Where American Teens Were Abused in the Name of God. Newsweek.

[madfloridian]

I just recorded Kidnapped for Christ on Showtime. I only watched a portion of it so far. I wanted to read more about the background, and I found this from July at Newsweek.

Where American Teens were Abused in the Name of God

Logan describes herself as having been a “very enthusiastic and committed evangelical Christian” when she began filming Kidnapped for Christ. Now, she identifies as agnostic, “mostly because I find myself no longer being able to believe that I have found the absolute truth and that all other religious convictions are wrong. This kind of thinking contributed to what happened at Escuela Caribe, and to countless other abuses in the name of religion,” she says.

Along with Michael C. Manning, a former Disney star, and Lance Bass, the former N’Snyc pop star who both serve as executive producers on the film, she is pressing for the passage of U.S. Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2013, in promotional materials for the film. The bill, which was referred to a committee last year but has yet to be introduced in the House or Senate, would take steps to regulate against neglect and abuse in residential programs like Escuela Caribe.

In 2011, Escuela Caribe and New Horizons closed, transferring the property to another Christian ministry called Crosswinds, which reopened the school under the name Caribbean Mountain Academy. At least five staff members from Escuela Caribe remained employed at the school after the transition, though Mark Terrell, the CEO of Crosswinds, tells Newsweek they have all since moved on to different jobs. He maintains that they were vetted extensively before allowing to remain. “I don’t really care what anybody thinks. I think they’re good people.”

There was also an article at The Daily Beast in July.

Kidnapped for Christ’ Review: Come Because You’re Gay, Stay For Jesus

Kidnapped for Christ is a heart-wrenching story, both anger-inducing and redemptive, about ordinary teens abducted from home and sent to the Caribbean for pricey religious fixes.

The summer before David’s senior year of high school, two strangers showed up at his Colorado home, and as his parents declared their love for him, the two men wrapped a belt around the 17-year-old’s waist and shoved him into the backseat of a car. They drove David to an airport, dragged him through security, down the terminal, and boarded a flight to Miami.

Once there, the honors student learned where he was being taken, that his parents had signed him up for an undetermined length of stay at Escuela Caribe, a Dominican Republic-based Christian behavioral modification school for “troubled” teenagers started in 1971 by Gordon Blossom, a former “juvenile delinquent” who became a pastor. The reason David’s parents sent their son to the Caribbean for pricey offshore come-to-Jesus treatment was that he’d recently told them that he was gay.

David’s experience at Escuela Caribe, along with the experiences of Beth and Tai, two other American teenagers abducted from their homes and taken to the DR for religious fixes, is the focus of Kidnapped for Christ, an award-winning documentary directed by Kate Logan and executive-produced by Tom DeSanto, Lance Bass, and Mike Manning, that premiered Thursday on Showtime (available On Demand until September 3, 2014). Funded by online campaigns at Kickstarter and IndieGogo, Kidnapped for Christ made its film festival debut in January at Park City, Utah’s Slamdance Film Festival and took home the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature.

As the producer points out the same people were never really shut down. They can keep opening new schools with different names in different places.

The Showtime schedule:

Kidnapped For Christ:
Upcoming Airings (All Times ET/PT):
Thu, Sep 11, 9:30 AM
SHO NEXT
Fri, Sep 12, 5:20 AM
SHO NEXT
Mon, Sep 15, 7:40 AM
SHO NEXT
Fri, Sep 19, 12:30 PM
SHO 2
Fri, Sep 26, 7:30 AM
SHO NEXT
Sun, Sep 28, 4:50 AM
SHO 2
Tue, Sep 30, 9:40 AM
SHO NEXT

[hifiguy]

1. Kick!!!

This is fucking important.

How the fuck do monsters like this continue operating in "civilized" countries?

[joeybee12]

2. KNR, but I doubt I'll be able to watch it.

[madfloridian]

3. I don't think it shows much unpleasant stuff on camera.

I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but it appears to be mostly talking about what goes on.

I get the impression the producer was not going into it with the purpose of being critical.

[knitter4democracy]

4. I had a former student who had gone to a similar place.

She told horror stories of what they did to her there. Another one of our students had been sent to the same facility, and her PTSD was so bad that she could barely even look at my student or talk about it.

Those places all need to be shut down.

[madfloridian]

5. One of my classmates years ago was sent to FL Dozier school for boys.

He used to tell us what went on there. It was so horrific it scared us...we were pretty young. The teacher finally told him not to talk about it. He needed real help. He was scarred in many ways.

It wasn't specifically called a religious school, but they used many of the ideas.

[knitter4democracy]

7. I firmly believe all those people doing this to kids are going to hell.

If there is any justice in the afterlife, anyway.

They made her walk barefoot in the snow. In the mountains in Utah. She got frostbite, and they never treated it. She's more messed up than ever, and I blame that place for doing it. Best poet I ever had--publishable rough drafts. Truly amazing kid, and they broke her.

[rhett o rick]

6. k&r. Thanks for posting. nm

[dsc]

8. It is tough, but important, to watch

It isn't a great documentary in the sense that one isn't supposed to involve oneself in that which she is documenting, but it is both great and important film making.

[Starry Messenger]

9. k&r

Heartily recommended. I've seen the film, from what I've read things are even worse than portrayed in the film.