I occasionally witness or hear of primary and junior-sunday-school lesson horror stories. Where very young Mormon children are subjected, to what I consider to be, very outrageous discussions of inappropriate topics. Two notables examples:
- A lengthy and bleak discussion of the tribulations and horrors of the Last Days.
- A very descriptive lesson on the gory nature of the crucifixion of Christ, involving such details as driving nails in the hands and feet.
Kids need to be kids. Growing up needs to be fun. There is plenty of time to learn the details of the crucifixion and of the Last Days. And I’m not sure that studying the latter is ever necessary. Learning to be good stewards of the Earth might be a better more positive subject.
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Gina Welch in her book “In the Land of the Believers” makes the following comment about Jerry Falwell’s church (which she infiltrated). While she was surprisingly complimentary toward the evangelicals, Gina was troubled by the church’s practice of trying to convert children into believers.
“The way I saw evangelicals packaging the gospel message in a way children could understand was that there was a disturbing emphasis on hell. The default position is to frighten them into compliance. . . That really bothered me.”
Not long ago, I was in primary (I play the piano). The subject was the resurrection. The senior primary handled it okay, but for the junior primary, it was WAAYYY too deep. The leader had each of the children color a picture of their bodies and then handed them each a kleenex. The subject was how to deal with a body after it has died. For a 3-year-old, it was a bit much. These kids are barely away from their parents, half of them in tears because they don’t WANT to be away from their parents, and we’re teaching them about dead bodies and how to “wrap” them in a “cloth” (tissue). AGE APPROPRIATE topics have got to be considered, especially in junior primary. It was ridiculous. In fact, I got up and walked outside for a breath of fresh air, because I was not comfortable at all with the subject. Junior primary kids need to learn how to share, sing, love, respect, etc., not about how to take care of a dead body. It was a bizarre meeting, to say the least.