Jesus! Jesus Camp
Yeah that's right - I watched Jesus Camp today. And may we all just join hands, bow our heads, and say together, "HOLY SHIT!" Amen. Because that is some fucked up shit.
Highlights:
We should not worry about silly things like global warming and pollution, since Jesus is coming back soon and we won't be here by the time it's a problem, so we should continue driving SUV's.
Harry Potter is not okay to enjoy, because warlocks are the devil.
Rachael is a holy roller 8 year old, who very awkwardly tries to proselytize to perfect strangers sitting on park benches. When they won't take her bait (yes, they're sure they'll go to heaven when they die) she tells her friend she thinks they were Muslim.
Rachael also told us that God is not at all churches. According to her, he only comes to the fun ones, where everyone's jumping around singing, but he skips the ones where people speak in monotone. Hey Rachael? As a three year-old I babysat for in Florida told me, "God is everywhere; even in your underwear."
I went to hebrew school for over six years, and to temple on a weekly basis for over a dozen years. I never cried from the services. What kind of service makes KIDS cry? How can that be right?
Even the wacko religious radio DJ thought the head of Jesus Camp (Becki) was wacko. That tells you how wacko her program is.
My roommate who is Indian and I sat with our jaws on the floor as we watched this movie, and wondered why Levi, the boy the movie focused on, didn't hear Jesus telling him to get rid of his mullet, since Jesus talks to him all the time.
Home-schooling is fine in and of itself. But when you homeschool to keep your kids from finding out there are other people who believe different things, how does that teach your kids to accept all kinds of people?
It blows my mind that these people think I need to be saved. Okay, I need to be saved from my compulsion to buy vases and pajamas, but not saved religiously. The idea that some eight year old kid thinks she "knows" better than I do just blows my mind.
In one scene, the preachers are showing the kids 7 week-old plastic fetuses, encouraging them to see the fetuses as human beings, lives "worth" saving. In what fucking world is it appropriate to teach this stuff to KIDS in a public setting? There were kids under the age of six there!
One of the girls (Tori) was ten, and told the camera that when she dances, she dances to christian heavy metal, and is careful to not flaunt the flesh and looks down on Brit-Brit. First of all, the camera panned the entire bedroom, and I just want to say that if I were a parent, I would not let a camera crew in my ten year old daughter's bedroom with the door CLOSED. I'm sure nothing inappropriate happened, but still. Second, why is Tori even thinking of her "flesh" at all? I danced all the time when I was ten, and I assure you, it was completely age appropriate, and I was not flaunting my flesh (even if I was dancing to Madonna and the Bangles).
People, I gotta say, it blows my mind that there are whole slews of people out there who think this way. And I'm not even talking about the kids - what about the parents raising them, and sending them off to Jesus Camp? It scares me, in a way that makes me think about how brain-washing is a form of abuse. Because that's what goes on there.
Did my parents try to raise me to believe certain things? Yes. When you drive through the Bronx you lock the car doors. But they also raised me to question things, and didn't mind if I disagreed with them, or took my time coming around to their points of view when it came to religion.
Jesus Christ. In Florida I worked with a group of really fun girls who were very into their church. They taught bible study and stuff. But they were cool with hearing the jewish side of things, and open to hearing other ideas, and with me in general, and tried to be "Good Christians" in general. You know the types - who'll do someone a favor because "it's the Christian thing to do"? Those are the Christians I like - the ones just going around, trying to be a good person. And if they have to believe in concepts I don't, in order to be good people, then so be it.
But these Jesus Camp people. Religion is their whole life, and I don't think they'd rest until they recruited me. I hope they follow up with these kids in ten years, because I'd be really interested in finding out if they're still believing the hype.
Highlights:
We should not worry about silly things like global warming and pollution, since Jesus is coming back soon and we won't be here by the time it's a problem, so we should continue driving SUV's.
Harry Potter is not okay to enjoy, because warlocks are the devil.
Rachael is a holy roller 8 year old, who very awkwardly tries to proselytize to perfect strangers sitting on park benches. When they won't take her bait (yes, they're sure they'll go to heaven when they die) she tells her friend she thinks they were Muslim.
Rachael also told us that God is not at all churches. According to her, he only comes to the fun ones, where everyone's jumping around singing, but he skips the ones where people speak in monotone. Hey Rachael? As a three year-old I babysat for in Florida told me, "God is everywhere; even in your underwear."
I went to hebrew school for over six years, and to temple on a weekly basis for over a dozen years. I never cried from the services. What kind of service makes KIDS cry? How can that be right?
Even the wacko religious radio DJ thought the head of Jesus Camp (Becki) was wacko. That tells you how wacko her program is.
My roommate who is Indian and I sat with our jaws on the floor as we watched this movie, and wondered why Levi, the boy the movie focused on, didn't hear Jesus telling him to get rid of his mullet, since Jesus talks to him all the time.
Home-schooling is fine in and of itself. But when you homeschool to keep your kids from finding out there are other people who believe different things, how does that teach your kids to accept all kinds of people?
It blows my mind that these people think I need to be saved. Okay, I need to be saved from my compulsion to buy vases and pajamas, but not saved religiously. The idea that some eight year old kid thinks she "knows" better than I do just blows my mind.
In one scene, the preachers are showing the kids 7 week-old plastic fetuses, encouraging them to see the fetuses as human beings, lives "worth" saving. In what fucking world is it appropriate to teach this stuff to KIDS in a public setting? There were kids under the age of six there!
One of the girls (Tori) was ten, and told the camera that when she dances, she dances to christian heavy metal, and is careful to not flaunt the flesh and looks down on Brit-Brit. First of all, the camera panned the entire bedroom, and I just want to say that if I were a parent, I would not let a camera crew in my ten year old daughter's bedroom with the door CLOSED. I'm sure nothing inappropriate happened, but still. Second, why is Tori even thinking of her "flesh" at all? I danced all the time when I was ten, and I assure you, it was completely age appropriate, and I was not flaunting my flesh (even if I was dancing to Madonna and the Bangles).
People, I gotta say, it blows my mind that there are whole slews of people out there who think this way. And I'm not even talking about the kids - what about the parents raising them, and sending them off to Jesus Camp? It scares me, in a way that makes me think about how brain-washing is a form of abuse. Because that's what goes on there.
Did my parents try to raise me to believe certain things? Yes. When you drive through the Bronx you lock the car doors. But they also raised me to question things, and didn't mind if I disagreed with them, or took my time coming around to their points of view when it came to religion.
Jesus Christ. In Florida I worked with a group of really fun girls who were very into their church. They taught bible study and stuff. But they were cool with hearing the jewish side of things, and open to hearing other ideas, and with me in general, and tried to be "Good Christians" in general. You know the types - who'll do someone a favor because "it's the Christian thing to do"? Those are the Christians I like - the ones just going around, trying to be a good person. And if they have to believe in concepts I don't, in order to be good people, then so be it.
But these Jesus Camp people. Religion is their whole life, and I don't think they'd rest until they recruited me. I hope they follow up with these kids in ten years, because I'd be really interested in finding out if they're still believing the hype.
Labels: flixin it
posted by Green at 4/29/2007 10:35:00 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for the review. Now that I'm entering a period in my life in which I can enjoy movie time guilt-free, I plan on catching up on all the flicks I've missed.
It's probably best for me to not comment on the whole religious thing at all, but I must say something about Tori's concern about flesh. Certainly, it's not right for little girls to be mimicking the slutty mannerisms of older girls who are mimicking sluttiness of women. But, it sounds like her parents swung waaay the other way. Now, instead of thinking it's cool to dress and strut like she's ready for her own stripper pole, she is fixated on repressing natural urges. I can see her becoming one of those girls who starts punishing herself because she thinks she's dirty for being attracted to a good-looking boy.
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