A member of the list-serve, Park Slope Parents wrote in to say that the fundamentalist christian groups are back for the season proselytizing to children without parents consent in our playgrounds. The writer added that she is not against fundamentalist Christians, just any form of religious proselytizing in a public playground
Last year the Child Evangelism Fellowship (http://www.cefonline.com/content/category/8/31/75) handed out candy and coloring books but asked the kids first if they accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior.
This national para-church comes to urban playgrounds through local church sponsorship with the sole purpose of converting children. It is actually very difficult to discern if the
proselyters are CEF because they seem to hide behind their local
sponsorship.If this practice is offensive to you, I advise you to call the parks department, ask the proseltyzers for their permits and then call the parks officers (they rarely have a permit and they
should not be handing out things to children).
I find it interesting that there are all these posts regarding “fundamentalist” Christian proselytizers but none regarding the barrage of messages that children get about violence, greed, or hatred that assault our children through other means. My grandmother first spoke to one of these so-called proselytizers in the early 1990’s when they were handing out tracks in a park near our home, and she brought home twenty of the pamphlets because she wanted us to hear something different. We looked at the pictures, read what we could, and forgot about it. Over five years later, my brothers and I did become Christian in college, but we’re hardly the crazed Bible pounding people that you want to depict us as. My suggestion is to get your facts straight. Find out who these people really are, what they are really like instead of being the close-minded people you are trying to distance yourself from.
Whew! This is why everyone needs to have their own blog – It’s an unbeatable outlet for the rage you experience after reading stories like this. Here’s my response: http://www.blognigger.com/2008/07/christain-mind-control-commandos-invade.html
Anyway, you’re right to be offended, brklynstories. It’s completely disgusting that they are preying on children – it’s beyond smarmy and distasteful.
Big thanks to Louise for keeping us posted on everything ALL the time. Don’t know how she does it. Happy 4th everyone!
I am too. These people are total fuckwits and it’s absurd.
Parents should boycott the playground or ask the evangelists to keep their work “in-house”. There’s no point in targeting children as they have no money for donations or anything. I’m totally offended.