I just watched the movie "Jesus Camp," and decided that it was too interesting not to talk about in my blog. It was one of the scariest movies that I've ever seen. It basically follows several kids and an evangelist pastor at a summer camp. The summer camp is designed to train young children to fight for the evangelist cause. The pastor speaks about the training in an almost militaristic way, calling them "God's army." The children are trained to fight against abortion and other "problems" in America. The trainers tell the children that they need to "take back America." They talk about the training of violent child soldiers in the name of Islam almost admiringly. To be blunt, the leaders are brainwashing children; everyone knows (and the pastor states) that children are the best to train because of their malleability and the fact that they don't have many formed judgments about the world. It is easy to manipulate them, and the leaders know very well that this is what they are doing. The children are told that that evolution is incorrect, that science doesn't prove anything about the world. What boggled me was when one of the parents told her child that global warming isn't happening, that there is absolutely no proof of it. Children are also told that Harry Potter books are evil-one parent said: "If Harry Potter were real, he would immediately be put to death." The terrible part is that the children believe their parents; they are wiling to please them and eagerly join up. According to the documentary, 43% of evangelists are "born-again" before they are 13 years old; this shows how deeply the faith is ingrained in the children by parents and elders. As for the pastor, she often uses the scare tactic for kids, which is also very effective. If I were a child, and if someone told me that I was going to Hell because of my bad thoughts, I would be terrified. I just can't understand how someone could have this type of mindset; these people are so unbending in their faith that their is one word, one truth.
I did, however, find out a lot of interesting information about evangelism. Growing up in the north exposed me to lots of Lutherans, Catholics, and Presbyterians, but no Baptists or Evangelists. There are 80 million Evangelists in the United States. The evangelists in the video were very generous with praise about President Bush; according to them, he is almost like an anointed saint. Bush was appointed to be president to make peace and "take back America" for the evangelists. One man said that Bush gave credibility to Christianity (hmmm). America is, according to them, "God's chosen nation." Evangelists become saved by being "born-again-" which basically involves the convert accepting Jesus Christ as their savior. Unfortunately, the film didn't supply much information about the religion's history, although I suppose it largely about children and religion.
I really liked this movie. It was incredibly striking to see how the children absorbed what they were taught and how they spewed it out. One of the boys actually gave a sermon to his peers-he talked about faith. The camera recorded the writing of his sermon. While he's writing, the boy says that "I'm not really writing. God tells me what to put down. And when I'm speaking, it's not really me, it's God." I am curious about this actual experience. I don't believe that the boy is lying, but I would like to know how this happens. In another scene, the children were encouraged to speak in tongues. This was disturbing to me because the pastor basically told them to praise God and speak in tongue. I was always under the impression that speaking in tongue was a spontaneous occurrence. It made me wonder how genuine the children were being. Some of the children seemed deeply engulfed in the process, but others could have been doing it to please the pastor, or their parents. I believe that the children absorbed information, but not that they all had the ability to speak in tongue or "be one with God." Perhaps children are the force that keep religion alive. In the movie, all the children were told that they are the "key generation" to keeping the faith alive, and to making Jesus Christ come back. It seems incredibly unfair for children to be without choices. They are expected to ingest all of this information that they're given. How can a child fight back?
This is a clip from the film. The pastor (Becky) talks about children and religion.
Blog criticizing Jesus Camp.
http://tatumweb.com/blog/2006/09/21/jesus-camp-brainwashed/
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I'd really like to see this whole documentary now. There is so much to comment on, but one part that struck me from the YouTube excerpt was when pastor Becky was comparing the Evangelicals to the fundamentalist Muslims and she said "we have the truth". That just seemed like such a bold, and in my opinion, blind statement. Then again, as Geerzt says, religion "cloth[es] these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic". So I guess you can't expect much else. This is a very intriguing topic.
ReplyDeleteI see striking similarities between this and the girls of the Salem witch trials portrayed in The Crucible. I watched a documentary a long time about about the Salem trials and how the girls could have actually deceived themselves into thinking they were possessed because of the pressures of the other girls and villagers and the consequences. Young children are so susceptible to influences and pressures and this exploitation is scary and it's sad that these children have to go through that.
ReplyDeleteThis is fascinating. It makes me wonder exactly what the motives are for these pastors and parents of said camp. I agree with you and Deana in that they seem to hold the fundamentalist Muslims in high regard, yet seem to overlook the fact that they put their training and education into use for warfare. I don't think they're training this generation of Evangelists for something of the sort, but I want to tentatively say it seems (at least from these clips) that they may be heading in that direction, should they chose to continue blocking out any other ideas besides those of their own religion.
ReplyDeleteI watched jesus camp about a year ago, and I was pretty scared too. Kids can be manipulated so easily, a lot of religions seem to take advantage of this, but not quite as much as in the documentary. Extremist views have always been scary for me, especially if they're right here in our country instead of halfway around the world.
ReplyDeleteSome of the scenes in this documentary are great.. if scary. Maybe we should watch some of this in class? Like you, I found the indoctrination aspect the hardest to deal with..
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