My good friend Marie recently sent me to this page, which is the trailer for a documentary being filmed called Kidnapped For Christ. They have put up the trailer and are asking for people to send some small donations to finish their movie. It was a story I had never heard of, but sadly, one that comes as no surprise, and I felt that sharing it with you was a good idea.
It’s the story of Escuela Caribe, a school in the Dominican Republic which I can only describe as a re-education center of the children of wealthy evangelical Christians. I do not in any way believe that this is a unique story, and more’s that tragedy. The school exists as a place to break children of their bad habits, things like running away from home, using drugs, or being gay.
Now, this is obviously a small subset of Christians, and I hope that the Christians who regularly read this blog understand that I am in no way painting you with the same brush. My parents were Christians and would have never considered this sort of thing to alter my behaviors. But there are a large number of people who are abandoning their common sense for faith, and I believe that number is growing. It is these people who keep schools like this in business.
I understand the frustration of parenting. I have four children of my own, and they all have their troubles. This makes them normal kids. It means that I have a lot of worrying to do, and because they live quite some distance from me, I have the added joy of being unable to really do anything to help them. But I try to talk to them, to understand their lives, and to help them through the rough patches. Kidnapping them and indoctrinating them simply doesn’t seem to me to be the way to go on things like this.
I’m going to make a donation to this documentary because I found the trailer compelling, and I would ask that anyone of my billions of readers who has the same reaction to it do the same. I would like to see the movie completed, if only to remind us that these are not the choices of sane and competent parents.
Jim
Jim, I am almost positive that Escuala Caribe is the same “school” from a book I read called Jesusland. A girl who spent time there with her brother wrote it as a memoir, and it is a fantastic read. I highly reccomend you check it out. I actually planned on suggesting it to you as soon as I was done, but totally forgot. Either way, I think you should check it out.
I’ll have to take a look at that. The last book you gave me (the one about the Mormons) was fascinating.