Sarasota News Leader
March 1, 2013
Page 34
just another part of the school day. ���It���s part of
a conscious program,��� she says. ���They know
very well that kindergarten students, 5-yearolds, can���t distinguish between what their
teachers say and what they���re learning after
school.���
says, ���the level of contempt and scapegoating
of LGBT people that goes on in this organization is just bound to filter through.���
which is standardized around the country, is
���all about sin and obedience, and it���s a very authoritarian version of the Christian religion.���
She attended a national Fellowship convention and was struck by the narrowness of the
group���s definition of Christianity. Catholics,
Episcopalians and Methodists, for example, were
contrasted with those who
attend ���Bible-believing
churches.���
The Fellowship chapters usually team up
with local churches to recruit volunteers and
raise money. Vaughn, who took over the Manatee-Sarasota group with his wife about three
years ago after the original founders moved
away, notes the group has around 20 to 24 volunteers drawn from roughly 10 local churches. Each
week, those volunteers
visit both Tara Elementary School and Samoset
Elementary School at 3
p.m., after school is over,
and reach a total of 80 to
100 children. (The group is
not active in the Sarasota
County Schools, according to a district spokesperson.)
CLOSER THAN YOU THINK
The Fellowship website lists 16 chapters in
What are the kids learning? The Fellowship Florida, including a Manatee-Sarasota branch)
is very explicit about its goal: ���The purpose headquartered in Bradenton.
of Good News Club is to evangelize boys and ���Basically it���s like Sunday school,��� says Joe
girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ Vaughn, the head of the local chapter. ���We
and establish (disciple) them in the Word of play games and have refreshments. We want
God and in a local church for Christian living.��� to see them come to the saving grace of Jesus
Stewart says the Fellowship curriculum, Christ.���
���I wince, because Christianity is so diverse in this
country,��� Stewart adds.
And while the Fellowship
curriculum does not directly address such hot-button social issues as equal
rights for gays and lesbians
or abortion, the Fellowship���s stance on those issues was clear at the convention Stewart observed.
���Whether or not they���re
talking to kids about samesex relationships,��� Stewart
The cover of Katherine Stewart���s book
The Good News Club/Contributed photo
All the students who do
participate must have their
parents sign a permission
slip, and the volunteers
are screened by the Manatee County School District.
The Fellowship pays for
the time and space.
