Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

Pointing and laughing at religious lunacy for more than half-a-century

Christian charity’s website shut down after children were poisoned at one of its camps

Subscribe to The Angry Atheist and get a FREE copy of Atheist Limericks & Cartoons!

Please click this link to help me keep The Angry Atheist active with a donation.

THE Stathern Children’s Holiday Fund is a Christian charity that which is all over the news after one of its trustees — Jonathan Ruben, 76 (inset above) — was arrested this week in connection with the poisoning of eight children and an adult at Stathern Lodge in Leicestershire.

On learning of the arrest, I immediately went to the SCHF website to find out what sort of outfit it is. No luck. It’s been shut down. And all that the Charity Commission reveals is that it exists for “General Charitable Purposes” and “Religious Activities.”

Apart from the physical poisoning central to an ongoing police investigation, there’s the issue of the mental poisoning of thousands of others.

Among Images obtained by LBC from the crime scene was a sign with “an ominous message” stuck on a wall next to a police cordon: “Free bible, cd’s (sic), We are in the last days, read revelation.”

The lodge is owned by the Braithwaite Gospel Trust, which doesn’t have a website.

According to Premier Christian News, the trust is an exclusively Christian organisation which was set up by a Christian farmer in the early 1970s. Part of his will stipulated that Stathern Lodge would be used for the benefit of young people as a hostel accommodation and a place where individuals could enjoy the surroundings and receive Christian guidance.

In a report to the Charity Commission the trust declares:

As a charity that mainly provides hostel facilities for the use of other charities, groups and organisations, the Braithwaite Gospel Trust has a duty to ensure that the facilities are used within the aims of the Trust Deed. The Braithwaite Gospel Trust is continuing to assist and subsidise other charities, groups and organisations to allow use of the facilities by many denominations of the Christian faith. The nature of activities undertaken at the facilities allow many individuals to gain knowledge and understanding of the Christian faith and also to enjoy open countryside for their recreational use. During a normal year over one thousand individuals are able to partake in a wide variety of events. The facilities are available to all who visit with Christian led organisations.

MSN reports that Ruben, a veterinary surgeon whose business was dissolved last August according to Companies House records, is listed as a trustee of the charity. The pensioner’s wife Susan, 62, is listed as chair of the ten trustees.

Leicestershire Police announced that Ruben had been charged with child cruelty offences, and will be charged with three offences of wilful ill treatment relating to three boys. 

He is due to appear before Leicester Magistrates on Saturday today, August 2. 

Ruben was arrested in the car park of the Anchor Inn at Plungar, three miles from Stathern Lodge on Monday.

Christian-based holiday camps for children are an abomination, run exclusively to fill youngers’ heads with cockamamie beliefs and rob them of of the ability to think critically. They should all be shut down.

  1. matilddaa's avatar
  2. Broga's avatar
  3. Vanity Unfair's avatar
  4. Broga's avatar
  5. matilddaa's avatar

Please help me keep The Angry Atheist going with a donation.

One-Time
Monthly
Yearly

Make a one-time donation

Make a monthly donation

Make a yearly donation

Choose an amount

€5.00
€15.00
€100.00
€5.00
€15.00
€100.00
€5.00
€15.00
€100.00

Or enter a custom amount

€

Your contribution is appreciated.

Your contribution is appreciated.

Your contribution is appreciated.

DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearly

Barry Duke

,
, , , ,

4 responses to “Christian charity’s website shut down after children were poisoned at one of its camps”

  1. malcolmjdodd Avatar
    malcolmjdodd

    Leicester police have their hands full with poisoning by the mohammedans in Leicester and the xtians in Stathern, not forgetting the Stilton makers surrounding Stathern – just joking, I am a Stilton addict.

    Like

    Reply
  2. Matilda Avatar
    Matilda

    I’m very familiar with a parallel one of these Centres to indoctrinate youth, the Merseyside Centre which has operated for 80yrs. Like Braithwaite, it must be well-endowed to keep such a large campus open all year and in good nick and safe for children. One of the trustees has 3 small sons. I heard him preach once and slide in snide homophobic references a couple of times which were irrelevant to his subject. I cross all my fingers that one of his sons at least, will be gay – if that’s their true nature, and disown him, horrible bigot that he is. And that this incident at Braithwaite will cause parents on Merseyside to boycott these camps next year. This ancient person will die happy if this popular youth-brainwashing facility closes down, along with Braithwaite too.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    1. malcolmjdodd Avatar
      malcolmjdodd

      Matilda. Non-mohammedan religions are getting desperate because their only recourse of grabbing them young in churches, schools, clubs and social events is a miserable failure. Gone are the days when children grow up believing that they were pre-ordained into the religion of their parents.

      This ancient person will die content if I am able to see-out the influence that religion still has over our non-theist population, however. I am not hopeful as I do not expect to outlive Methuselah.

      Like

      Reply
    2. barriejohn Avatar
      barriejohn

      Even as a young and enthusiastic Christian, I made myself very unpopular by severing connections with the local Christian Youth Camp, which I helped to run every summer. The constant indoctrination, and psychological pressure to “Accept Jesus as Saviour” (which almost all did, of course), in the guise of enjoying a happy, healthy outdoor holiday, was typically devious and dishonest. As Barry says, this poisoning of the mind goes on continuously in religious circles, and recovery is not so easily effected, sad to say.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment