Fake raid at youth church meeting shakes up 14-year old girl

[LynneSin]

http://www.abc27.com/story/17235501/fake-raid-at-youth-church-meeting-shakes-up-14-year-old-girl

Fake raid at youth church meeting shakes up 14-year old girl

A 14-year old Dauphin County girl said she thought she was going to die Wednesday night when two men with apparent guns raided a church meeting. She later found out that it was a learning exercise carried out by the church youth group.

The mother of the young girl did not want to reveal their names. The teenager does not belong to the Glad Tidings Assembly of God church in Lower Swatara Township, but she decided to go to a youth meeting Wednesday night with a friend who told her the meetings were fun.

She said it was fun until two men burst into the room with what appeared to be guns. She said they put pillow cases over some of the people's heads and put them into a van.

"They pulled my chair out from underneath me and then they told me to get on the ground," the girl said as she broke down in tears. "And I was the first person to go into the van. I had my hands behind my back they said 'just do as I say and you won't be hurt.'"

<<<<snip>>>>

Church pastors said they never had any indication that the young girl was in such distress.

"They heard me crying," said the girl, who has visible bruises on her legs, which she said stemmed from the event. "Why not right then and there tell us it was a joke when you see me crying?"

The parents are suing the church - I hope they take every last penny they have.

[ZombieHorde]

1. I don't let my kids go to church meetings. nt

[RC]

2. Being an Assembly of God church, they probably have lots of money stashed away.

What with tithing and all.

[Canuckistanian]

3. I've said it before, I'll say it again

Keep your children away from organized religion.

[LynneSin]

8. Nothing wrong with all organized religions

It's just that I would research any random church my kid would happen to want to visit.

[sarcasmo]

9. +1

[drm604]

4. Just how far down the stupid ladder can people go?

Who could possibly think this was a good idea? It's a wonder they all weren't emotionally traumatized by this.

This may even be a criminal offense of some kind. Kidnapping, or terrorizing or something.

[skepticscott]

14. No "may" about it

Assault, kidnapping and false imprisonment, if nothing else. Unless the legislators in that state have passed a law providing a religious exemption for those things too.

[LiberalFighter]

16. I'm thinking that if they avoid state charges they can't escape federal.

Especially with kidnapping.

[KurtNYC]

30. battery also

And guess what the church will say if any charges are brought?

[skepticscott]

34. "This is an attack on our freedom of religion!"

[tularetom]

5. Even for a church, that seems pretty effed up

In fact, what happened to this poor kid seems mild compared to what could have happened.

There was an Assembly of God church in our town when I was a kid. The members all seemed to be people on one of the lower branches of the evolutionary tree. Not surprised to see that trend continues all these years later.

[think]

6. Sick, wrong, and most likely criminal. What kind of freaks traumatize kids

and call it a religious experience?

[Skittles]

15. pretty much most of organized religion does that

you know, starting with YOU'LL BURN IN HELL

[Manifestor_of_Light]

36. Christians do. They tell everybody they are HORRIBLE SINNERS AND GOIN' TO HELL!!

No doubt about it. Original sin and substitutionary atonement is absolutely destructive and pernicious.

Why anyone would sit in church and listen to that crap from a preacher that doesn't even know them, I cannot fathom. I walked away years ago. I had to.

Crushes and destroys people and their self-esteem. I always wondered why all the xtians who tell us how wonderful Heaven is, don't go ahead and just off themselves and get there sooner? Huh?

[sarcasmo]

7. Religious people are getting crazier and that is hard for me to believe.

[southernyankeebelle]

10. What is wrong with these religious leaders today. This isn't normal.

[guitar man]

11. Geez

What could possibly go wrong? What if somebody in the room was packing heat when these yahoos came busting in and they blew them away? Sheer stupidity.

[Lochloosa]

12. Has anyone heard of PTSD?

Jesus Christ

[GentryDixon]

13. Sounds like kidnapping to me. n/ t

[Joseph8th]

17. Right...

... but these weren't REAL Christians, right liberal Christian crowd?

[XanaDUer]

18. This exercise was meant to show what

People of faith go through everyday in other countries? Um wtf?

[DeSwiss]

19. WWJK?

- And He said unto the multitude: ''Blessed are the kidnapped and bound, for they shall see a 7-figure out-of-court settlement......''

K&R

[annabanana]

20. What the hell kind of "learning experience" was this supposed to be?

sick sick sick

[Alcibiades]

21. Here's one of the comments:

"Chill people. Sad the little girl was scared but these comment are a little over the top for this discussion. This was a staged event to show what Christians in different parts of the country go through daily. I'm sure she will be fine, but those people around the world being killed daily for their faith won't."

What "part of the country" is it where this happens "daily?" Sorry, but this looks like something thaty could only happen in Jesusland.

Oh, and if this happens to Christians, I'm pretty sure they get martyrdom status and they therefore become part of the elect and get to go to heaven and eat pork with Jesus for all eternity.

[yardwork]

22. Christians are being kidnapped daily in the U.S? News to me.

[LuvNewcastle]

23. This was an exercise to teach those kids religious paranoia.

It serves more than one purpose. For one thing, it teaches the kids that people outside of the U.S. live in a chaotic, scary world. Also, it teaches them to be hyper-vigilant about criticism of their religion. Critics (liberals) are always just a step away from dragging the Christians off to their deaths, you know. This is Brainwashing 101.

[LynneSin]

24. Makes you wonder what Jesus would really do?

Here was a guy who was persecuted for what he was doing. Yet you never saw Jesus whipping his followers or forcing them to hang on a cross "Just to understand what's happening to me".

[Chorophyll]

26. Yes. Exactly. nt

[Chorophyll]

25. Why did the church deem it necessary to fake a "raid?"

The notion that they're trying to teach "what people in other countries go through" seems highly suspect to me. I think they're trying to gin up a particularly American-style paranoia.

Great "Christians." Who would Jesus traumatize?

[Tom Ripley]

27. In this economy it is harder to sucker them with the prosperity gospel

so they are working the persecution gospel again.
They have only two tricks in their bag.

[treestar]

28. What were the kids supposed to learn?

Goodness, what morons.

I remember being scared by the Wilmington and Western RR - back in the 60s they would have a train hold up with pistol brandishing robbers. Now they make it more staged so it is clearly an act.

[LynneSin]

29. I'm guessing they learned how to be assholes and terrorize children

that's about all I know

[KurtNYC]

31. what would have happened if one of the teens was CCW?

and would that church accept an answer like:

"They showed us what religious persecution was like and I showed them why it doesn't happened here. Sorry that they are both dead now but at least we all learned something, right?"

[Brickbat]

32. Whatever happened to the lock-ins where the girls snuck in the basement windows after hours?

[slampoet]

33. This has been done for decades. My brother had this happen to him in the 80's

[Initech]

35. $10 says this church claims to be pro life.

Seriously - what the fuck is wrong with this church? They not only deserve to be sued but I hope the results scare other churches to not pull this same shit again.