So how many here belonged to youth groups that were religious in nature?

[Strong Atheist]

I imagine many of us went to some kind of church (my parents eventually settled on a UU church), but I was thinking of other groups.

I was in the bot scouts (made it to eagle - mostly to please my dad). My parents got me in that at a young age. That experience was mixed, at best, mostly due to the nature of younger boys, some of whom were little savages.

I was also in DeMolay, which I entered on my own at 16. Of course, I had to lie about religion to get in. Once in, I eventually found that one of the leaders was also an atheist.

DeMolay was really positive for me, but obviously not because of the religious aspects of it. There were dances, and the other kids were fun.

I thought about this because the subject of Freemasonry came up at work today (bizarrely enough), and it made me think back to those days...

So, any positive/negative religion-oriented youth experiences?

[FiveGoodMen]

1. I was active in Young Life for several years

They ran some pretty good camps (back in the '70s, anyway) and kept the preaching to a minimum.

Had a very positive experience there although I couldn't go back for obvious reasons.

[Strong Atheist]

2. Cool. I know nothing about that ... nt.

[Lost-in-FL]

3. I was part of the "Legion of Mary"

What we did was to pray the rosary once a week and read a section of the bible. On our "field trips" we would visit the sick and people in jail.

It was dreadful being there, reciting prayers like automatons.It had no impact on my life.

[Strong Atheist]

4. Sorry about that.

:-(

[onager]

5. Also in DeMolay

I liked the whole Knights Templar/piss-off-the-Pope angle. :-)

Belonged to 4-H, mostly so I could go to their week-long summer camp. The summer I was 15, I shot off my mouth about Jesus being a myth. This really pissed off a humongous football-player type, who started arguing with me. A female counselor agreed with me! She was an Older Woman--18--who was already in college, where the atheists obviously had corrupted her. I fell in love at once. Unrequited, unfortunately.

Despite the Southern Baptist reputation for being strait-laced etc., all the churches in our community hosted parties for kids where we played stuff like Spin-The-Bottle. Though part of the old Baptist cliche is true--no dancing allowed!

Oh, and I was in the Royal Ambassadors, a Baptist boys' group. We had "sword drills." Get your minds outta the gutter--the sword was a Bible, and the drill was finding Bible verses. You won if you were the first with the verse called out by the group leader.

[Strong Atheist]

6. Cool. Like the Older Woman part. DeMolay was fun in my area not

only because the guys were a good group, but because of the Jobies and especially because of the Rainbows...

[TheCentepedeShoes]

7. DeMolay intrigued me when

I was young. Didn't have any friends or classmates in it that I knew of, don't even know if there was a group around here, although stands to reason there must have been. I met some kids on a band trip to OK who were members. They talked like it was the cool thing to belong to. I would have had to lie about the religion, too. My dad was a Mason, but not particularly religious himself.

[Strong Atheist]

8. Umm...

:blush:

Your profile says female. Am I missing something here?

Do you mean you would have joined the Jobie's or the Rainbows?

I am confused...

Sorry... :shrug:

[TheCentepedeShoes]

10. The DeMolays were being

discussed in a mixed group, but thinking back (and it's been a loooog time) I believe the girls in the group were Rainbows.

[Strong Atheist]

11. Ah. I always preferred the Rainbows. Around my neck of the woods,

The Jobie's were generally snobs who would not give a nerd like myself the time of day. The Rainbows were generally nicer...

[Joe the Liberal]

9. Hmmmmm not really............

I was in boy scouts too, but that was a looooong time ago, my dad got me in it but I didn't get that far. Plus I was really young so I didn't care about it that much other than that I can't really remember any. My mom was a Jehovah's Witness and would drag me and my brother to the 2 hour session every Sunday. However that really wasn't a youth group but it sure was annoying and extremely boring, but that's pretty much it. I'm 19 now and not involved with any youth group that's religious in nature, thankfully.

[progressoid]

12. Scouts until I was 13 or so.

I didn't leave Boy Scouts because of the religion stuff. It just became less about the fun camping and outdoor stuff and more about that militaristic "be all that you can be" thing. Not my cup of tea.

I was actually in a church youth group for a few years (until Jr High I think). While my reasons for quiting that group weren't really clear to me at the time, I knew that I didn't belong there. Later it all cleared up. :)

My parents are quite religious but never pressed the issue too much. And they still don't. They do their thing and I do mine (or don't do as the case may be).