The other day I happened to watch a documentary on TV called, Jesus Camp. Jesus Camp, which debuted in 2006, is a film that displayed children being severely spiritually brainwashed, well at least that's my opinion. The filmmakers, Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, didn't really show a biased opinion in their work, but there were times in the movie when you were shown a radio personality letting his opinions be known to his listeners about how ridiculous some religious folks were with their logic and reasoning.
The movie focuses on a Pentecostal children's pastor Becky Fischer and her ministry, Kids in Ministry International. The kids are actually really cute, but it is unfortunate that every time they open their mouths they say something either ignorant or really disturbing for their love for god and being "saved."
I'm not a super religious person, in fact I'm more of the agnostic type, but I am certainly not going to try to push my spiritual beliefs on somebody. This is what is really disturbing about Jesus Camp. Children are being used as "tools" to promote their religious order to random strangers, family members and friends. "If you're not with us, then you're against us" seems to rattle in my head when I think of this kind of religious manifestation of Christianity, not to mention many other things like imagining the fact that your considered damned from the moment you come out of your mother's womb. What the hell is that? There are children sobbing in the film because they are being told that they're being sinful when no wrong has been done on their part.
It is also quite frustrating to see the pastor come up with creative ways to better persuade and manipulate children to think the way she does, but god forbid these children think on their own. Fischer condemns Harry Potter, the fictional, story book wizard hero, to death in her speeches. Why can't children have imaginations anymore?! What is the harm of watching or reading something that has a 99% chance of never happening? To my dismay, my head totally went off in a different direction to the comic book series, X-Men. X-Men, you know the whole scenario of humans vs. mutants. There are good mutants trying to educate the ignorant humans and there are bad mutants trying to destroy all humans because they are weaker and will never accept the concept of living in harmony with another species. This story of course is fictional but it's not at all that different from what the extreme evangelicals are trying to accomplish. - Divide and Conquer. I mean you don't have to take my word for it, but when I see a group of kids made to worship and praise Bush at their Jesus Camp ... well, actions speak louder than words... right, Ted Haggard?
Side Note: Jesus Camp has been shut down since the film release.
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Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Spiritual Abuse Strikes Again! - Jesus Camp Style
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8 comments:
Some of the scenes in the film felt incredibly tortuous to those children. It's so sad to see their brains emotionally abused and set up for a life based on fear a devotion to the "preachers" who did this to them. Uggh.
I am a Christian. I only saw a small clip of the Jesus Camp. I was horrified. All I could do is shake my head. I thought it was wrong. Way to intense for adults, let alone children. I'm glad to hear the camp is shut down.
About 10 years ago, I met a young woman from Texas on the Indigo Girls music discussion list whose Southern Baptist parents had sent her to an indoctrination institution in Rochester NY to "cure" her of being gay, though she had never had a homosexual experience, and had merely confided to her folks that she thought she might be leaning in that direction. Her mother would break down in tears every time she entered the room, and tell her that she was "going to hell"...
Fortunately, I was able to intervene in at least a small way, which I suppose will mean that I will share her fate. I'm not worried...
If there truly is an afterlife, I would be willing to wager that one's actions in life will speak much louder than words...
One of the most unbelievable parts of the movie, from my perspective, is the fact that Becky Fisher feels that it is overall successful! She's not sure how the political element came in . . . (I'm not sure how she thinks that. Children were marching in Washington with LIFE taped across their mouths and praying to George Bush's cardboard cutout!) . . . but other than that she thought it was successful in portraying her mission. She has on her website an entire questionnaire filled out, and feedback by loads of people who were "moved" by the movie.
Oh, and the second scariest part? Towards the beginning when Becky asks during a sermon who believes that God is all-powerful, and a mother yanks her kids' hands up.
Or maybe the part when the "doubting Thomas" of the bunch - a kid of about 8 years old who sobbingly called himself a "faker" and a liar because he has a hard time believing - was given a book to "prove" God's existence to him.
Or maybe the part when a little girl talked about the kind of churches that God likes, and the kind of "boring" churches he stays away from and hates.
Or maybe the part when one of the leaders of the children is having a homeschooling lesson in science. Did you know that whether or not global warming exists, it's not really an issue, and that there's absolutely no evidence to suggest evolution.
My favorite part? The part when Becky brings up Harry Potter and how "evil" he is, which only seems to spur the kids on to talk about Harry Potter!
Or Ted Haggard saying, "we don't have to debate what we think about homosexual activity, it's written in the bible." Then he has a close up with the video camera and looks deeply into it, wagging his finger and saying, "I think I know what you did last night . . . if you send me a thousand dollars I won't tell your wife." The crowd laughs, text appears informing us that Haggard speaks to Bush and his advisers every morning, and then the big 'ol Teddy bear says, "if you use any of this I'll sue you."
I wonder if he did.
But seriously - I'm GLAD that my church wouldn't let me be a well adjusted gay person within the church. It helped me leave the church and helped me start to make up my own mind about "god", the powers that be, whatever you want to call it/them.
That movie was super scary! I was pretty horrified at the level of brain washing. I loved the scene where Becky condemns harry potter. It was almost as if she believed wizards actually existed. As if Harry potter was real. For me, it kind of exemplified how quick she was to show intolerance for anyone different from her. If she can't let fictional characters off the hook, I wonder what must be going through her mind when she actually meets real people with differing views.
"If she can't let fictional characters off the hook, I wonder what must be going through her mind when she actually meets real people with differing views." Scary isn't?! These people are simply going to hell didn't you know?
Fanatics of all types are dangerous but there is something about religious fanatics that just seem extra stupid with a capital "S". Every time I see crap like this I thank my lucky stars that I got myself away from religion and all that craziness.
I am an agnostic and I have not seen the movie. I did see snipits of it on some other show. Just from what I saw, I don't know that I could watch the entire show?
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