Nobody tells you how scary "Bible camps" are until long after you've been through them.
At the age of roughly 15-16, I was sent to a Christian Bible camp in the Baptist convention. This might sound fairly innocuous, but for many ex-Christians, this carries a lot of weight.
First and foremost, girls were forced to wear long shorts and absolutely NO tank/spaghetti strap tops at all times. Men could swim shirtless, but women were forced to either swim in a full swimsuit or a T-shirt with swim bottoms. God save you if your nipples randomly decide to poke through your shirt, because that'd probably be an offence too, boob-havers.
Just because... You know... People with tits are filthy sluts by nature and the much more sophisticated male will be enticed by their existence. (/s if that isn't obvious)
Second, we were separated from our friends during most of the activities. This was especially troubling for me because I was an autistic guy who basically relied on their social support so I could mirror their behavior to blend in and not get lost. I had roughly ~4 anxiety attacks by Wednesday, and by Thursday, I had a designated restroom I'd run to in order to calm down or cry.
Third, we were given only six hours of sleep even after all the rigorous activity. By the time you were allowed back in your room after 11PM, you showered and did your night devotionals then maybe slept at 12AM if you were lucky. You'd have to wake up at 6AM sharp if you wanted to be fed. Oh, my bed was also full of springs so I didn't really sleep—I just ran on Monsters and my sole survival instinct.
Fourth, Bible programs were every two hours, minus the meal breaks. The programs that didn't have sermons already had Bible life lessons ingrained into them, mostly tailored to gender roles as well. The bigger Bible programs usually got more intense and coercive during the end of the day with the large sermon. I usually attribute this to the fact that it's easy to preach anything to teens when you get them tired enough.
Fifth, there were strange rituals involved. One is a night where everybody got together and literally cried and bawled in unison over the fact that we're all sinners and Jesus could've chosen not to save us but he did.
Sixth, this isn't surprising but most of their sermons were very gender-role-ish and focused on the concept of sin, repentance, and redemption. I can't speak for what they were barking at girls because I wasn't in the girls' division.
Seventh, they had us run multiple laps around the site at 10PM. Part of a devotional.
There were kids around me who were on their third energy drink of the day by noon, jittering like they were going to just collapse any second. I hope they made it out okay.
There's a lot more things that I can't think about right now, but those were the big ones. I think that's the week where I had broken my personal record for the most anxiety attacks in a 3-day period, and tbh, I wouldn't be surprised if my memory is blocking out some of the worst things. I came home just... In shock. Like I had let go of a breath I didn't know I was holding for a week.
Maybe I'll make a full experience post if I remember enough for it to be substantial.
