Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Jesus Camp
My wife and I watched this movie last weekend and it had a wide range of effects on us. Veronica burst into song a few times because the movie reminded us both of familiar camp songs and games we experiences in our childhood. I enjoyed those times, but I can't shake the effect of that view of God in my spiritual formation. In the end, this movie left me feeling very sad.
"Jesus Camp" is a solid documentary that paints a valid picture of the extreme Evangelical Christian mentality. Be warned that it is scary. The kids are cute but the reality is that people are indoctrinating kids with anti-science and nationalistic views of the bible with a heavy dose of bad eschatology. The combination is dangerous and it is happening right now. I do sympathize with the adults in this film. They are responding to a world that seems to be at odds with God's values and their response is a war-like call to combat. I applaud their faith and enthusiasm even if I feel bad that they don't have the tools at their disposal to make better choices. Kids are so vulnerable and it is painful to see them mislead.
The highlights include a visit to planned parenthood, a haunting clip of Ted Haggard, a life size cardboard cutout of George W. Bush and many clips of kids being worked up into a state of hyper-emotionalism complete with speaking in tongues and many many tears.
4 comments:
Now that sounds like a scary movie.
I've not seen the movie, though it's in my Netflix queue, but from what I've heard, the moview raises the question of the fine line between relatively harmless militarization of the faith and the full on militarization of the faith. If dominionism is a growing philosophical position within Christianity, when does it move from theory to revolution? Is this indoctrination all that different from what happens in Iran or among the Hitler Youth or ... It's scary, yes, but what does it really mean in practice. Only time, it would seem, will tell. How then do we guard against this? How do we share faith with children? Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins suggest that any overt parental religious teaching to children is tantamount to child abuse. So where does the line lay? Thanks Mike for the review.
I question the very concept of "relatively harmless militarization of faith." We worship the God revealed in Christ crucified.
I watched it last evening, and while it's scary, I found it immensely sad. Becky Fischer is surely a zealot, but she's a believer. Now Pastor Ted appears, and you know he comes across,especially in comparison to Becky Fischer, as a bit of a phony. I've added a couple of clips on my site plus comments. It should be seen, that's all I can say. As for the militarization, by harmless I mean the singing of Onward Christian Soldiers and Stand up, Stand up for Jesus, like back in the day!!! Hey I turn 49 tomorrow, so back in the day is the 1960s when the mainline was still the church triumphant!
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