Young Writers Society

Jesus Camp

While interesting, I was a bit suspicious of it being a little Michael Moore-ish where lots of editing made the people out to be worse than they are. Until I found out that the people featured in the movie were very happy with how the movie came out, hoping that it would turn more people to their cause.

I'll admit, I've had a huge chip on my shoulder about religion before. Unless you are firmly religious yourself, I don't know how you can't go through a phase like that by just taking a history class. But I've had a lot of friends who have turned my opinion around. I even have a born-again Christian friend who is WAY right wing for my taste, but he's smarter than I am and we've never stopped being friends. I know it makes him sad that I probably will never be the kind of Christian he would ideally hope me to be, but he's made it clear that above all, he's worried because he cares about me.

Still, this movie gives me the CREEPS. I know that some people are going to be upset that this portrays Christians in a bad light, but the simple fact is, every belief or idea has a dark end that no one really wants to talk about, but we all know is there. We simply don't want to talk about it because if on some basic level, we agree with something in that dark place, and that's scary. You rarely see a liberal talking about militant animal rights groups. Conservatives try to hide their connections to large businesses and how much they are funded by them. Muslims constantly have to deal with it in this country because of the fear of Islamic terrorists. Christianity is not spared this dark secret. This movie just happens to grab you hand, a flash light and walk you through a bit of it.

Hey, I watched the trailer and saw the guy off 'The Root of All Evil?', the one who had a go at Dawkins. Wasshisname?

Ah yeah, Ted Haggard. The one who asked Dawkins to not be arrogant, right after proclaiming, 'if only you had spoken to the people I had spoken too, and read the books I had read, you would be great, like me'.

I may well try to get my hands on this movie .

I love that in the same clip they talk about how they're different from terrorists and then proclaim to be training and Army of God. That's sounds suspiciously radical Islam to me...

More proof that children should be allowed to come to religion on their own terms.

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I have developed a single belief in all my workings with children:

Video games DO NOT mess up kids.
The media DOES NOT mess up kids.
Books DO NOT mess up kids.
Music DOES NOT mess up kids.
Friends DO NOT mess up kids.

Parents. PARENTS mess up kids.

I completely agree.

.... the kid who looked like he was training for some kind of army, with the face paint and all, was frightening. Then that other lady says "we teach kids about christ, other camps put hand grenades in their hands." ..... what?!?!

"Onward Christian Soldiers, as Marching off to war..."

Hahaha. Wow...I found striking similarities between that preview and this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHZGjmH-nNE (Only in this video the Fuhrer is Jesus). Indoctrinating our youth since Nuremberg '34 If you look carefully you can pick out Pope Benedict Sorry! Bad humour, I know. But you get my message. It's sick really. Good thing I moulded for myself a personal sort of natural/Norse hybrid paganism before Christianity enthralled me forever! There was a point in my life, quite a short period, in which I pressed my Christian views on others. That was before I became smart...er. I'm at home with my "paganistic" beliefs now. Christianity is a foreign faith (a direct ofshoot of Judaism), and, besides Jesus' teachings, too otherworldly for me. (See my description of Heaven in the 'Other' section in the literature forums). Anyway, basically what their doing is indoctrinating the youth before they become like me, thus being lost to their cause forever, and who'd want that!

It's more than that! It's sick! Using children to fight their political battles, because they truly have no ground to stand upon. Taping their mouths closed with tape that reads LIFE? It's worse than the pictures of foetuses. They are exploiting young children and expect God to reward them.

If their's is Heaven's work, I'd rather go to Hell.

I'd just like to ask all of you to NOT judge all of Christianity on this camp. I think it's disgusting myself, and I consider myself a rather strong Christian. Many Christians I know completely disagree with this practice. I hate how this is the only side of Christianity that tends to be portrayed. It's incredibly sad.

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This is the only side of Christianity that seems to have a voice in America. Just as radical Islam is the only side of Islam that has voice over-seas. I am friends with very sincere Christians who I believe bring the light of God to this world. If there weren't so many evangelicals in positions of power and incredible influence, I would likely have the same complaint. But these people who pervert Christ's message must be put into the spotlight. It has nothing to do with God or Jesus and everything to do with personal gain and personal insanity.

Being a Christian, and a Christian who has experience organized religion on either side of the Atlantic, this makes both interesting, frightening and comforting viewing.

I was raised in Canada (which shares many traits of American Christianity) but by extremely skeptical parents - not un-Christian, but people who embraced a 'thinking' faith instead of a blind one. If there's anything I thank God for, it's that.
In general, even Evangelicals in the UK are much different to those you find in the USA. A large part of this is cultural - while your average American service is very loud, involved, front-led and charismatic, British churches (even the big ones) always seem a little more toned down. It's not that there's no energy, but rather that everything is conducted with more propriety and more reservations.

However, I don't personally think that there's anything wrong with an American style of Christianity - there are certainly times when I'm back in North America that I cringe in Church, but there are plenty of those times in normal day-to-day life when I'm visiting, too: culture-shock affects my perception whatever I'm interacting with.
Also, the more I learn and understand my faith, the more I realise that complete devotion to God, from whatever age, is not a bad thing. Parents raise their children to believe in God, because they want the best for them - later on, as they grow, they choose to either follow on with that faith, or turn away from it. Plenty of children have done both.

The argument goes both ways - while we may want to raised children to choose their own path, we as believers also want to raise them as Christians, who have the necessary grounding in faith and understanding to make the choice when the time comes. So much of sharing Christian beliefs is about relationships - teaching people Theology isn't what brings them to God, it's the missional act of being Christ to other people. Showing what a positive difference Christ makes in your everyday life is what draws a person in.

I think there's a culture of demonisation toward religion at the moment - a backlash against Islam and Christianity as the two more prominent faiths. I think, though, that there is a difference between raising your child to be religious and raising them to be an idiot. It's a problem I have with religious parents of all faiths - teach your child, but teach them to think for themselves. I was brought up as a Christian, but I was taught to question and query in an effort to understand, not accept blindly. That, I think, is what chills me most about that film - the signs that children are being taught to accept without question. I believe it happens in Christianity (massively in America), very largely in Islam and to varying degrees in other religions.

Do I think raising your child to be religious is wrong? No - there were some very good things going on in that film, teaching and training that will hopefully stop those kids from going off the rails as they grow older. But the key element which is missing in so many Christian circles is that conscious assesment of your faith - Christ came to take away our sins, not our minds.

EXACTLY. My parents always pushed the faith on me, which drove me away for a while. I only returned when I made the faith my own and witnessed it for myself. Next week, my youth group is actually going to start a program where it discusses WHY we believe certain things. I think we need to know why we believe before we can truly, fully believe.

In my opinion, young children should be allowed to choose for themselves. Their parents can show them one way, but they need to make it clear that it's ultimately the child's decision.