Jesus Camp
So, I'm screwing around trying to get some relaxation before my Differential Equations exam tomorrow. I'm surfing the net and I come along to a link to a documentary called Jesus Camp. It's an illegal link, the film is in limited release now, but who knows if it will reach DVD or even my city, so I'm going to watch it here on the Internet, fine. The film is about a Bible Camp in North Dakota led by a woman Becky, and follows her and one particular boy, Levi. It focuses on her camp, but is more of a commentary on how Evangelical Christians are indoctrinating children into adapting their same conservative values.
To start off, I'm not far-left or far-right, but along the middle. I sway both ways of the political spectrum depending on the issue. Moving on, I found a lot of disturbing things about this movie. To start off, people speaking in tongues? As a Catholic, you never see this crazy stuff. It's shocking to me, I didn't know it existed. So a lot of this Evangelical worship is very strange to me to start off with. Is this widespread? Anybody willing to speak up?
The first thing I took notice of, is that some of these children believe that there are "Dead Churches." Christian places of worship where God does not inhabit because he doesn't like the more passive way he's being worshiped. I tried not to take offense as a Catholic, I know our masses aren't that particularly exciting, but I think we get the same stuff out of it that others do. My problem with this 10 year old's belief, is the fact that an adult Christian told her this. What kind of Christian is that? People worship wrong? They are not saying that some people do not worship or praise as much as these people do, or that it is a different way of worshiping, but that it is flat out wrong and God does not inhabit these sessions. Anybody else see anything wrong with this?
Along the same line, our "hero" kid, Levi, says that when he encounters non-Christian people he gets a "yucky-feeling inside," that he feels "sick." This kid is going to have no tolerance or acceptance of other religions and cultures when he grows up. Instead of exploring and learning about other religions and cultures he is just going to throw them out the window as phony, wrong, or bullshit. Does this breed racism? Not necessarily, but is it close?
At one point, the camp puts a cardboard cutout of President Bush in front of the kids. They don't necessarily worship him, but they thank him for putting "righteous people" in power. At other points, they are gathered around the cut-out, kneeling and touching it. When I watched it I thought of the golden calf, that this is the same idolatry that they preach so vehemently against. Going along with weird things, we see a mother tell her kid that Global Warming is a lie, that it is totally false. Fine, whatever. She lives in the North, where it is always cold in the winter. Here in Florida though, our winters get warmer. I have not yet worn long sleeves for more than a week in a row. It's December, in the past, we've been wearing long sleeves continuously after Thanksgiving. It may just be a lack of cold fronts, but to me is spells out that something is definitely happening with the weather, so I shouldn't necessarily throw it out as bullshit. Along the same right wing line, at this Bible camp, they have a guest speaker come in to speak about abortions to the entire camp. The camp is made up of 5 -14 year old kids. I don't think that abortion is a suitable topic for 5-12 year olds. I've worked with kids that age for 3 summers, and a lot of them don't have a good concept of life & death, especially at 5! Please lady, just wait until they are 13 to indoctrinate them with your beliefs.
That is exactly what this film discusses, at the heart of it, its an argument between letting kids learn and indoctrinating them. In a radio interview, the head lady says she sees nothing wrong with indoctrinating kids because she believes that kids don't ever have any choice. Yes they live in their parent's houses and follow the rules, or are supposed too, but damn if most kids are allowed to think for themselves. How do you teach them right from wrong without letting them have choices? To say nothing of learning about consequences as well. This woman believe that since some Muslims are training their kids to be jihadists, that we need to train our kids to be warriors for God. She doesn't say anything about what exactly warriors for God do, but leaves it ambiguous, or it's edited that way. She is excited with the question "What are these kids going to be like when they grow up?" That is exactly the right question to ask. Are we raising our kids to be rational thinkers and leaders or just part of the herd, sheep to the slaughter? I know how I'm going to raise my kids 10 years from now, but how am I going to teach them about their friends who have parents who indoctrinated them? My boys are going to be Boy Scouts for sure, until they receive their Eagle like me, and their uncle Eric did (finally!), but what else am I going to do to help them?
Before you launch into a tirade against me, or voice your boisterous opinion, watch the video yourself, it's about 90 minutes, plus loading time, depending on your Internet speed. Here's the link. It's under the "New Movies" at the top of the page, it's called "Jesus Camp," watch it, and then tell me I'm crazy or going to hell, whatever.