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Jesus Camp — Scarier Than a Horror Movie

Sep19
2006 5 Comments Written by CelticBear

Just discovered this documentary yesterday. Scared the -beep- out of me!

“Jesus Camp” – http://imdb.com/title/tt0486358/

It follows the events of an evangelical Christian kid’s camp in North Dakota. And in the trailer for the movie, it displays kids being brainwashed in charismatic evangelicalism. I watched it with chills and a deep pit opening in my stomach. It’s nothing less than a cult, abusing children–but it’s not some small group in a compound, it’s a cult of millions of people all over the country!

These poor, abused, brainwashed kids, being taught Christian extremism, being “warriors” for God both figuratively AND literally, are going to be replacing the neo-cons in government now, will be running school boards, will be a part of our communities.

I watch the movie’s trailer, and I see the images of kids being told science doesn’t prove anything (see my last post: Celebration of Carl Sagan, and the Cosmic Search,) and dropping on the ground and shaking, and performing warrior-like “dances”, and crying with “love for Jesus” at 12 and 13 with NO IDEA what passion and love should be, it scares the hell out of me.

…especially when the night before I saw a clip from another recent documentary: “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West” – http://imdb.com/title/tt0487116/. And a clip in that movie where a 13 or 14 year old Muslem girl is shown with bright eyes wishing she had a gun or a knife so she could kill bush, and dance on his grave. And making sincere (as sincere as a religiously brainwashed person can be) wishings for war and death and the destruction of the West.

Religion is evil. Yeah, I know these are examples of the extreme versions of religions, but it’s all a matter of degrees. Religion requires belief without reason, and that is the root of all evil. Moderate religion is an aberation. Read any religious text, and they require the kind of belief exemplified in these movies. Complete devotion in mind and body, and that kind of devotion to a dogma leads to unreasonable belief and intolarant if not violent actions. The eradication of religion might not be the ultimate answer, for humans are flawed and will find ways to direct their cognitive biases and fallacious logic, but it would be a big step toward the evolution of human society toward something better. And less medieval.

Related posts:

  1. Jesus’ Secret Identity?
  2. Did Jesus Really Exist, pt II
  3. Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?
  4. Jesus in ancient Greece and Egypt?
  5. Did Jesus Exist?
Posted in PERSONAL, RELIGION, SKEPTICISM, SOCIAL and NEWS
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  • http://www.kogmedia.com/ patrick

    funny, despite the obvious agenda that the film-makers had, i couldn’t help thinking, “well, what’s the problem here?” these kids seem to be living pretty well (since their parents obviously care about and put deliberate effort into raising them)…

    Jesus Camp was pointlessly critical. it offered no solution to the overarching “problem” implied here, which is that Christians keep raising their children to be Christian (duh) … perhaps parents should run all their worldviews by an entirely atheistic, state-run child-raising board before attempting to pass these worldviews onto their children, yes?

  • http://www.kogmedia.com patrick

    funny, despite the obvious agenda that the film-makers had, i couldn’t help thinking, “well, what’s the problem here?” these kids seem to be living pretty well (since their parents obviously care about and put deliberate effort into raising them)…

    Jesus Camp was pointlessly critical. it offered no solution to the overarching “problem” implied here, which is that Christians keep raising their children to be Christian (duh) … perhaps parents should run all their worldviews by an entirely atheistic, state-run child-raising board before attempting to pass these worldviews onto their children, yes?

  • http://blog.celticbear.com/ CelticBear

    perhaps parents should run all their worldviews by an entirely atheistic, state-run child-raising board before attempting to pass these worldviews onto their children, yes?

    Ah, the ever classic reductio ad absurdum fallacy. Mischaracterize what your “opponent” is saying and then take it to an extreme that obviously no one wants, but imply that’s the goal your opponent wants. The classics never go out of style.

    I’ll be the first to state that this argument, issue, involves a slippery slope. Obviously parents should teach their children values and ethics and lessons on how to live in this world. But let me reductio ad absurdum right back atchya: are ALL forms of parental enforced value passing valid and appropriate? The parents that physically abuse and molest and neglect their kids, should we let that go on because hey, parents should be allowed to pass on their beliefs, right?

    Of course not; no one would agree with that. So where do lines get drawn? It’s one thing to pass on a belief in Christianity, or Islam, or Buddhism, or atheism (although, some, like Richard Dawkins, believes any passing on of myth-as-fact is the same as child abuse), but it’s another to then also cripple that child’s ability to think rationally and critically. Such as when kids are taught science is evil and wrong and they should only believe what is written in an ancient text.

    Let me ask you, would you be just as supportive and forgiving of a Krishna Camp which taught children to be militant Hare Krishna believers who are being told it’s their duty, ordered by Krishna, to convert or condemn non-believers? How about camps which taught kids to fall on their face and cry and weep in worship of Baal? The exact same way as being done in Jesus Camp, except change it to a worship of Mithras. Would you be exactly as supportive of it?

    If not, why not?

  • http://blog.celticbear.com CelticBear

    perhaps parents should run all their worldviews by an entirely atheistic, state-run child-raising board before attempting to pass these worldviews onto their children, yes?

    Ah, the ever classic reductio ad absurdum fallacy. Mischaracterize what your “opponent” is saying and then take it to an extreme that obviously no one wants, but imply that’s the goal your opponent wants. The classics never go out of style.

    I’ll be the first to state that this argument, issue, involves a slippery slope. Obviously parents should teach their children values and ethics and lessons on how to live in this world. But let me reductio ad absurdum right back atchya: are ALL forms of parental enforced value passing valid and appropriate? The parents that physically abuse and molest and neglect their kids, should we let that go on because hey, parents should be allowed to pass on their beliefs, right?

    Of course not; no one would agree with that. So where do lines get drawn? It’s one thing to pass on a belief in Christianity, or Islam, or Buddhism, or atheism (although, some, like Richard Dawkins, believes any passing on of myth-as-fact is the same as child abuse), but it’s another to then also cripple that child’s ability to think rationally and critically. Such as when kids are taught science is evil and wrong and they should only believe what is written in an ancient text.

    Let me ask you, would you be just as supportive and forgiving of a Krishna Camp which taught children to be militant Hare Krishna believers who are being told it’s their duty, ordered by Krishna, to convert or condemn non-believers? How about camps which taught kids to fall on their face and cry and weep in worship of Baal? The exact same way as being done in Jesus Camp, except change it to a worship of Mithras. Would you be exactly as supportive of it?

    If not, why not?

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