What I mean by "stealth altar call" is this:

a) Marketing a talk to a school as an "anti-drug" or "positive living" talk for schoolage children without being specific

b) Once it has been scheduled (and often made a mandatory assembly by the school), once the kids are loaded in...about halfway through the assembly, the "anti-drug" talk turns into a decidedly non-subtle altar call.

It's been so bad that a lot of these groups have been banned from "inspirational talks" at campuses because their talks inevitably degenerate into sectarian altar calls (and usually WITHOUT telling school authorities beforehand, who would NOT approve the assemblies otherwise).

As an aside, Fellowship of Christian Athletes is also known for blatant theocratising of school sports programs, too.  In many areas, people who are on any sports team face increasing pressure to convert and are subject to harassment from FCA and Athletes in Action members, in similar manner to how people at the US Air Force Academy report religiously-motivated harassment and discrimination at the hands of dominionists:

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/sports/13148117.htm
http://www.al.com/religion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/1128935946194880.xml&coll=2 (notes direct links between FCA and USAFA religious coercion controversy)
http://www.sullivan-county.com/nf0/y2k/gate_evan.htm
http://www.baptiststandard.com/2000/6_5/pages/highschool.html
http://atheism.about.com/b/a/127799.htm (more on links between FCA and USAFA religious coercion controversy)
http://www.beth-elsa.org/be_s1029.htm (notes how in one school all persons participating in athletics programs expected to participate in FCA fundraisers)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1525497/posts (commentary notes that at least one college football coach pressured students to join FCA)
http://urbansemiotic.com/2005/10/30/god-wanted-me-to-beat-you/ (notes specifically that in most instances coaches are leaders of FCA groups on high school and collegiate levels)
http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=143633 (again noting in relation to USAFA controversy)
http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/110305/edfirstdown.html (noting again cases of coercion by FCA associated coaches in public school athletics programs)
http://www.aclu-md.org/aLegal/Legal.html (notes how ACLU of Maryland has had to sue to stop people in public school athletics programs from being coerced to join FCA)
http://www.pluralism.org/news/index.php?xref=Air+Force+and+Religious+Diversity&sort=DESC (again in relation to the USAFA controversy)
http://www.aclualabama.org/AboutUs/ACLUAL_70YearsOfService.pdf (notes how even as early as 1960's ACLU of Alabama had to sue to stop prosyletisation by FCA in public schools)

by dogemperor on Fri Dec 02, 2005 at 10:07:58 AM EST
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