The escapist, I need your help.

[P-mac]

Non-serious answer:
She's become a Christian Child of the Corn. Put a bullet through her brain to save her from her God-fearing self!

Serious Answer:
While it is a really weird predicament, you can't really do anything. It's up to her to decide to be extremely Christian or extremely Atheist.

 

[zHellas]

Religiolous-Snip

Call the police.

 

[Nimbus]

Sounds like straight-up cult brainwashing. Too bad it's her parents who did this to her, or they could've hired a deprogrammer.

 

[RadioactiveTurtle]

Religiolous-Snip

Call the police.

And explain that my friend got brainwashed at Christian camp? We wouldn't be taken seriously.

 

[Prof.Wood]

Wow...
If it makes her happy you shouldn't do anything (unless she is in your face with her religion)

I just want to know how camps can do this (not morally just how can this be done)what point that they made got to her.

She was happy before.

was she alot happier? I know I kinda sound like a dick but the only other thing I can think of is get her alone sit her down and talk to her and explain to her what you have explained here. like an intervention.

 

[RadioactiveTurtle]

Wow...
If it makes her happy you shouldn't do anything (unless she is in your face with her religion)

I just want to know how camps can do this (not morally just how can this be done)what point that they made got to her.

She was happy before.

was she alot happier? I know I kinda sound like a dick but the only other thing I can think of is get her alone sit her down and talk to her and explain to her what you have explained here. like an intervention.

Happiest girl I've ever met. Now she is cold, emptier. So far, an intervention of sorts seems like the best idea.

 

[zHellas]

Religiolous-Snip

Call the police.

And explain that my friend got brainwashed at Christian camp? We wouldn't be taken seriously.

You have good evidence: Her personality changed drastically over a short period of time. Either something big happened then, or she was brainwashed.

 

[RadioactiveTurtle]

Religiolous-Snip

Call the police.

And explain that my friend got brainwashed at Christian camp? We wouldn't be taken seriously.

You have good evidence: Her personality changed drastically over a short period of time. Either something big happened then, or she was brainwashed.

It does seem drastic, but I'll keep it in mind.

 

[Urgh76]

Get a group of people together for any amount of time and with the right manipulation you can turn anyone to pretty much anything.

I'm not sure how to best answer you without making negative comments about certain aspects of the Christian community but it sounds an awful lot like brainwashing. I'm sure you can find the documentaries online where they visit these camps and I was truely sickened. My personal feelings for Christianity aside, just the methods employed shocked me and I couldn't believe anyone could target children in such a manner.

Ultimately, if she is happy, or she believes she is happy then there is little you can do to change that. If anything, trying to get in the way will simply make her cut ties with you. You or your friends cannot reverse the conditioning which occured during that week. That may sound harsh but incredibly clever conditioning is exactly what it is.

I should point out this doesn't happen will all christians, just certain groups and it sounds like that is the kind of place she went to.

Spoiler: Jesus Camp

If you think you can undo the kind of shit seen above, then good luck to you.

Harry Potter?

Really?

Well, they did do this to Pokemon: http://carm.org/more-stuff/features/pokemon-what-it

You can skip to the "Is Pokemon Dangerous" bit to get the main idea

 

[Prof.Wood]

Wow...
If it makes her happy you shouldn't do anything (unless she is in your face with her religion)

I just want to know how camps can do this (not morally just how can this be done)what point that they made got to her.

She was happy before.

was she alot happier? I know I kinda sound like a dick but the only other thing I can think of is get her alone sit her down and talk to her and explain to her what you have explained here. like an intervention.

Happiest girl I've ever met. Now she is cold, emptier. So far, an intervention of sorts seems like the best idea.

Ok if her parents made her go don't talk to them about it, its likely that they will try to get her to stop talking to you, just ask her if she wants to talk say that you feel that you haven't connected in a while.

 

[Ildecia]

Le snip

Now... if she went to a catholic prayer/bible camp thing, then theres your answer. ( i am a christian) I was raised catholic and was so damn sick of the 2 hour long masses, the monotone preacher, and the gut-wrenchingly stupidity of the "lessons" they told us. The thing that pissed me (and my dad) off to no end was that they have no proof, that they showed no evidence of their claims being sound (dont get ahead of me) I joined a different church and so far; they have given me more reason to believe in god than catholics.

Catholics: God is all-mighty and all powerful cause we say so. now pray a lot and always donate to the church or burn in hell forever.

My new church (Presbyterians): God is among us, he is all mighty, and thats why i love life. I see him in the simple pleasures of life have a great week.
done. simple. no force-feeding of bullshit.

thats prolly why she was completly brainwashed.

 

[RadioactiveTurtle]

OP here:
We have discussed that an 'intervention' of sorts is the best idea, so we are all going to talk to her as soon as possible. Thank you for all of the suggestions so far, it has been helpful outside opinion. I will keep everyone here updated on what is happening.

Thank you, everyone.

 

[Delock]

Spoiler: Jesus Camp

If you think you can undo the kind of shit seen above, then good luck to you.

These people are absolute idiots. The worst part had to be where the woman is ranting about Harry Potter.

"Had it been in the Old Testement, Harry Potter would have been put to death!"

No, Harry would be walking free and clear for being a "warlock" and a Jew would have been killed back then.

Ugh, why is it that these radical groups can't even be bothered to get the facts right, even when it's in their doctrine?

OT: Call some sort of child support.

 

[kalt_13]

Spoiler: Jesus Camp

Thats scary.

OP here:
We have discussed that an 'intervention' of sorts is the best idea, so we are all going to talk to her as soon as possible. Thank you for all of the suggestions so far, it has been helpful outside opinion. I will keep everyone here updated on what is happening.

Thank you, everyone.

good luck

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

Le snip

Now... if she went to a catholic prayer/bible camp thing, then theres your answer. ( i am a christian) I was raised catholic and was so damn sick of the 2 hour long masses, the monotone preacher, and the gut-wrenchingly stupidity of the "lessons" they told us. The thing that pissed me (and my dad) off to no end was that they have no proof, that they showed no evidence of their claims being sound (dont get ahead of me) I joined a different church and so far; they have given me more reason to believe in god than catholics.

Catholics: God is all-mighty and all powerful cause we say so. now pray a lot and always donate to the church or burn in hell forever.

My new church (Presbyterians): God is among us, he is all mighty, and thats why i love life. I see him in the simple pleasures of life have a great week.
done. simple. no force-feeding of bullshit.

thats prolly why she was completly brainwashed.

Okay, I go to a Catholic school and sometimes actually attend mass and that is not accurate.

OT: Ask her what about the camp made her change her mind. If she says anything other than, "I don't remember," she is impressionable but still ultimately chose. If she says she does not remember, she was brainwashed.

 

[Stoic raptor]

Get a group of people together for any amount of time and with the right manipulation you can turn anyone to pretty much anything.

I'm not sure how to best answer you without making negative comments about certain aspects of the Christian community but it sounds an awful lot like brainwashing. I'm sure you can find the documentaries online where they visit these camps and I was truely sickened. My personal feelings for Christianity aside, just the methods employed shocked me and I couldn't believe anyone could target children in such a manner.

Ultimately, if she is happy, or she believes she is happy then there is little you can do to change that. If anything, trying to get in the way will simply make her cut ties with you. You or your friends cannot reverse the conditioning which occured during that week. That may sound harsh but incredibly clever conditioning is exactly what it is.

I should point out this doesn't happen will all christians, just certain groups and it sounds like that is the kind of place she went to.

Spoiler: Jesus Camp

If you think you can undo the kind of shit seen above, then good luck to you.

That video is fucking scary.

 

[CaptainKoala]

Becoming a religious person is a huge step and a huge lifestyle change. And it is typically something that you don't get this serious about in a week. People who dive into religion and are super serious this early into it generally won't stick with it this seriously for more than a month or two. I'm a Christian, and I have no problem admitting that. But getting to the point that I am now as far as how seriously I take it wasn't easy. It takes willpower and a true belief in God. Not a couple things you learned at a week camp.

 

[Mad World]

If she decided to let God come into her life, then you should be happy for her; becoming a Christian is the greatest thing that could ever happen to someone.

Becoming a religious person is a huge step and a huge lifestyle change. And it is typically something that you don't get this serious about in a week. People who dive into religion and are super serious this early into it generally won't stick with it this seriously for more than a month or two. I'm a Christian, and I have no problem admitting that. But getting to the point that I am now as far as how seriously I take it wasn't easy. It takes willpower and a true belief in God. Not a couple things you learned at a week camp.

Exactly. I hope that she is serious about being a Christian.

Religion isn't simply a phase; it should be the most-important thing to a person.

 

[DementedSheep]

I've had that happen to a friend of mine as well. I don't think their really is much you can do about it part from just sitting down and talking to her about it. If you do try and talk to her about try to be as non confrontational as possible and try not to jump to conclusions, accuse the camp of having brain washed her or anything like that. Maybe ask her what it was that made her change her opinion so suddenly and try and keep the discussion lite. Don't act like you think your trying to save her because will probably just make things worse. Be careful because you can end up doing more harm than good and just creating a bigger rift between you and her.

Keep in mind that they may not have necessarily brain washed her. She may just have clicked with something that was being said at the camp but not imposed on her. I've been to some Christian camps (tho I'm atheist) with friends and despite what allot of people seem to think not all of them are bad, tho they obviously all have religious overtones. In the end it is her life and she can believe and do what she wants, hopefully she will get her head back on straight and sort things out herself. It may just be that now that she has suddenly 'found God' it's a big thing for her and she may calm down and stop being so extreme after the buzz has worn off. So try not to worry to much, it?s common for people who suddenly dive straight into a religion to act that way for a while. It is after all quite a big thing.

I have had some of experience with some Christian groups that are into the brain washing thing. Like for example the "non religious counselling program" I was put in when I was in intermediate. Non religious my ass, they was in fact very heavily religious and they even kept taking us to church and trying to get us to pray and shoving God down our throats at every opportunity. If they were doing to her what they tried to do to me (as I said this may not be the case, so don't go shouting accusations) then they probably picked on any problems or insecurities she might have been having, made them seem worse, used scare tactics to convince her that if she didn't believe in God she would be dammed and then offered God up as an easy fix to all her problems. So I guess just try to make sure that she knows your there for her so she doesn't feel that God is all she has to turn to.

 

[Sneaky-Pie]

I hear slapping helps.

Lots of it.