Today, I went to take my daughter to the Medieval Fair in
the Collicutt Centre advertized by the City of Red Deer. I can't deny it, it was fun,
bouncy castles, miniature car shows, laser tag, among many other attractions
and of course some of the regular Collicutt activities (wall climbing,
badminton, etc). One thing that I was not aware of and made me get suspicious was some
of the sponsors, the Christian Radio Station Shine FM and Cross Road Church
(CRC).
My suspicions started when volunteers from the CRC gave us a
wrist band right at the main entrance of the Centre. The wristband was given
with the intention that the kids could claim a goody bag and the end of the night
when it was time to go home through the same main entrance. This was practically impossible
to avoid entering to the Centre with your kid and some very well intended
people offering a trick or treat goody bags, good strategy I must say. I thought it was very thoughtful to let the kids have fun in the fair without the extra
bag to carry around and the fact that food is not allowed in the Field House.
When we decided to go home, we went to exit and of course my
daughter claimed the goody bag and in fact what I suspected was true, "religious
proselytism" in a City of Red Deer event, very subtle I admit but yet taking
advantage of the fact that their target people, families and specially children
were going to be there.
Well the goody bag have to noticeable stickers, as shown in
the figures, giving away information on their children programs and one of the
stickers was a very “cool” looking sticker with an airplane and the words
Adventure Kids, Word of Life Church “where kids get into the Bible and Bible
gets into the kids!”.
Also, a CD was in bag with 2 of the 12 “Adventure in
Odyssey”, “... 12 exciting stories that reveal just what God can do in our
lives...”, I listen to the first one and have to admit that it is pretty good up
until after the story ends when the narrator voice direct the kids to check a
particular passage of the bible that touches the theme. You may say there is no
harm in that, but the story itself makes good moral points without the need of
a handpicked teaching from the bible. I hope that the kids and parents that pay
attention to this, actually read the bible, not just the nice and morally
valid passages but also the not so moral and even the completely monstrous ones, to understand that our morality does not come from the bible. Anyway, this topic is best discussed by others.
Now, I would not mind advertisement directed to adults, but
not to kids. I can only hope that the parents see the shameful opportunistic approach of
the CRC and Shine FM. If I was invited by the CRC and Shine FM to an exclusive
event of theirs, I for sure will take all of their propaganda as I chose to go
to their event in their venue. But, this, again opportunistic approach, was an
ambush to many citizen that went to a “City of Red Deer Event” that should have
no religious proselytism of any kind, especially on a day that many vulnerable
kids were going to be there. It is statistically unfortunate that some people
will fall on the CRC low strategies and fill the mind of their children with
the illusion of a sense of absolute morality and in many cases moving the kids away from the beauty of reality.
With this, I implore the City of Red Deer to think about
this issue and assess if letting religious proselytism in City Events is in
the best interest of the inhabitants. In my personal opinion as a concern
citizen I don’t see how this abuse from the Cross Road Church can be allowed on
a City Event in a City Venue.
