I'll do you one better that that. A minister wanted me to join the church. However, in order to join one had to attend a 1 hour class for 6 weeks. The class was designed to teach a person how to be a good church member. Reely??

VBS stands for Virgin Busting Season if you are the standard issue child molester / religious teacher. How can people just hand their kids off to these unabashed child molesters?

With the tarnished reputation of priests, nuns, scoutmasters, and so many other 'youth group' leaders - I am dubious about faith schools for more than the indoctrination.

Even as a kid I thought they were shady. Hey, come to this great camp and do all these fun things! You have to learn about Jesus though... Interesting fact, the Rashneesh cult built a huge compound in Oregon and now Young Life owns it and has a huge Bible camp there. From one cult to another

Maybe it's the part of the country we're in but VBS here is sermonizing lite/activities heavy. Son looked forward to every summer. Couple-three weeks away from each other and play for us both...

When I was a kid, was forced into CYO summer camps...hated it...but, when I was a kid there were 25+ kids within a three house radius of ours...

Yeah as long as message is about being a descent person not slave to superstition

I remember going but have no memory of anything except doing crafts...painted a cross on a wooden plate but I added blood and flowers and lots of glitter...my mom, an atheist, loved it, my dad, not so much...Cheap way to get rid of the kids for a few hours so they could have some "alone" time...

Total indoctrination.. My brother’s long-time gf just couldn’t shake religion … though paling with a family devoid of it.. Her confessions to my brother were her days at ‘vacation bible school,’ where ‘she’d had so much fun,’ left her feeling warm, positive thoughts about religion... Made me sick. Still does..

Last year in central North Carolina they had a science vacation bible school. I nearly drove off the road when I saw the sign. STEM is big in education and I suppose they wanted to get in on it as a marketing ploy. The fine print said, it's strong on biblical content. I find that pretty evil.

I did vacation VBS for seven consecutive years, from age 5 up. Went to stay with my grandparents to go to their church, since my parents and I lived in another town and were not church-goers. I liked doing the crafts and hearing the stories. Liked the singalongs. Hated memorizing Bible verses. Learned a lot, don't recall ever believing any of the stories were true.

The church I was attempted-indoctrinated into had VBS. Just another attempt to proselytize the kids in the guise of ‘fun’. And there was fun, albeit Bible based coloring books, games, projects. And the poor church-bused-in kids got lots of snacks. Bless their hearts.
I hated those manipulative assholes.

"If you're happy and you know it, Flagellate!"

sounds like a super crappy vacation to me.

All for them, everyone needs a vacation from the bible. You ever read that thing? shudder

I kept seeing signs for VBS classes which I read as Visual Basic Script, I was totally baffled why anyone wanted to learn an old computer code that was mostly abandoned because it was very easy to write viruses in. I'm even more baffled why people look for answers in an ancient book written by semiliterate sheepherders.

I had a similar experience with vacation bible schools. While I found it a good place to interact with other kids, it was painfully boring aside from the fun activities. However, I think it is a good experience for children who come from religious families to be able to attend religious services/activities away from their parents. It’s an opportunity for them to ask questions and form opinions they may not have around their parents. While I do not believe it’s appropriate to raise children to have religious beliefs, vacation bible schools at least offer some room for children to question what their being taught- or so it was in my experience.