Skate Church Thread…

[j....soy.....]

This has always been in skating as long as I remember and as much as it’s served skaters in giving them a dry place to skate, hosting camps, or driving kids around…….

I still look for the door the moment anyone says ‘gather around!’

Reading this story hit home in while there may be some good people in the mix…it was fucked up back then and still is…..

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/youth-for-christ-winnipeg-the-edge-skate-park-1.6660569

[Democratic Republic Of Mongo]

If you’re gonna learn Christ Airs, this must be the place…

[skrub]

I just read that interview with Brian Sumner on Jenkem and I was thinking "what a fucking judgemental kook this guy is"

I don't care if you're Christian, but Jesus hung out with whores, with all kinds of scum of society (for the record I don't consider prostitutes scum at all) and he LOVED them. Brian Sumner is like "let me name drop a bunch of white guys and tell you you're going to hell." Judgemential piece of shit. Also with 3rd grad argumenst against evolution, SMH.

Fuck him and any god that isn't there for everyone. Fuck these hateful assholes trying to infiltrate skateboarding to sell their uninclusive religion.

[modern life is war]

I just read that interview with Brian Sumner on Jenkem and I was thinking "what a fucking judgemental kook this guy is"

I don't care if you're Christian, but Jesus hung out with whores, with all kinds of scum of society (for the record I don't consider prostitutes scum at all) and he LOVED them. Brian Sumner is like "let me name drop a bunch of white guys and tell you you're going to hell." Judgemential piece of shit. Also with 3rd grad argumenst against evolution, SMH.

Fuck him and any god that isn't there for everyone. Fuck these hateful assholes trying to infiltrate skateboarding to sell their uninclusive religion.

2nd paragraph you're saying how inclusive jesus actually was, last paragraph you're saying christianity is uninclusive, which one is it?

[whagman]

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I just read that interview with Brian Sumner on Jenkem and I was thinking "what a fucking judgemental kook this guy is"

I don't care if you're Christian, but Jesus hung out with whores, with all kinds of scum of society (for the record I don't consider prostitutes scum at all) and he LOVED them. Brian Sumner is like "let me name drop a bunch of white guys and tell you you're going to hell." Judgemential piece of shit. Also with 3rd grad argumenst against evolution, SMH.

Fuck him and any god that isn't there for everyone. Fuck these hateful assholes trying to infiltrate skateboarding to sell their uninclusive religion.

[close]

2nd paragraph you're saying how inclusive jesus actually was, last paragraph you're saying christianity is uninclusive, which one is it?

the first one. it’s tainted by these fuckers who grasp a bit of power, but jesus was the illest

[Democratic Republic Of Mongo]

I’m reading The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky and Christianity as it is depicted in the story from Elder Zosima and the main character Alyosha make it much more wise and compassionate. Also, at the beginning of the book, the bros’ narcissistic dad makes a glory hole related joke to a priest and it’s fucking hilarious.

[layzieyez]

I helped close one of these by buying booze for the teens who hung out. There were kids puking in the bushes of the church.

[modern life is war]

I helped close one of these by buying booze for the teens who hung out. There were kids puking in the bushes of the church.

Why would you admit to this?

[Fartknocker415]

church of skatan thread....

[slimvanilla]

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I just read that interview with Brian Sumner on Jenkem and I was thinking "what a fucking judgemental kook this guy is"

I don't care if you're Christian, but Jesus hung out with whores, with all kinds of scum of society (for the record I don't consider prostitutes scum at all) and he LOVED them. Brian Sumner is like "let me name drop a bunch of white guys and tell you you're going to hell." Judgemential piece of shit. Also with 3rd grad argumenst against evolution, SMH.

Fuck him and any god that isn't there for everyone. Fuck these hateful assholes trying to infiltrate skateboarding to sell their uninclusive religion.

[close]

2nd paragraph you're saying how inclusive jesus actually was, last paragraph you're saying christianity is uninclusive, which one is it?

[close]

the first one. it’s tainted by these fuckers who grasp a bit of power, but jesus was the illest

[Steely Daniel]

The article is disappointing but not surprising. I have never encountered these places before despite always hearing about them.

I've always imagined it's something like this though:

[Jebediah]

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I just read that interview with Brian Sumner on Jenkem and I was thinking "what a fucking judgemental kook this guy is"

I don't care if you're Christian, but Jesus hung out with whores, with all kinds of scum of society (for the record I don't consider prostitutes scum at all) and he LOVED them. Brian Sumner is like "let me name drop a bunch of white guys and tell you you're going to hell." Judgemential piece of shit. Also with 3rd grad argumenst against evolution, SMH.

Fuck him and any god that isn't there for everyone. Fuck these hateful assholes trying to infiltrate skateboarding to sell their uninclusive religion.

[close]

2nd paragraph you're saying how inclusive jesus actually was, last paragraph you're saying christianity is uninclusive, which one is it?

[close]

the first one. it’s tainted by these fuckers who grasp a bit of power, but jesus was the illest

[close]

[Terminal]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

I just read that interview with Brian Sumner on Jenkem and I was thinking "what a fucking judgemental kook this guy is"

I don't care if you're Christian, but Jesus hung out with whores, with all kinds of scum of society (for the record I don't consider prostitutes scum at all) and he LOVED them. Brian Sumner is like "let me name drop a bunch of white guys and tell you you're going to hell." Judgemential piece of shit. Also with 3rd grad argumenst against evolution, SMH.

Fuck him and any god that isn't there for everyone. Fuck these hateful assholes trying to infiltrate skateboarding to sell their uninclusive religion.

[close]

2nd paragraph you're saying how inclusive jesus actually was, last paragraph you're saying christianity is uninclusive, which one is it?

[close]

the first one. it’s tainted by these fuckers who grasp a bit of power, but jesus was the illest

[close]

[close]

Wait a minute. Is illest Jesus sporting a pair of red Cariumas in that clip?

[Doumbledoor]

Hello I am newbie here. I just wanted to say.. the church is scumbag??? Wow.. what a shocker… who could have known??? This is definitely new stuff. Do they don’t help people?? Wow.. much shocked. So they’re just in it for money? Wow yet again…

[manysnakes]

There was a brief period in my youth - an era before skateparks existed in my midwestern city - when a nearby church youth group built a bunch of ramps and let people skate them, no questions asked. My friends and I managed to score a ride once, and I arrived prepared with all my 13 year old atheist arguments, but it turned out that no one cared and they weren't actively proselytizing. The ramps sucked, but some of the Christian kids ripped and there were girls there.

[backside_frontside]

There was a skate church in my small town growing up. It was the heart of the skate scene every Thursday. Some of my best skating as a youth was done at skate church. Yeah they had a break halfway thru the session to tell you about god. Their message felt more like “JC is here if you want him” rather than “you sinners need to get right with god”. I’m forever grateful to that skate church, it kept skating alive in my small town thru til I graduated high school.

[Newphone]

I feel like Jesus would have been a bmx guy

[BALARGUE]

I feel like Jesus would have been a bmx guy

i picture him on a scooter or a velociraptor

[assvogel]

Even here churches have a large quantity of after-school programs and of course there has been some jesus-oriented skateboard things. It's always hard to see if their agenda is to provide things to do for kids or indoctrinate their views or something between.

In 2010-ish they had a indoor place next town over. There was a jesus-themed graffitti on the walls and maybe there was some "kids can skate for free if they come to the sermon first" type of things too, but otherwise it was no different than other indoor parks. Also had a killer miniramp that some very-not-heavenride locals build.

The guy behind the place had his own board brand and "sponsored" some local kids, who probably didn't really have the idea that it was a christian brand. IIRC the guy was running for the local council with some very on-brand christian views (eg. anti-gay/anti-vax/etc.) couple years back.

[donkey]

Yeah I dont think anyone is going to have long term success being lgbtq while trying to promote their zines or whatever through a skate church. Sure maybe some of the younger people who run it have a more progressive way of thinking but the money for the building/park etc is almost always going to be flowing through some old guy who doesnt fuck with lgbtq shit

[Blueabyssofthisss]

One I went to wasnt much of a church but fridays you could get in for free if you attended their church seminar thing (mass?). Everyone had to stop skating to move the obstacles and stuff out the way to help set up chairs. Some goofballs would preach. It was only like 30 minutes long but the preaching was over the top and I refuse to pay to skate a skatepark, so I only went there like twice. They couldnt afford the property/heating costs so they tore down half of the building. And it’s no longer affiliated with religion. Idk why anyone pays money to skate in that cramped little building, it’s always crowded as hell too. There’s plenty of covered parking garages in the area

[fulltechnicalskizzy]

There was a church with a mini ramp out back right across the street from a friend of mine growing up. a very nice obese woman drove into his driveway once while we were skating a rusted out flat bar to let us know about it, “yeah we know… but its at a church” she was bummed

[Pipe Dreamer]

If you’re gonna learn Christ Airs, this must be the place…

Frame 7

[pizzafliptofakie]

My hometown park was run by a church. That was essentially where I learned how to skate. It was as weird of a concept as it sounds, but it had its waves of cool, open minded people to shady bible thumpers. Their deal was that on Saturdays if you sat through a short sermon you got to skate for free that week which was a pretty hard deal to turn down. Even at a young age I was pretty resistant to fundamentalism but a lot of times the youth pastor knew their audience and could give a brief message of trying to be a decent person. Can't really argue with that.


At one point I was on their "team" and someone told on me for not being a Christian. When I got confronted about it I was honest about how I felt about Christianity and we ended up agreeing on more things than not. It was nice.

[GnarAlarm]

There's this group of Christian skaters in my city, they'll show up to a park on a Saturday and bring coolers and a grill, hand out hot dogs and drinks to anyone who wants one. They'll mention that they're a church group and drop the name of their church, and at some point they will all "gather round" but as far as I've seen so far they never directly ask anyone to join in.

[doomstation55]

One I went to wasnt much of a church but fridays you could get in for free if you attended their church seminar thing (mass?). Everyone had to stop skating to move the obstacles and stuff out the way to help set up chairs. Some goofballs would preach. It was only like 30 minutes long but the preaching was over the top and I refuse to pay to skate a skatepark, so I only went there like twice. They couldnt afford the property/heating costs so they tore down half of the building. And it’s no longer affiliated with religion. Idk why anyone pays money to skate in that cramped little building, it’s always crowded as hell too. There’s plenty of covered parking garages in the area

Wait are you talking about the Skatuary in Colorado?

I tried to go to that free Friday thing once and it was so crowded I left after like 5 mins. I know one of the guys running the place did that crazy 50-50 on the S handrail to open up the montage in Modus Operandi. He had dreadlocks and gave off awful born again Christian vibes but was friendly enough. Not sure if it’s the same people running it but there’s a Skatuary in Steambutt now.

Now in the half park that’s left some of the guys who work there wear Cariumas, which is almost as bad.

[SneakySecrets]

There’s a church next to our family vacation spot that has a little skatepark in their parking lot.  You don’t have to sign in or read a Bible or anything.  You don’t even have to talk to anyone.  Just show up and skate and don’t do any obvious dumb shit.  Pretty cool.

[j....soy.....]

Despite the fact I’ve just done it in this thread lumping them all together, I recognize that not all skate churches are the same.  At the same time the story I posted is a reminder that just because something serves me (I dunno it wasn’t that bad, they have a good flatbar) doesn’t make it right…..

If they want to make programs like this work they have to get with the times, and open them up for everyone…. And if the skater wants to find god….we know where to go…..

One last thing…I’ve never drank or done drugs and peer pressure drugs/alcohol has nothing on peer pressure Jesus…

[rawbertson.]

didnt have that where im at. but i definintely skated at lots of churches. one time this guy kicking us out said "Why do you guys always have to skate at churches" to which my friend replied "Why do you guys have to keep building such bomb skate spots at em?" 

[Madam, I'm Adam]

Just saw this thread now. Thanks for starting this thread, J. I was going to post it awhile ago.

So, I'm part of the MB Skateboarding Coalition. I'm not one of the key members, but I'm helping them out by donating money and goods and writing letters to MLAs, politicians, etc. notifying them of the cause.

The skatepark in question in j soy's initial post/link - run by YFC - was the only indoor park out here. Tons of outdoor parks during the warm months - and only one for the winter months. That's messed up as it is, but that's not the main issue. Although, of course our collective mental health during the winter months would be significantly improved if we had a reliable and comfortable place to skate indoors.

Essentially, YFC wasn't/isn't inclusive toward 2SLGBTQIA+ people. Veiled discrimination was at play. This was brought to light so much so that during this winter, they shut down the park and only allowed kids 17 and under to skate there. The whole community is upset for many reasons about the way things have been handled. Including myself, I don't see myself ever stepping foot into the YFC facility again.

I know you might be thinking, "Well what did everyone expect, it's a Christian/religious organization and religious communities have always been exclusionary in this regard." Yes, that's true - but I don't think a lot of people really knew  how deep the problems went. I didn't. I never felt totally comfortable going there, but it seemed inclusive from what I saw on their website in the past.

So, the Coalition has been running a campaign to get an inclusive indoor park built and operating regularly. Like I said, I've been pitching in whenever I can to help them out. Going back to writing letters to politicians, one of them actually got back to me recently and supported the indoor park cause, saying that we'd have their support.

If anyone can donate to or share the cause, it would be greatly appreciated. The funds raised so far only total about half of what's needed: https://www.gofundme.com/f/build-an-indoor-skateboarding-space-in-winnipeg?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet

Thanks, everyone!