Funny, even though he seems to blame Christianity, according to the article, Christians were never rejecting of him. YWAM won't send people on a mission that aren't ready for it. That doesn't mean they're rejecting you, though. They always try to help train you up for it. "I said, 'Dude, you've got to be kidding,' " Werner recalled. "And he said, 'Don't worry, Richard. You're a nice guy and you have nothing to worry about. The voices like you.' " Creepy much? You don't send a kid that says stuff like that on a missionary trip. They talked to his parents about the situation and a decision was made, but it sounds like his parents made the decision based on what they were being presented with. And King's Kids was everything BUT rejecting, according to the article.
The only people that ever actually REJECTED him outright were the "pagans". The ones that teach the exact opposite of Christianity.
The problem is, troubled teens will have serious problems recognizing caution vs. rejection, and when he gets rejected later by another group, he's going to become more angered at the group he first saw as rejecting (even if they never were). Kids are kids - no matter what group you're in. I didn't get invited to much when I was a teenager either, but you didn't see ME getting all angry about it. I was picked on somethin' fierce when I was in third-through-eighth grades. Had barely any friends. Was the goofy kid. It happens to the best of us. It's not Christianity's fault - it's everybody's fault. This period known as "adolescence" is a time when kids get ignored, and that'll happen if you're Muslim, Buddhist, Neopagan, atheist, whatever. That's the kids' fault. The article proves that the leaders tried to be accepting and tried to work with him. You can't blame them.
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