neurological dryer lint

really interesting article in the enquirer about the spiritual climate of high schools, things that go on there. Young Life is mentioned a few times.

i'm glad the paper attempted some distinction between what Young Life does and other youth groups / church-sponsored organizations. it's a more complex issue than i gave it credit for, i think - "It's one thing to protect the religious liberty of students and their expression. That is protected speech. It's another thing for a school to promote, endorse or denigrate religion. That is unconstitutional."

And I have to agree with the ACLU, which I'm not fond of doing all the time. :) The government shouldn't promote a certain set of beliefs. I don't know if things like forcing schools to open their facilities to church groups that want to use them as often as they do w/other non-church groups necessarily means promoting a certain agenda. Seems like everyone automatically assumes that a government mandate allowing churches to meet in a school means that the government is hyping Christianity and giving the finger to other systems of belief - and that's not true at all. It just happens that the Christian church is pretty much the only one trying to do anything at schools at all. If the Athiest Alliance decided to hold meetings or go try to do contact work with kids - they'd be allowed.

That doesn't excuse the more extreme actions on the part of some Christian church groups in their attempts to shove a set of ideas on others. That stuff drives me as nuts as it does the ACLU. While lumped in with the same group, as a person who goes to Oak Hills High and hangs out with high school kids, I'm not doing the same thing at all. I certainly hope no one thinks I'm trying to brainwash kids into believing what I believe, or professing a certain faith - I do hope they can absorb some truthful information about who Jesus is, and come to some sort of conclusion based on what they pick up. I don't feel like a spammer, deluging them with data that they didn't want. I'll vocalize stuff on my relationship with God if you ask me to, or if you show up on Monday nights. Hopefully no one feels like I'm shoving anything on anyone. I really more just wanna be friends.

And that distinction is important, and it will get missed by 95% of the general public who thinks Young Life is a church group, or a youth group, or whatever. My team and I are labeled youth group leaders. Not much I can do about it except hope that people get the facts, and try to explain myself the best I can, and keep meeting people.

But the other thing, the idea that Christians get special privilege - we don't and we shouldn't at all. Everyone else has just as much right to think what they want and do what they want as we do.