No sh*t tag is seeking absolution.

Shocking. Really. Never saw that coming.

Thank you Captain Obvious. Now onto your other duties.

Spare the rod...

AMIRITE?

Religion can cover up for so much.

AbbeySomeone: Religion can cover up for so much.

Really? You don't say?

Kind of like how the religious "ex-gay reform schools" for teenagers are regarded as snake oil-level quackery by every professional medical institution in the First World?

Or kind of how these institutions, both religious and non, have perpetuated a cycle of violence and sexual abuse against teenagers who society have deemed as "deliquient" for over half a century?

Even Ric Romero reported on this YEARS ago.

This kind of shiat is incredibly farked up. It screws the kids up for the rest of their lives.

Instead of bringing them closer to God, they are driven away.

But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

OH COME ON, SUBBY! We farking earned the Florida tag for this one, and you snub us?

I find that a lot of people who are drawn to places like this seem to be the ones who think they can absolve their own "evil" (gay, pedo, etc.) by beating it out of children. They feel that by "saving" the children, they save somehow save themselves. The problem is their attempt to help invariably cause more harm that often propagates to future generations.

You see this a lot in Catholicism, but its a human failing and confined religious organizations. Religion is just the justifying excuse.

nmemkha: I find that a lot of people who are drawn to places like this seem to be the ones who think they can absolve their own "evil" (gay, pedo, etc.) by beating it out of children. They feel that by "saving" the children, they save somehow save themselves. The problem is their attempt to help invariably cause more harm that often propagates to future generations.

You see this a lot in Catholicism, but its a human failing and not confined religious organizations. Religion is just the justifying excuse.

/C-
/See me after class.

oh noes he had to wear orange. thats liek the WORST part of this story

Formerly known as discipline.

The danger is that the programs are run in such a way that the children are forced to participate in dangerous, life-threatening activities without proper care and supervision.

So many are mocking him for having to shave his head or wear an orange jumpsuit, but they seem to have missed the following paragraph:

So when Samson vomited, they threw him a rag. When his urine turned red, they said that was normal. By Day 3, the 15-year-old was on the verge of death, his dehydrated organs shutting down.

These reformatories are run by people with no business to be in the teaching business.

Jon iz teh kewl: oh noes he had to wear orange. thats liek the WORST part of this story

For a kid that hadn't gotten to trouble I can see how making them dress like a prisoner could be a big deal.

Not as big as the rest fo teh garbage, but worth mentioning.

BTW, loved how th emom learned about the camop from her boyfriend who just got out of prison.

nmemkha: I find that a lot of people who are drawn to places like this seem to be the ones who think they can absolve their own "evil" (gay, pedo, etc.) by beating it out of children. They feel that by "saving" the children, they save somehow save themselves. The problem is their attempt to help invariably cause more harm that often propagates to future generations.

You see this a lot in Catholicism, but its a human failing and confined religious organizations. Religion is just the justifying excuse.

Religious extremism can be essentially make one extremely selfish. Parents have been known to let their kids suffer painfully and die from lack of medical treatment just to please their deity and get their own brownie points for heaven.

The government should figure out a way to bring RICO cases against religious institutions.

In George "Macaca" Allen's COnfederate Paradise, aka Virginia, religious day care facilities are EXEMPT from state regulations.

/Cool huh?
//The More You Know....

Can't the Roman Catholic Church claim that raping children is a religious practice and get off (ha ha) that way?

Day_Old_Dutchie: nmemkha: I find that a lot of people who are drawn to places like this seem to be the ones who think they can absolve their own "evil" (gay, pedo, etc.) by beating it out of children. They feel that by "saving" the children, they save somehow save themselves. The problem is their attempt to help invariably cause more harm that often propagates to future generations.

You see this a lot in Catholicism, but its a human failing and confined religious organizations. Religion is just the justifying excuse.

Religious extremism can be essentially make one extremely selfish. Parents have been known to let their kids suffer painfully and die from lack of medical treatment just to please their deity and get their own brownie points for heaven.

Selfishness is the problem; religion is the excuse. People use whatever is available to justify their selfishness. Hell look at CEO compensation. They don't need religion when good old greed and gaming the system work fine enough.

liam76: Jon iz teh kewl: oh noes he had to wear orange. thats liek the WORST part of this story

For a kid that hadn't gotten to trouble I can see how making them dress like a prisoner could be a big deal.

Not as big as the rest fo teh garbage, but worth mentioning.

BTW, loved how th emom learned about the camop from her boyfriend who just got out of prison.

He obviously found Jesus while he was in prison and was passing o n the good word, along with getting her kids out of the house.

How droll! Subby omitted a particular four-letter word from the actual headline.

Though, to be fair, the title of the page presents an interrogative permutation, and as we all know, headlines that ask questions are almost always answered in the article with a "yes".

Still, the missing four letter word is in both iterations. Thanks Subby.

Simultaneous widespread spontaneous orgasm among Farkers.

Now that is a Fark wheelhouse headline, Subbs. Drew should give you TF for a year.

Gateway Christian Military Academy

That's weapons-grade creepy, right there.

It was hard to make it through even a few paragraphs of TFA.

This is hardly surprising, I remember talking about this in the 90s. While the places don't get subject to state inspections and the like, that doesn't leave them out of the reach of child safety laws. It's about high time the doors were kicked in and the places closed for good.

In the mid-'90s, Teen Challenge tangled with state regulators in Texas when officials demanded that all programs that involve locking up youth meet certain training, safety and education standards for counselors. Citing religious freedom, Teen Challenge resisted - and then-governor George W. Bush stepped in to save the program by exempting all religious youth facilities from oversight.

dragonchild: Gateway Christian Military Academy

That's weapons-grade creepy, right there.

Thou shalt not... something... it's right on the tip of my tongue...

...and might be a bit incompatible with a military academy

In next week's follow up story

Religion is a haven for child abuse.

Sadly, this is old news for the Native American community. Governments all over the Americas--including Canada and the U.S.--used to force Native American kids into boarding schools like the ones described in this article for the sake of "civilizing" them and with almost identical results (if not worse).

Check this out: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/02/ indian-boarding-schools-auschwit z-in.html

http://www.twofrog.com/rezsch.html

See also the Magdalene Laundries that were run by the Catholic Church in Ireland: http://www.magdalenelaundries.com/

I can't believe I'm the Weeners this statement. Well, duh.
FARK athiests this task should not have been left to a Christian. I am disappointed.

Jon iz teh kewl: oh noes he had to wear orange. thats liek the WORST part of this story

No, the worst part was the non-medically-trained religious whackjobs giving him medication that made his condition worse.

It's nice to be a religion. If you or I did that, we'd rightly be in jail.

liam76: Jon iz teh kewl: oh noes he had to wear orange. thats liek the WORST part of this story

For a kid that hadn't gotten to trouble I can see how making them dress like a prisoner could be a big deal.

Not as big as the rest fo teh garbage, but worth mentioning.

BTW, loved how th emom learned about the camop from her boyfriend who just got out of prison.

Can you help me out with your code? I'm having a little trouble deciphering.

Religions. I hate these guys.

Life_is_a_carnivore: Even Ric Romero reported on this YEARS ago.

And yet it still goes on and it still is not right. As far as I can tell, that means it still needs to change, Romero.

Lunaville: I can't believe I'm the Weeners this statement.

I can. You are the Weeners, indeed.

nmemkha: I find that a lot of people who are drawn to places like this seem to be the ones who think they can absolve their own "evil" (gay, pedo, etc.) by beating it out of children. They feel that by "saving" the children, they save somehow save themselves. The problem is their attempt to help invariably cause more harm that often propagates to future generations.

You see this a lot in Catholicism, but its a human failing and confined religious organizations. Religion is just the justifying excuse.

Except these "schools" and "camps" seem to be overwhelmingly run by Protestants.

dragonchild: Gateway Christian Military Academy

That's weapons-grade creepy, right there.

Gateway - as in may lead to actual military career? The horror.

DECMATH: Gateway - as in may lead to actual military career?

No.

How do these compare to secular reform schools? 

Or just juvie.

Day_Old_Dutchie: Religious extremism can be essentially make one extremely selfish. Parents have been known to let their kids suffer painfully and die from lack of medical treatment just to please their deity and get their own brownie points for heaven.

The entrance way of my local swimming pool and leisure centre was full of smartly dressed people, including lots of clean cut teenagers (do NOT GIS "clean cut teenager" with safe search off) last weekend. A convention of Jehovah's Witnesses, it seems. If I hadn't been a coward in a hurry I would like to have asked a few of the kids "Your God and your parents would prefer that you died, slowly and painfully, rather than have a standard medical procedure. Are you OK with that?"

Onward Christian soldier,
Take it like a whore,
Suck that dick for Jesus,
And then beg for more!

Jaws75: See also the Magdalene Laundries that were run by the Catholic Church in Ireland: http://www.magdalenelaundries.com/

The Ryan Commission report into abuse the laundries and industrial schools is worth re-reading every time the Roman Catholic Church dares claim any sort of moral authority.

This text is now purple: How do these compare to secular reform schools? Or just juvie.

Did you RTFA? Secular reform schools were often just as abusive, which is why states passed laws regulating them and making sure they were monitored, which in some cases shut down operations within the state's borders. The religious schools went on like business as usual wherever they got their exemption from regulation. The difference was that when secular schools farked up, the state intervened. With the religious schools, in the derp south, they weren't able to because the laws did not apply to them. There was essentially a de facto religious exemption for manslaughter.

It's simple Free Market Products and Services, people. By getting the Government out of the business of programming our children in their school factories we allow parents to educate their children as they see fit. After all, what do kids get in public schools, anyway? They learn how to be homosexual. They learn to hate God and distrust Christmas. And if that's not bad enough, they make us PAY for this "privilege" through our taxes. Even if we don't HAVE children, we're still forced to finance this Federal Brainwashing so our children can learn how to have "safe" sex and hate their parents, but they look at Obama like he's their real father, even if he's black African american.

No, it's time to shrink our Government back to the model our Christian ForeFathers envisioned: One that protects our borders and mints our coins and that's it. Regulators? We don't need your regulators with your Ruby Ridge and telling us we can't put a Kresch in our front yard because my Savior, Jesus, offends your Islamist President. No, it's time we allow these schools to put our kids right and teach them Truth instead of socialism and feminism and drug therapy and evolutions and what not.

I wonder how fast all of these "pro-religion" state governments change laws and investigate if someone opened an "Islamic Military Academy".

dragonchild: This text is now purple: How do these compare to secular reform schools? Or just juvie.

Did you RTFA? Secular reform schools were often just as abusive, which is why states passed laws regulating them and making sure they were monitored, which in some cases shut down operations within the state's borders. The religious schools went on like business as usual wherever they got their exemption from regulation. The difference was that when secular schools farked up, the state intervened. With the religious schools, in the derp south, they weren't able to because the laws did not apply to them. There was essentially a de facto religious exemption for manslaughter.

Awesome.