We call on all 50 states and the federal government to do away with religious exemptions, or loopholes in the law, that allow child abuse to go unscrutinized and unpunished in facilities dealing with at risk youth, foster and/or troubled teens. We believe there should be NO EXEMPTIONS to such a serious crime as child abuse and we have seen countless examples of these religious exemptions being used to cover up child abuse or for the abusers to escape justice. This simply cannot be allowed to continue. The damage it does is real and has the potential to impact not only the victim but those the victim comes in contact with and the victims offspring as cycles of abuse tend to continue until they are broken. 

In over 23 states the US has strong religious exemptions laws that allow parents and legal guardians to do things like refuse medical care to a child because they believe prayer is sufficient, pull a kid off their meds in favor of prayer or other faith based methods of healing, or worse spank, strike, or force the child to do hard manual labor as punishment. All of these things and many more are perfectly legal in many of the states if you claim religion as an excuse but not if you are just doing these things to abuse children. This obvious loophole must be closed ASAP! 

The effects of child abuse are often life long. Victims can develop Complex Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (CPTSD) or PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, MDD or clinical depression, anxiety, eating disorders, sleep disorders, and all sorts of other other mental ailments from prolonged exposure to abuse as a child. These mental ailments make it harder for the victim to enjoy life, connect with others, form healthy relationships, and degrade their quality of life over the long term. They may even lead to other health issues or a premature death. 

The situation worsens when we consider that some religious boarding schools, group homes, and "tough love" troubled teen industry programs also use religion as an excuse to abuse children and exploit them for free manual labor. Infamous places are places like Agape Boarding School in Stockton, MO or Circle of Hope from nearby Humansville in MO, Maters Ranch, Refuge of Grace, Lighthouse, the list goes on and on. At these places children are often cut off from communicating with the outside world. They aren't allowed many privileges and often aren't allowed outside news. They are brainwashed essentially. Lots goes on in these troubled teen industry hell holes but thats a conversation for another time. No matter what your believe is, we should all be able to agree that using children for cheap or free manual labor, especially when students leave with back injuries, knee, hip, and other injuries they shouldn't have at such a young age, is not only wrong but should be considered in all cases to be criminal child abuse! 

What we must all do now, religious, non religious, is band together to stop this child abuse in the name of Jesus, and in the name of any religion. That is not what the teachings of Jesus say nor is it in keeping with the true teachings of any religious faith I've ever heard of.

In the Bible it says to suffer the children to come unto him not make the children suffer under him. I believe that there are plenty of good Christians tired of this. I'm sure there are plenty of good people in other religions or denominations tired of people using their religion as an excuse to abuse children. Well I'm going to need you to stand up with us and demand that our governments make sure its clear that there will no longer be exemptions for the rule of law for child abuse given to people based on their religion or religious beliefs because NO RELIGION SHOULD SUPPORT CHILD ABUSE OR CHILD ABUSERS!

Thank you for your support and your signature. I am a religious abuse survivor from Agape Boarding School. You can find more about my story and work to prevent child abuse at www.sparetherodnp.com