<p>Anyone have a bad experience with a "religous group" on your child's campus. My child
has become completely enthralled with this group and the people in it. I am so frustrated by it, we don't know what to do. Looking for help</p>
<p>I swear there was a post about something a while ago…I can’t seem to find the thread. Anyone know which one I’m talking about? The religious cult that recruits on college campuses?</p>
<p>@agreatperhaps - I remember the thread you mean.</p>
<p>The thread was by MaineLonghorn and I believe there were other threads linked within that one.</p>
<p>Newconmom – I do remember the thread, it was fairly recent. My suggestion is to do your homework first. Do you know the name of the group? Google and see if there is any info on them. And then I’d call the local police department and see if there have been complaints filed. Get your facts and then make a plan. Good luck.</p>
<p>It appears the thread that I was referencing has been removed. I can’t find it.</p>
<p>I believe that romani is absolutely correct. The longtime poster MaineLonghorn had a child involved with one of these campus groups.</p>
<p>Not every campus religious group is dangerous. The hallmarks of a questionable religious group are secrecy, demands for obedience to a living leader, and demands to give up contacts with existing friends and family. However, sometimes students experiment in their spiritual lives, as they do in other aspects of life. The parents may not like it, but it is not necessarily a threat to the student’s physical or psychological well-being.</p>
<p>I know there are problems with controlling and secretive groups; however, I do want to stress that the vast majority of religious groups and clubs on college campuses are not this way.</p>
<p>Contact MaineLonghorn by PM. The thread was removed because some of these groups are very aggressive about finding discussions about them in forums.</p>
<p>Thanks for that explanation, MOWC. I was wondering what happened. That makes sense though.</p>
<p>OP- unless your kid is on a tiny campus, there will be one or more Chaplains from various religious groups and denominations who are university employees (not just employed by their religious group). That seems to me to be your best bet to either validate your suspicions that something is amiss, or verify that the group is legit.</p>
<p>I have had experience with Chaplains and they are terrific. They will not care if you and your child are not members of their religious group; they are there to serve the spiritual needs of the campus regardless. If you think there’s a cult a-foot, call a Chaplain.</p>
<p>You will find the police very difficult to navigate. There are church/state issues; there are territorial issues with campus vs. local police; there are significant privacy issues involved especially if your kid is over 18 (and you are not calling to report a crime.)</p>
<p>So call a chaplain if you are at all concerned. good luck to you.</p>
<p>Thaks all. Have been doing research. The group my child is involved in is on a large campus and is sponsored by a church in another county. A large non denominational church. I am happy my child is out of the party scene and is finding God in their life. My worry is how it seems to be taking over. Maybe it is fear on my part, but the fact athat they are talking about going into ministry after they graduate for a few years to " get other converts" is scaring me. I have to be careful to not isolate them. We jsut don’t know if this is for real or a threat. My child is looking to belong and I guess it fills a need. Again thanks for all input and welcome any from others. things are escalating and I guess we feel a sense of them talking to us but at a “distance”. Again thanks. this is one scared mom!</p>
<p>definitely pm mainelonghorn!!!</p>
<p>Newconmom, a new Christian is often excited about the new experiences they’re having. Try to be patient, really listen carefully and pay attention. Maybe meet the group/church leader. Often, after a while, the kid will find the ground again and get a little more balance. Be careful not to push back too hard until you find out what the deal is. This could be a GOOD thing. Check it out. As another poster said, if the group promotes the kid missing classes or other important things, isolates the kid from parents or other activities, or if it seems like he always has a mentor as a shadow, then there should be some warning bells. Otherwise, if it doesn’t adversely affect his beneficial relationships or his schoolwork, or other major beneficial interests, then it’s likely a better outlet than some others he could choose.</p>
<p>And yes, definitely pm mainelonghorn. She has good information and may be able to tell you if this group is affiliated with the organization she knows about.</p>
<p>dont take this lightly, having done some research on cults on campuses, this may not be so innocent.</p>
<p>being sponsored means nothing, if the the people on campus are bad</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your help. It means much. Am so lost and scared now. And cromette you are right about keeping an open mind. My child wants me to go to their “baptism” even tho they have been baptized. I am torn by what to do, since I don’t really support this idea. It seems more like an inititation to me. But I don’t want isolation either. Again thanks and any ideas are helpful. This helpless feeling is awful.</p>
<p>What is pm.</p>
<p>PM is “private message”. It’s sort of like email for College Confidential members but you only use your screen name.</p>
<p>If you look at the bar across the top of the screen, you’ll see “my control panel”. Click on that and then from there you can click on “List messages”. PM’s are done from there.
I’m pretty sure you have to have a certain number of posts on CC to be able to PM but don’t know how many posts you have to have. You can give it a try.</p>
<p>newconmom, PM is “private message”. I don’t remember the exact restrictions (you might need to have 15 posts?) but you can go to the top right right corner under where it says “Welcome, newconmom” and click on an area that allows you to send a private message to another username.</p>
<p>I never posted on the prior thread, but did read some of the postings. Right out of college I worked for a non-profit that did research and publishing on cults and new religious movements. My H is clergy and I attended seminary for a time, so we are not opposed to religion, but there are some groups that cross the line from enthusiasm (which ironically means “possessed by god”) to a control by the group. The lines can be very blurred.</p>