Was this a Christian thing to do?

Question

This is an ethics question that pertains, in this case, to a private Christian camp. At the camp, an alarm was sounded that signalled the need for a lost person rescue down at the lake. A young female camper was named, and people were frantic to find her and save her. Her brother was beside him in agony, hoping she'd be found. Counselors and program coordinators panicked.

In the end, they said it was all just a drill. The girl had been quietly "kidnapped" by staff, no one was told, and the drill started. This was condoned by the director of the waterfront and by his boss, one of the primary activity coordinators at the camp.

Employess were crying and frantic, campers were scared out of their minds, and the brother was experiencing trauma over imagining his sister might have drowned. The staff responsible said it was necessary in order to get people to take the drill seriously.

Sounds to me like the end justifying the means, and I think it's horribly unethical. Thoughts?

Edit: Adding a few details based on responses. For one, not all the employess were crying and frantic... some were, and I thought unnecessarily. The drill was still conducted professionally by those involved, who had been trained extensively how to act in such a situation.

As for the Christian aspect, it's an ethics question and could have been put in the Philosophy section, I suppose. But Christianity is central to this camp and the values of the staff, and I am considering showing this question and all the answers to them, hoping the Christian issue is addressed, since Christian values are the core of the camp's policies.

I have nothing against Christianity or the camp, I am a former employee in good standing with the camp. A current employee explained all this to me and I was appalled, and have considered going to the camp to bring this up to the powers-that-be.

Answer 1

Wow!
um... wow.

I think there are many other ways this point could have been made...

Even if they went with this method, at the very least any and all family members should have been in on it...
that is the greatest crime in this story...

While learning the procedures and maintaining focus in panic mode IS necessary and positive, I think they went way beyond ethics here...

Why don't people take an extra 20 minutes and think about all the possible outcomes for their actions? Is this so difficult?

Answer 2

While it's not terribly unethical, and Christianity has little to do with crisis training -- just ask any military officer -- the main thing here is the "cry wolf" syndrome. Depending on the age of the campers, this might never work again.

I imagine there might have been another way. It's not so much about ethics as it is about poor planning and possibly poor taste.

Remember, any imaginary "traumas" weren't lasting, and more than anything, the campers probably will remember the scenario with anger as well as resolution -- they WILL know what is feels like to actually ACT in an emergency, and few people get to rehearse this kind of thing with REAL feeling, so it had value in some way.

I can see your side of this though, it's not easy...

Answer 3

Wow! What a shame this is. I am certain that young boy, among others' was just beside himself. All drills performed by police,hospitals,schools, airports,government offices etc. all know before hand that there will be a drill and will know the subject matter before it takes place.
It would be interesting to know if ALL staff members at this camp agreed on how this drill was going to take place,or if some had reservations and second-guessed it as well as verbally expressed them before hand. Some people agree to "live shock therapy." However,I would not condone it and do agree that it is unethical. It's bad enough to die once in reality and have family members grieving,but to go through it in a meer drill by using "shock therapy" is too much. Too much for anyone.

Answer 4

drills are necessary to make sure that everyone knows what needs to be done when the emergency arises. If you all knew it was a drill, no one would have been really working. It sounds like you all need more practice, too, if the adults were "crying and frantic" instead of doing what needed to be done to find her. "Frantic" employees in a state of emergency does nothing to calm the campers or the media (should they ever show up). I support the director of the waterfront's decision, and I highly recommend it be done again.

Answer 5

I agree with you 100%. The actual question here is not dealing with christianity it is dealing with morals and some very stupid people. When does a drill turn into the real thing?
When people get upset.
What is the problem with losing a loved one? It is that people get upset. So why would you try to drill for something (I know you are trying to make sure it does not happen) and achieve the same feelings of sadness and helplessness that you would had the person really been lost?

Answer 6

Ethically and morally, I think it was wrong to take this kind of action and because it is ethically and morally wrong I can't believe a christian camp would actually follow through with this action. A drill is one thing but this is sick. I can understand how the brother would be very traumatized and to a lesser degree others at the camp. It would leave a very nasty taste in my mouth and I certainly wouldn't be singing the praises of Christianity.

Answer 7

This was a bad idea whether you are a christian or not. It showed an extreme lack of good judgment on the part of the supervisors...and was in very poor taste. With a little ingenuity and positive planning, they could have come up with a drill that could have achieve the desired results, without dealing out the insulting stress. SHAME ON THEM!

Answer 8

The authorities at the camp definitely took the drill to an unnecessary extreme limit.

Best if all the parents of children there join together and file a compliant.

Heads should roll over this fiasco.

Answer 9

I wouldn't call it unethical, but unwise. Hopefully, now that they have seen the response of those involved, they will be more careful in the future. Their "drill" was so effective that next time people may think the "real thing" is just a hoax.

Answer 10

I think it was mean, but maybe they wanted everyone to join in an effort to do something good, and for people to realize how serious things can be. Maybe they wanted everyone to know that they had to work together and find the girl. What if it had happened one day for real and no one knew what to do and they were all scared and frantic and they couldn't find a missing person. Maybe they just wanted to help everyone know they could do what had to be done in a situation like that. Nice...no....nessessary.....maybe.

Answer 11

There might be different opinions on different matters. But according to me if everyone knows what is going to happen (that the case of his sister is fake) then nobody would take the drill seriously...

So it was a necessary evil...