An American church, First West Baptist, ‘partnered’ with a school in Bridgend, Wales teaching them that science was a lie and creationism was true, that gay couples should not marry (their website states homosexuality is ‘sexual immorality’) and that they could be ‘saved’.
Members of the evangelical, Louisiana based First West Baptist Church visited the schools as part of a “cultural exchange” between 2009 and 2018. First West Baptist claim the partnership was established when they offered to provide help after a spike in suicides among young people in Bridgend in south Wales.
The evangelicals would not only provide ‘entertainment’ in the form concerts and sports events but also led classes on history, maths and science. A biology teacher said she felt “uneasy” when her class were told creationism was true and “Darwin and science has been a lie”, which she described as “misinformation”.
One student claimed they were told by church members that gay couples should not marry. The Church’s website describes homosexuality as a form of “sexual immorality”, along with pornography and adultery. It also opposes abortion. The student complained to his head of year and was told the Church would not return, only for them to be invited again the next year.
Another student alleged the evangelicals used their concerts and entertainment events to proselytise students. She says students at one show were instructed to raise their hands if they had converted to Christianity. She worried gay and lesbian students at the school would no longer be accepted by peers who had converted.
The News Movement produced a short 15min documentary on this outrage.
Nobody in officialdom seemed to know this was happening and nobody stopped it until COVID did. It’s only now that members of the Senedd are hearing about this. Hopefully an investigation will be forthcoming and these abusers stopped.
This is how evangelical groups work. They want you at your lowest, best of all if you’re still a child, so they can manipulate you.