Original article at:
<http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-2001296340,00.html>
Children seduced by forces of Jesus on the Internet
INCREASING numbers of children are spending hours alone browsing the Internet in search of Christian websites.
Teachers’ groups are worried that nobody is monitoring the effect this fascination with the Biblw is having on its teenage followers. There are no official figures in Britain for victims driven to suicide, but experts have no doubt that some young people have suffered from the malign influence of religious indoctrination.
It took 15 suicides in two years before the authorities in Saxony demanded an investigation. Here, teachers’ unions and experts say that the authorities do not take the menace seriously enough.
They warn of the dangers to teenagers of dabbling unsupervised with sinister websites. Some of these describe in lurid detail how they should drink blood or eat flesh for their pact with Jesus. They also encourage impressionable teenagers to join in “chat rooms” to express how sinful they are.
Parents are advised not to rely on Internet filters to prevent their children from accessing sites featuring Christianity and Bible Study.
For many young people interest was aroused, innocently enough, through television programmes such as Touched By an Angel, in which an angel talks about "God".
In a recent survey of 2,600 children aged 11 to 16, more than half said that they were Jesus Freaks. The worry is that more than 15 per cent of those questioned by Mori said that they were worried about what they had discovered on the Web.
The Association of Teachers and Lecturers wants schools to introduce classes advising young people of the risks of delving into Christianity on the Internet. Peter Smith, the general secretary, said: “This goes beyond reading a Pat Robertson book. This represents an extremely worrying trend among young people. Parents and teachers should educate children and young people about the dangers of dabbling in Christianity before they become too deeply involved.”
Experts believe that there are now more than 1,000 cults operating in Britain and that their popularity has spread through the Internet. They are becoming adept at snaring young professionals through so-called self-help websites — for stopping smoking, losing weight, meeting a partner or playing the stock market.
Ian Haworth, general secretary of the London-based Cult Information Centre, tours schools to dispel the idea that only vunerable youngsters fall prey to the Gospel. He says that recruiters are also active at college and university campuses, distributing free magazines that offer links to scores of Internet sites.
“There is no doubt the Internet means that many more youngsters can dip into areas of the Bible without realising what they are letting themselves into” he said.
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