Category: Let's talk
I know this is a religion topic, but I put it here incase the discussion gets inappropriate for a safe haven. Feel free to move it.
I'm wondering what the Christians here, particularly mygodchosenbride&i4lifefinally and others with similar views think of the Jesus Camp. I'm not trying to single you out in a bad way, but since you've been posting religious things, it made me curious. This is basically a camp where ultra fundamentalists send their children to get schooled in their religion. The full documentary is on youtube, but here's a link to some highlights. Definitely worth watching all of this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LACyLTsH4ac
And here's a Wikipedia article on the film which gives a little background and quick plot summary for those who can't or choose not to watch the above clips.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_camp
So yeah. what do you think? Feel free to comment on things in the full video if you wish or to describe for us totals and those with very little vision what's going on here. If you're against it, then why? I'm sure I can find plenty of reasons why us nonchristians and why the less conservative elements of christianity would disagree, but I'm curious about the conservative view. Would this be considered a "cult" in your eyes and if so, what makes this, the Jehovah's Witnesses and the other branches of Christianity seem cultish as opposed to the types of things taught on letusreason.org? Would you send your children to a similar school, or one that was a bit more toned down, to learn about your faith?
Personally, I saw the whole documentary and was very disturbed by it. The fact that there are actually people teaching children this really upsets me. It's one thing to decide to join when you're older but to be brainwashed like that as a child? And some of the things the children said were heartbreaking to me, like the seven-year-old who said that he wanted more out of life.
Owwhh good topic starter! Can't wait t osee what people have to say. I saw the documentary myself about a year ago. It was crazy. I loved when Ted Haggard was on there - he sounds so gay - and low and behold he got caught up in that whole sex scandle in the fall of 06. Hypocrits.
I don't know anything about them but the documentary scared the hell out of me. lol
What amused me in the movie there is a woman who is talking about how kids must be taught to stop being so greedy, apparently that woman is about 100 pounds overweight herself.
To me this is very little different from any other brain washing religion, if this were Islam we'd expect suicide pilots coming outa there by the hundreds, there's no need for those types of people in the U.S. since they have all sorts of bombs and money and diplomats, but I wonder if the roles were reversed if quite a few of those kids wouldn't do something equally crazy.
I've never understood that brand of Christianity, the denial of science, the brain washing, the total fear propaganda. I still do not understand how Christianity and science can't get along since one does not exactly disproof the other.
I'm not interested in making fun of real authentic reasonable Christians, but a fanatic is a fanatic and extremists are always dangerous, no matter what they are extreme about. The bit I thought was amusing and over-the-top was when the one woman in the film was going on about Harry Potter. She referred to him as a warlock and acted as if he was a real threat. Yes, children, this is a fictional character in a series of books that happen to be popular. The spells do not actually work, so your precious young ones will not become Satanic mind-control droids. LOL!
Whoa, I didn't know such things were happening. The biggest sceen with me where when the cruched the glasses.
Yeah, that was a little nuts. The Harry Potter stuff was definitely over the top but no more so than the rule about not telling ghost stories at a camp.
what kinds of things did the children say that were heartbreaking? just curious. and, I too think extremests of any kind aren't good.
Extreme is good with somethings such as proofable things.
Even if that were true, this is not provable. But even with things that are, forcing someone to agree with you or doing extreme things to prove your point isn't a good idea. It only makes you seem fanatical and pushes people away.
That documentary made me very worried for those kids - especially the one they were essentially grooming to be the next evangelical speaker.
There's nothing wrong with teaching children about religion - I think it can foster creativity and new ways of looking at the world, especially when you show them multiple faiths. But camps like this are used to create an "us versus them" mentality and that's never good.
No forcing people is never good but if you do extreme things and it's provable I don't see what's so wrong about it.
No forcing people is never good but if you do extreme things and it's provable I don't see what's so wrong about it.
If it's provable, you don't need to take extreme measures - the proof is clearly there. For example, if you tell someone a ball will hit the floor if you drop it and they don't believe you, all you have to do is let go of the ball - not throw it at their head.
My thoughts on Jesus camp? Only in America.
It couldn't happen anywhere else could it? I can't imagine a Jesus Camp being set up in my town and doing what that camp does.
Extremely good point Miss M.