Jesus Camp

This is one of the most interesting documentaries I have seen in a long time. Here are some of my favorite highlights:


"...and while I am on the subject, let me say something about Harry Potter. Warlocks are enemies of God! And I don't care what kind of hero they are. They are an enemy of God and had it been in the Old Testament, Harry Potter would have been put to death! (An Amen is heard in the background)"


Hmmmm, there are actually a great deal of moral issues tackled within Harry Potter. Not only are the stories engaging but also they involve issues such as faith, friendship, morality, and family. But what do I know. Oh yeah, I thought God didn't want us to kill?

Here is one from a 12 year old:
"We are being trained to go out and train others to be Gods Army"

Wait, God has an army? Why does God need an army? Ah but this scene goes on to the 8 year old girl stating:


"I feel like we are being trained to be warriors only in a much funner way. Like I don't feel the sense of being afraid to die in battle or anything like you would when you are going off to a war in the physical. There is a peace with it all too there is an excitement yet there is a peace with it too."

This nine year old also hands out those ridiculous religious comic books to people throughout the film.


This is a quote from the woman who runs the camp who called in to a religious radio show that was in the film (I will paraphrase this a little):

Radio anchor: Why kids? Why are they supposed to be some new army of God? Why are we using kids to do that?

Becky: Because the statistics show that everything that kids learn by the time that they are 9 or 10 years old stays with them the rest of their lives.

RA: You use the term learn here. The term learn is different then the term indoctrinate. God gave us a brain. God gave us the freedom to choose, and learning is part of that choice. I feel that every time the fundamentalist movement interferes with that, we are doing harm to the progression of mankind.

Becky: I don't think any child gets anything by choice. As I understood your question you asked if I felt that it is right to indoctrinate children. I guess fundamentally I do because every other religion is indoctrinating their kids. HELLO! I would like to see more churches indoctrinating their kids.

RA: You can tell a child anything. You can make a child into a soldier that carries an AK-47.

Becky: You can call it brainwashing, but I am radical and passionate in teaching children about their responsibilities as Christians, as God fearing people as Americans.

RA: Well Becky let me ask you this how do we ignore that we are all of the sudden we are creating children soldiers for the Republican Party. How does that figure into anything that Christ had to say about how we live our lives on Earth?

Becky: I am not aware of any church with a political tie. (We saw a preacher who was linked with our current President earlier in the film. Becky brought her camp to this man to hear him preach)

RA: (He is a bit upset at this point) I gotta tell you, God is watching us and God has a very special place for those people who mess with children. And it is not a pretty place.

Becky: I am not going to go there Mike.

RA: You know what has always made this country special, what has always set this country apart is that there is something that we call a separation between church and state. I respect your right as a fundamentalist to preach to your children whatever you want. But when it bleeds into the public sector don't let that bleed into the schools.

Becky: I beg to differ with you. Christianity is important, we believe that it is the most important religion in the world because it changes the lives of people.

RA: But Becky it is a witches brew. It's going to take over democracy.

Becky: I think democracy is the greatest thing in this world. But that is just it, it is in this world. It is ultimately designed to destroy itself because we have to give everybody equal freedom. A perfect world is only going to be perfect when Jesus is truly Lord."


So where do I start? This is one excerpt from this film. Hypocrisy rains like crazy. What kills me the most is the "Every other religion is doing it". Didn't our Mothers always say, "If Bob jumped off a building would you do it too?" OF COURSE NOT! Isn't the reason why we have terrorist attacks (Not always but I would venture to say 85% of the time) linked to fundamentalism? Pardon me, but if God didn't want us to have a free will wouldn't God have just used our collective minds to do his bidding? Would he have killed his only son to prove a point that we need to choose him? This is stuff that is in the bible! This film is exactly what I fear that my future nieces and nephews will be subjected to. Religion is the most powerful means of control and this film is evidence!

So yeah, see this film. Get scared, then think about the hypocrisy, then move on in life and be wary of those that have no problem with indoctrination.


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