OK DU I've got one for you

[Clintonista2]

My fundie aunt and uncle send their fundie kids to a fundie (baptist) private school. The school makes all the kids sign a code of conduct contract, and one of the rules is that the kids are not allowed to see a movie in a movie theatre (the fear being that, even if the movie is a wholesome family movie, the previews may be secular, corrupting these poor christian souls), otherwise they risk expulsion.

So is trying to control what kids do outside of school, even if it's a private school, legal?

[Warpy]

1. Only if it's done cloaked in religion

Then anything short of murder seems to be OK.

[AnArmyVeteran]

18. Last time I went to a Baptist church was 1982 and it disgusted me...

I was invited to go to church with a girlfriend I had at the time. It was a Wednesday night service. The preacher called everyone there sinners, worthless and bad. He kept up his rambling abuse of the congregation until I had enough. I whispered to my date that I had to leave. I was on the aisle so it wasn't hard to get out. I walked to the side of the church and entered a hall that led to an exit. On the way two women approached me and asked in a very ugly tone "Where do you think you're going?". I told her I'm going outside to be with God. Their heads almost exploded, but I just calmly walked by them and out into the night air. I just walked around the dark parking lot looking up at the crystal clear sky full of brilliant, bright stars. And I felt so good about leaving all of that evil inside that brick building. I'll never forget that ecstatic feeling I had knowing what I did was the right thing to do. I was a bit shy at the time so it took every bit of courage I could muster to get up in front of all those people to leave. And I thought for sure that preacher would single me out to spew his venom on.

I've never been back to a Baptist church again. It's sad how abusive and demeaning that preacher was and how he was victimizing all of the people in the congregation. My friend Marsha later tried to commit suicide, but thankfully she was brought to a hospital in time. She cut both of her wrists badly. The reason for her torment: She had no identity of her own. If she had a good thought she thought it was god. If she had a bad thought, she thought it was satan. She felt like she was a bad person for even having bad thoughts and I suppose she felt like she was evil because of the constant drumbeat of hate from evil preachers and from her own parents, who were religious fanatics. She finally tried to end the war going on in her mind between 'god' and 'satan' and cut her wrists.

I feel sorry for all the people who are locked up in that world Marsha was a prisoner in. I wonder how many other people have been successful in committing suicide because of the mutant religion they were being forced to listen to and the pain it caused them. People do so many evil things in the 'name of god'. Just ten miles from where I live a mother drowned her five children to death because she thought god wanted her to do it. I have read story after story of people falling victim to the evils of religion and doing similar things.

Marsha was taken first to a county mental hospital and then the state mental hospital. Through a lot of intensive therapy Marsha was finally able to find her own identity and eventually marry and have children. But religion, and those who abuse it and victimize others with the Bible, almost killed a beautiful person like Marsha. I was the only person to visit her at either hospital. I drove to Austin to stay several days at a time, sleeping in my van and taking Marsha out into the real world for a few hours on passes.

Even though the monsters at that Baptist church did nothing for her after Marsha attempted suicide I was there for her all the time, writing her letters, sending her cards and driving 240 miles to visit her every week for over six months. But according to fundamentalist Christians I will go to hell, while all those who sit through abusive sermons from evil-minded preachers will go to heaven. I don't need religion to be good or do what is right. And I certainly don't want to end up in a hereafter filled with the monsters who can fluently quote scripture, but have no understanding of what they are reciting.

I like John Lennon's song 'Imagine' where he sings about a world without religion. What a better world we would have and one less reason for people to kill themselves or others.

[Warpy]

20. That deserves its own OP

I know a lot of otherwise good people who are trapped into those abusive churches. I survived an Irish Catholic childhood, and that was bad enough, but the Baptist kids I knew had it much, much worse.

I would rather share hell with free people than heaven with slaves and their abusive masters.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. A lot of private schools do that. Mine did.

I went to private school. My dad taught in private schools. All of them had a behavior contract. None said anything about movies though. LOL

A classmate of mine was expelled for violating her behavior contract. It's really not uncommon.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Sounds pretty normal for an Evangelical school. Since they sign a contract, their behavior is

a voluntary choice rather than being forced upon them. Even public schools have behavior expectations, just not that stringent.

[butterfly77]

4. So will their children...

experience culture shock when they grow up and are faced with the real world like TEABAGGERS?

[Dappleganger]

9. Kids who are sheltered like...

usually end up starring in 'Girls Gone Wild.'

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

5. it's a great way for the kids to rebel ... oh my I just went to a movie

stepford family of robot children aaaahhhhh the bliss of a happy family

[Subdivisions]

6. Stupidity is a renewable resource. n/t

[seabeyond]

7. yes. i dont have an issue with this at all. my kids went to a private

there were things we did not agree with. we either respectfully disagreed when that was an option, or accepted as the price to pay for chosing to go to that school.

when we could no longer accept certain things, we left and went to public

[Dappleganger]

8. Yes it is.

It's a private school so they can do what they want w/in the law.

[elleng]

10. Its a contract.

They can agree to sign, or not.

[dorkulon]

11. Isn't a contract signed by a minor null and void anyhow? nt

[elleng]

23. May be not enforceable, under certain circumstances.

Had to do with kids behavior? Didn't read article. Did parents sign? Will check.

[The Straight Story]

12. Why not, scott's lawn care company won't let people smoke, even at home

:)

[donco6]

13. They've been doing it for years.

So, I'd think they'd have settled all this long ago.

[virgogal]

14. The parents sign their kids up for this so I guess it's legal. I don't

really know for sure.

I was so casual about this stuff when raising my 6 I wonder why parents would bother with this type of rule.

I let them read what they wanted to read and see what they wanted to see (if they could sneak into the movie,which was their problem if they got caught).

By the way,some businesses won't allow their employees to smoke,even off the job. Is that legal?

[Turbineguy]

15. Sure, sign, why not?

You can then tell them your promises are just as good as Jimmy Swaggart's.

[AnArmyVeteran]

16. I see a lot of killers coming from this crop of crazy cultists...

I'd be willing to bet my house that one of the members of this cult is going to end up killing someone in the name of god. People who are that extreme tend to commit extremist acts. Either one will kill their children in god's name kill an abortion doctor, or kill one's spouse or someone else. Restrictive religion is dangerous because it defies human nature, and eventually a person will crack resulting in an irrational and even deadly act.

Fundamentalist religions are cults. There are good therapists who can deprogram members of cults no matter how brainwashed they are. I hope everyone exposed to this cult gets psychiatric or psychological help before they cause someone great harm.

Are there any real differences between Christian extremists and Muslim extremists? No, there aren't. Both want to impose their mutant beliefs on everyone else and if they ever had the opportunity they would turn a government, even the US government, into a theocracy.

[Arkana]

17. No, it isn't.

First of all I'd bet any amount of money that those fundie kids will break the rules every chance they get--because what's more fun...slasher movies or reading Leviticus for the nth time?

Second of all, the First Amendment covers freedom of expression. These kids could worship Satan in their off-hours and legally the school has no bearing on what they do the minute they step off the grounds.

And third--how the FUCK is the school going to know? Are they going to send chaperones home with each student?

[Cleita]

19. Catholic parochial schools have always tried.

I was often told which children I could play with outside of school and which ones would be a bad influence. No, it didn't necessarily mean juvenile delinquents, but Protestant kids, or Catholic kids whose parents were divorced. That was just one of the dictates. There was definitely prohibitions on what movies you were allowed to to to. There were many others. Most of us just adopted the attitude of don't get caught playing with the wrong kids or going to the wrong movie.

[rurallib]

21. what a culture shock the first time I heard the word fuck

and how I couldn't sllep the night the first Sunday I accidently missed mass. And then the day I first talked to a neighbor kid who was a protestant.
And what a great relief when I finally realized the bastards were lying - about everything.

[vduhr]

22. My sister is a PE teacher for a large Christian school with locations around the US.

She told me a few years back that she had to sign an agreement that she wouldn't drink or gamble. I was outraged when she told me she had signed the contract, and you can bet they would not have hired her if she had not signed it. If they were to fire her because she did drink or gamble, how legal would that be? I say it would not be legal, since an employer cannot dictate what you do on your own time, especially since drinking is not illegal, and gambling (we were in Vegas when she told me this), is not illegal in some states. BTW, this "Christian" school has done everything to take advantage of it's employees, including using them as a maintenance crew because they are too cheap to hire maintenance people, and my sister is almost 63, so keeping up with her PE classes, plus doing physical maintenance is very hard on her, but she can't quit until she qualifies for Medicare, or she loses her medical insurance.

[Catshrink]

24. Was this Southern Baptist or "regular" Baptist?

There is a difference. The SBC is the one who insists that wives be subservient to their husbands, etc. The other Baptists allow women ministers.