defines an evangelical as someone:

* who believes that the Bible is authoritative
* who has had a born-again experience
* who shares this message of faith.

To evangelize means you explain your beliefs to others with the view that they might want to adopt your beliefs.

A Princeton University study listed the following denominations as being evangelical:

Assemblies of God, Southern Baptists, Independent Baptists, black Protestants, African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Church of Christ, Churches of God in Christ, Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, National Baptist Church, National Progressive Baptist Church, Nondenominational, Pentecostal denominations, and the Presbyterian Church in America.

Perhaps those parents who support these churches would have no problem with Young Life.

But parents from other denominations and faiths may have serious problems with Young Life staffers sharing their message of faith with their children and in an effort to influence them to adopt those beliefs.

Young Life Camp…What’s it all about?

 

Just watching this official Young Life video, leaves the impression that Young Life camp is nothing but none stop fun and trips to the hot tub after a dusty day on the trail, in the mountains, or dune buggy racing.

There’s only one key thing they forgot to mention….

That the majority of your mornings and evenings will be spent listening to hours of Evangelical teaching on the life of Jesus.  When my parents sent me to camp, I was already a Christian and they knew what would happen at camp.  But what about kids and parents who don’t know this?  Shouldn’t they at least have a heads up about the true intentions of Young Life camp?

It’s a Sin to Deceive a Kid (or a Parent)

One of my bone of contentions, is Young Life’s lack of honesty.  What I mean is this,  Young Life is an Evangelical Christian outreach to teens.  Their goal is to win an audience with teens and convert them to an Evangelical form of Christianity.  The problem is, that Young Life leaders are often coached to be vague with non-Christians.  In other words, hiding their true intent to convert teens.  This is deceitful, in my opinion.

Let me give you an example of what I mean.  The following are two quotes from a Young Life Leadership manual published in 2008…,

“How would you explain Young Life?

Christian: Young Life is a Christian outreach to adolescents.
Non Christian: Young Life is a non-profit that connects caring adults with kids.

Christian: Young Life is a ministry that shares Christ with kids through relationships and helps them grow in their faith.
Non Christian: Young Life is a faith-based organization that reaches out to high school and middle school kids through
mentor relationships.”

Notice that the manual is explicitly telling Young Life leaders to use vague, non-religious language when talking to Non-Christians.  The local animal shelter is a non-profit.  The local food bank is”faith-based”.  Big Brother is a mentoring program.

You get the picture, by using vague descriptions, it gives the impression that Young Life is a benign youth program that is fun and safe for kids. Just like other benign faith-based, non-profits in their community.   What these descriptions avoid, is their explicit intent to convert teenagers.

Another example would be this recent promo video for a summer Young Life camp

While it’s true, that your kid or friend will probably do all of the exciting things shown in the video,  it does not show or even hint at the fact, that the focal point of the camp will be Evangelizing teens for the Christian faith.  It offers no glimpse into the many hours spent listening to adult speakers present the Christian faith.  The hours spent each night, as leaders lead discussions centered around the Evangelistic talks.  That the final days of camp will be spent, asking kids to choose whether to become a follower of Jesus and make a public declaration of faith.

And in short, I think it’s deceptive.  I think many a parent has agreed to allow a teen to go on a week of camp with friends from school, only to have a religious convert delivered back to their home.  This sort of parental blindsiding is unfair and deceptive.  Parents (and teens) should be better informed about the faith-based aspects of camp before they are hooked on going because of the fun, sun, and friends.

Jim Rayburn was right, “It’s a sin to bore a kid…”, but I say it’s an even worse sin to deceive a kid.  A sin, Young Life seems all too easy in committing.