Very Weird Situation
A church in my town is challenging all of the college freshmen this year to break up with whoever they were dating before and focus entirely on schoolwork and on their relationship to God. They aren't supposed to date anyone during their first semester at college, and are challenged to keep a diary of daily devotionals. They were also asked to sign a "no sex pledge."
Is it just me, or is this insanely invasive? I mean, I'm not a member of this church, and don't even identify as Christian, so maybe it's just me, but asking 18-year-olds to break up with their girl/boyfriends seems bizarre and controlling to me.
Assuming your child belonged to this church (and even if you're not religious, your children might be by the time they are ready for college), what would you say to your child if they came home talking about this? What would you say if they thought they wanted to do it? Would you encourage it? Discourage it?
EDIT: For clarification purposes, I think that in general this might not always be a horrible thing, but this particular church has a long history of fundamentalism, encouraging divisive politics, and discouraging individual thought. Not only that, but it is a large and wealthy church and many people go because we live in a small East Texas town, and if you don't go to church you won't get good business contacts, or that raise you wanted, or whatever. Teens, especially upper middle class white teens, are actively recruited, and high school students are encouraged to stop being friends with anyone who isn't a Christian, including those people who call themselves Christian but don't believe everything that the church does.
The church is aggressively conservative, to the point of sending out scare tactic newsletters before elections. They have hosted talks entitled "Understanding Islam" that were basically just prejudicial hate speech and calling for a "Christian Jihad." It was overtly political and then called for a love offering.
So, given that new information, does it change your answers at all?
Is it just me, or is this insanely invasive? I mean, I'm not a member of this church, and don't even identify as Christian, so maybe it's just me, but asking 18-year-olds to break up with their girl/boyfriends seems bizarre and controlling to me.
Assuming your child belonged to this church (and even if you're not religious, your children might be by the time they are ready for college), what would you say to your child if they came home talking about this? What would you say if they thought they wanted to do it? Would you encourage it? Discourage it?
EDIT: For clarification purposes, I think that in general this might not always be a horrible thing, but this particular church has a long history of fundamentalism, encouraging divisive politics, and discouraging individual thought. Not only that, but it is a large and wealthy church and many people go because we live in a small East Texas town, and if you don't go to church you won't get good business contacts, or that raise you wanted, or whatever. Teens, especially upper middle class white teens, are actively recruited, and high school students are encouraged to stop being friends with anyone who isn't a Christian, including those people who call themselves Christian but don't believe everything that the church does.
The church is aggressively conservative, to the point of sending out scare tactic newsletters before elections. They have hosted talks entitled "Understanding Islam" that were basically just prejudicial hate speech and calling for a "Christian Jihad." It was overtly political and then called for a love offering.
So, given that new information, does it change your answers at all?