Reader's rant: Jesus Camp, a wake-up call
If you haven’t seen it yet, I’d strongly encourage you, your readers, and the rest of us self-proclaimed free thinkers to see ‘Jesus Camp.’
Stumbling upon (or divinely drawn to?) a theatre that was screening it tonight, I almost passed on the film. Having read somewhere that the Evangelicals endorse ‘Jesus Camp,” my gut reaction was that I don’t want to spend my money on an icky message I probably won’t agree with.
That gut reaction was followed by instant shame. Isn’t that the very sin we shake our fingers at the Religious Right for? That they refuse to open their minds, lest they hear words they don’t already believe in? Secretly afraid their faith isn’t strong enough to stand up to the scrutiny they hold other people to? To that end, I figured I’d better walk my talk and go see the movie.
As it turns out, ‘Jesus Camp’ is indeed endorsed – enthusiastically – by a good number of Evangelical groups as an honest and accurate depiction of their practices. The film is also being applauded by Atheists, Pagans, Liberals and the rest of us Heathens as an urgent, frightening, but extremely well-delivered wake-up call.
‘Jesus Camp’ is a documentary originally intended to explore faith and how we pass our faith on to our children. It follows an Evangelical youth pastor and the children she leads. Most importantly, the filmmakers take an unusually neutral approach. The film neither endorses nor condemns the actions of its subjects. The facts are left to speak for themselves and you and I are left to decide for ourselves how we feel about those facts.
How often do we really get that in regards to a hot topic like this? Well-meaning and factual (we hope, we want to believe) as expose documentaries often are, they are still usually drawing our conclusions for us, spinning the information in one direction or the other. We are still a choir eager to be preached to by our own.
Had I not known it was about real people, I’d have honestly thought ‘Jesus Camp’ was a satirical mockumentary. By the film’s end, I still had trouble believing it has the Evangelical stamp of approval. Yet there I was, sitting next to a Pentecostal Fundamentalist, both of us cheering and applauding, if for monumentally different reasons.
For that reason alone, the film is worth seeing. I thought I fully understood the Fundamentalist point of view, but my eyes were opened a little wider tonight. That view also strikes me as even more twisted and horrifying than before and I still believe Evangelical Christian teachings are the single greatest threat to peace on Earth. But I understand them a little better now.
And understanding something is crucial to dealing with it.
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Comments
“Evangelical Christian teachings are the single greatest threat to peace on Earth”???
Wow Mary, where do you get that it’s a threat to peace on Earth? Are the Evangelical Christians waging war somewhere? Are they being violent in any way? I can think of a different religion off the top of my head that fits that description much better. Your opinion sounds ridiculous to someone else who isn’t full of a specific hatred like you. If you don’t like what they do, that’s totally fine….but to say it’s the greatest threat to peace on Earth is just small. Good luck with your future inflamitory opinions that reflect your intelligence and predjudice.
For Dean, the previous comment…
I too have seen this film and yes, like Mary, it made me realize the dangers of rabid evangelical christianity. Why? Do they commit acts of suicide in the name of their god? No. Do they use terror and threats to manipulate others? YES!
How disturbing when the camp leader asks CHILDREN if they are ready to die for jesus, while they weep holding tiny toy fetus’. When you have leaders of the religious “Reich” openly say that they are trying to manipulate the laws of this nation to reflect their ignorant agenda against women, homosexuals, “Alternative Faiths” and others they deem inferior, then you have radical groups which threaten the very health and well being of its citizens. When they call out and say they are chosen to do this by god, driven with a need to tell all they are going to hell unless they hop on the bandwagon, then tell me, who does THAT sound like?
Kurtz
I saw the film with my partner a few weeks ago, and I was privileged to be at a showing where the two documentarians who made the film were in attendance.
While I was struck by the manipulations toward right-wing talking points in the film, I was also struck by the honest depiction of seekers after spiritual experience. While it is most disturbing to see these ministers with a cut-out of the boyking and asking the children to bless his agenda, people in the audience were rather quick to label the sum-total of what they saw as “abuse.” The linking of one’s spiritual journey to any particular cause creates an abusive situation, but the honest portrayal of these people having spiritual experiences is about as abusive as a Reclaiming Witch Camp. Or even a Unity Church service for that matter.
Interestingly, I was in Devils Lake, NoDak to visit my folks the very week the movie got noticed on the morning shows. People in Devils Lake (a Christian town) were surprised to even hear about the camp itself. The discussion the movie raises is multi-faceted, and the filmmakers were doing their part in trying to guide it in such a way to not throw out the baby with the Nativity Scene.
>> Wow Mary, where do you get that it’s a threat to peace on Earth? >>
Paraphrased from ReligiousTolerance.org; It’s a very small step to go from “My god is the only correct god” to “Therefore your god is incorrect” to “Therefore you are inferior to me” to “Therefore you have little or no right to live.” Refer to the last 1,700 years or so of Western history to see how this concept has been applied.
>> Are the Evangelical Christians waging war somewhere? >>
In their own words, yes. A war on everyone who isn’t an Evangelical-Christian and does not yield to their doctrine.
>> Are they being violent in any way? >>
The Iraq war, waged in the name of George Bush’s god. Countless gay bashings. Andrea Yates et al. “Thou shalt not suffer a Witch (me) to live.” Violent enough for me to wear a bulletproof vest when I volunteer at the Women’s clinic.
>> I can think of a different religion off the top of my head that fits that description much better. >>
Let me guess: They believe in a single ‘correct’ god. They believe that all who aren’t of their specific religion are heathens, following a false god. They therefore believe said heathens to be inferior and less deserving of life. They justify the bombing of a country full of heathens because, as President Bush has said, “God is on our side.”
Personal opinion: All such religious sects frighten and nauseate me equally.
Personal observation: Of the countries in the world led by a leader of such a fundamentalist sect, the United States is probably the most powerful, making that sect currently the greater threat.
- Mary
Scares you shitless eh? Hm, some people are confused. I’ll adress that.
DeanBolin: You are probably referring to Muslims. The christian presence is actually stronger than the muslim presence in this world. They are simply not currently very violent, but they have a similar potential to be so against their enemies.
Even though Bush made some god comments, you guys have to realize that the Iraq war was not a religious one. It was done for a variety of reasons. Oil, paternal vengeance, distraction, money, glory, but god had little to do with it. Iraq is actually pretty secular compared to the other arab nations.