Sunday, October 08, 2006
Jesus Camp
I recently went to see this documentary movie, Jesus Camp. For those of you who have not seen it, it is a must see by every minister, regardless of faith tradition. There were very disturbing themes in the movie. In short, the movie is about a pentecostal minister, whose ministry focuses on children, and how she has developed a camp to instill her views of christianity on these young children.
Now there were some good things in this film. She is a very creative minister. There is one scene where she is taking people through her closet of educational materials. I found this fascinating. She has brain molds and these sticky fingers that she uses to teach how 'sin' sticks to the brain. I would use this idea to teach about how habitual thinking creates attitudes that can narrow or expand our life experiences depending on the habitual thought. This was the good part of the film. It pretty much ends there. O-kay so there wasn't good things in the film, there was one good thing in the film.
It was disturbing to watch these young children being told that they were responsible for fixing the world's problems. If they didn't fix it, they were being disobedient to God. It was disturbing to watch 5 year olds being told that 1/3rd of their friends couldn't join them because they were killed by mommies having abortions. It was disturbing to see these same under age 10 kids do a ritual smashing of the government in the name of Jesus to abolish abortion laws. There were tears and sobbing that their (never born) friends were lost forever. It was disturbing to see these children state that when they associate with non-christians they feel 'yucky' inside.
What good does it do to teach children that non-christians are yucky. wouldn't it be better to teach children how to feel assured in their faith regardless of encountering other beliefs? Other belief systems should not make someone feel yucky. This borders on demonization of others.
The pentecostal minister told a Christian Air America radio talk show host that it was important to teach these children (he corrected her and said indoctrinate) before they were 9 years old because then their world view will be set for life. The talk show host failed to point out that this belief is a quote from Hitler, who was big on nazi youth camps, who said, "give me a child before the age of 5 and he is mine for life." Of course, I have also seen this quote attributed to the Jesuits, to BF Skinner, and Vladimir Lenin; not to mention the play, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I am not sure if any of these other attributions make it any less scary. In the play, one of Brodie's girls, betray her and destroys Brodie's career. In penance, the girl takes the vows of celibacy and lives as a nun, not Brodie's values at all.
The closing scene is two young children approaching a group of elderly black men and the young girl asks, if they knew where they were going when they died. One man, says yes. "Really?" she asks, "Where?" He replies "Heaven." She is speechless and the two leave. She then says to her young friend, "They must be Muslims." This is because, as we found out earlier, she only approaches those whom she feels God has asked her to speak to about Jesus. She fails to see that possibly, just maybe, God would ask her to speak to someone who is already confident in their faith, as a means to broaden her perspective. But then, she is only 9 and still concrete in her developmental stage. May her indoctrination not keep her in this prison of concrete thought.
Blessings abound,
Protected Peace
Now there were some good things in this film. She is a very creative minister. There is one scene where she is taking people through her closet of educational materials. I found this fascinating. She has brain molds and these sticky fingers that she uses to teach how 'sin' sticks to the brain. I would use this idea to teach about how habitual thinking creates attitudes that can narrow or expand our life experiences depending on the habitual thought. This was the good part of the film. It pretty much ends there. O-kay so there wasn't good things in the film, there was one good thing in the film.
It was disturbing to watch these young children being told that they were responsible for fixing the world's problems. If they didn't fix it, they were being disobedient to God. It was disturbing to watch 5 year olds being told that 1/3rd of their friends couldn't join them because they were killed by mommies having abortions. It was disturbing to see these same under age 10 kids do a ritual smashing of the government in the name of Jesus to abolish abortion laws. There were tears and sobbing that their (never born) friends were lost forever. It was disturbing to see these children state that when they associate with non-christians they feel 'yucky' inside.
What good does it do to teach children that non-christians are yucky. wouldn't it be better to teach children how to feel assured in their faith regardless of encountering other beliefs? Other belief systems should not make someone feel yucky. This borders on demonization of others.
The pentecostal minister told a Christian Air America radio talk show host that it was important to teach these children (he corrected her and said indoctrinate) before they were 9 years old because then their world view will be set for life. The talk show host failed to point out that this belief is a quote from Hitler, who was big on nazi youth camps, who said, "give me a child before the age of 5 and he is mine for life." Of course, I have also seen this quote attributed to the Jesuits, to BF Skinner, and Vladimir Lenin; not to mention the play, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I am not sure if any of these other attributions make it any less scary. In the play, one of Brodie's girls, betray her and destroys Brodie's career. In penance, the girl takes the vows of celibacy and lives as a nun, not Brodie's values at all.
The closing scene is two young children approaching a group of elderly black men and the young girl asks, if they knew where they were going when they died. One man, says yes. "Really?" she asks, "Where?" He replies "Heaven." She is speechless and the two leave. She then says to her young friend, "They must be Muslims." This is because, as we found out earlier, she only approaches those whom she feels God has asked her to speak to about Jesus. She fails to see that possibly, just maybe, God would ask her to speak to someone who is already confident in their faith, as a means to broaden her perspective. But then, she is only 9 and still concrete in her developmental stage. May her indoctrination not keep her in this prison of concrete thought.
Blessings abound,
Protected Peace
# posted by ProtectedPeace @ 10:44 AM 
