I am so very sorry for the supporters of Strawberry Point Camp. They fell prey last week to one of the great lies of the 21st Century Humanist agenda. Their application for a funding contest was rejected because they promote a particular ideology. The problem is every camp, every cause on earth promotes an ideology. You’re not wrong to feel jerked around on this SPCC because you were.
The secular world of politics and insurance companies would have you believe that there are two perspectives in the world: a Religious Perspectives and a Non-Religious Perspective. Non-Religious people are unbiased and see the world objectively while people with Religious Perspectives are ideologically biased and can only see the world in service of their own religious beliefs. What a load of crap!
EVERYONE has an ideological bias! If there is one trade-up offered by the Post-Modern Worldview it is that everyone is biased. There is no such thing as an objective position.
The EL Crossley Rowing Team has an ideology to advance. Just read their application: “Over the years E.L.Crossley rowing has been a driving force in getting teens involved in rowing both for the fitness aspects as well as developing self-confidence.” they have clear values and want to advance their own cause. What’s the difference?
The Toronto Cat Rescue has an ideology. Save Orphan Deer Fawns, Songbird Rescue, they all do. (I’m not making these causes up. They all made it to the semi-finals!)
Strawberry Point’s application was rejected because it promoted faith. SPCC provides a great outdoor camping experience for kids of all backgrounds within an ideology that claims that God has created the earth for His own glory and that Jesus Christ is His Son.
YMCA Day Camp (for example) is not a camp experience free of ideology! It just has a different one. Most of the time when an agency claims to have no idealogy, it has a human sectarian one.
Western culture says that being spiritually minded is okay as long as you keep your beliefs private and do not bring them into the public arena. The irony of this position is that it is based on humanist assumptions about absolutes. Secular humanism is absolutely certain that there are no absolutes.
“I just returned from Thailand and Singapore. Every mall I walked through in those countries was playing Christmas carols. One of the world’s tallest Christmas trees was in Central World Plaza in Bangkok, Thailand. Christmas trees and Christmas decorations filled the streets of Singapore and carols were playing there. In America, Christians wonder whether they can even do this anymore without someone questioning whether they ought to acknowledge Christmas in the marketplace.
What has happened? The Judeo-Christian worldview has become the pariah stepchild of worldviews and is being attacked while other worldviews are respected, reverenced, and recognized as part of history and the culture of other nations.”
It stinks, and it’s not fair. The good news is that SPCC is starting it’s own fundraiser to fund it’s waterfront project. Let’s get behind that!
Canada Helps: Waterfront Revitalization at Strawberry Point Christian Camp
ephesians2eight 
I guess my question is, even if you are right what does it get you? The only thing that wins is love. Love always wins and never stinks. Instead of criticizing differing views as wrong while supporting other views as right maybe we should seek to understand each other more completely as a step in the direction of learning to love one another.
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I’ll play devil’s advocate on this one, even though I fully support the idea and the camp. Aviva didn’t “jerk anyone around on this”… unless, of course, they posted the eligibility criteria AFTER the first round of voting (which I doubt). Fact of the matter is, we didn’t read the rules, rules which may be dumb and unfounded, but they were still there. I do feel bad that many people worked hard to get the camp this far in the voting.
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Love wins and this stinks. Both.
The camp is getting jerked around because each agency that is still eligible for the money also advances an ideology. There is no such think as a cause that is not ideologically motivated. The question is why is a Christian ideology substandard to a humanist one?
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What adds salt to the wound is what I had been saying all last week: at the end of last week’s round of voting, stray cats seemed to have a better chance at winning this money than did a camp that benefits children. I’m all for animals, but I think our culture stands to benefit more from the Christian influence in the lives of children than shelters for homeless cats. There’s another mark of humanism for ya: cats are just as eligible and deserving recipients of funding as your children.
Perhaps a bit bitter.
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Thanks Noel – I appreciate your thoughts. It’s unfortunate we have to be so “Politically Correct” in our society as to not offend anyone – to the point of exclusion. You have put into words a lot of things I have been thinking but not known how to express. So many of the other ideas are also very worthy recipients of funding and will make a difference in the wider community – but they all do have their own ideologies, absolutely. It is a sad mark of our society that “religion” is so taboo.
Andy – for the record, the rules were always there, I read them carefully before submitting my idea.
I’m well aware that religious organizations are normally outright banned from competitions like these. I was pleasantly surprised that they were accepting applications from religious organizations as long as the projects themselves did not “directly promote faith”. So I knew that asking for funding to buy bibles or VBS curriculum or starting up a new church, etc, would be out of the question. I didn’t think (and of course, now know I was wrong) that buying boats/motors/dock/etc was “direct promotion of faith”. I knew it was indirect promotion of faith… because yes, it’s at SPCC, so I was still unsure if it would fly, but our application was reviewed before any voting even began….
The email I received said, “We’re currently reviewing the content of your idea to make sure it qualifies for the competition. It should be approved shortly (we’ll let you know as soon as that happens).”
And then I received another that said, “Your idea has been reviewed, approved, and is now searchable on [website]”
I am still not sure what the purpose of that “review” was, but I was under the impression that when they said they were reviewing the content to make sure it qualifies, that would equate checking eligibility. Any little doubts I had in my mind about whether or not we were eligible or ineligible were removed when I received the email saying we were “approved”.
It’s not all the company’s fault and they have the right to choose to give out their money how they see fit and run their competition how they want to run it. I was disappointed and heartbroken because they let us go on for so long and then turned around to say no… that stinks… but I’m over it and moving on.
Love does win. Insert that cheesy quote about closing a door and opening a window.
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Noel: because of crazy Christians, and FEAR of being even remotely associated with them.
Glen: don’t even get me started on the animals thing.
Erica (and others),
That does stink. If they were going to kick the idea out anyways, they should have done it from the start, NOT after “reviewing” your idea and accepting it. They definitely strung you along, and that isn’t fair, or right. I am sorry.
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Andy, I think you’re right. Christians who have used privilege and their social position to serve their own have harmed the cause of Christ. I think we are all paying the price for that. A highly skeptical culture doesn’t trust churches or christians to do what is best for society. In some ways, I can’t blame them.
Perhaps we need to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city” Jer. 29: 7 for about 250 years to put it right.
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