Speechless

[Saint Gasoline]

Have any of you seen the documentary Jesus Camp?I just saw it today, and I must say that I found it quite disturbing. The premise of the documentary is to follow a bunch of kids around a camp designed to teach children to be religious social conservatives. The kids are indoctrinated, made to feel guilty, and are led to praise President Bush while reviling secularism and the hot-button issues promoted by conservatives everywhere: evolution and abortion.Let's hope these people never actually get any real political power. If they do, you can kiss the establishment clause goodbye.

[Frank 013]

This group really sucks ass!On the news tonight the report said that these camps are becoming more and more popular and new ones are springing up all over the country.Disturbing is an understatement!Later

[Mr. P]

I saw this a while ago on another group...I thought I posted it here...but maybe I did not.Sick, I agree!Mr. P. Mr. P's place. I warned you!!!The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

[Interbane]

That's irritating. as;ldkjfasl;dkfjas

[Chris OConnor]

Here is a link to a Wikipedia article on Jesus Camp, for those that wish to learn more about this brainwashing tactic.

[irishrosem]

Darn it. I went to the movies the other day; it was between Jesus Camp and Little Children. I picked Little Children. To be honest, I wanted something that wouldn't depress me and assumed L.C. was the safer bet. Alas, I hope to get to see it before it's, I'm sure, all too short run is over.On a side note, I went to a Christian camp once with some members of my youth group, when I was @14. I came home and asked my Mom why she sent me to a "Jesus cult."

[Chris OConnor]

My problem with actually paying to see the movie is that you are in a sense funding the disgusting act. I'd rather not give my money to such things.

[phiend]

I've known several people who spent their summers in those camps. I even spent half a year going to a high school that was pretty much the same thing, just with calculus thrown in for good measure. It really is a prime example of group think in action. After speaking at length with an ex scientologist a few years back, I realized that they all use the same tactics, just different words. As the saying goes, those that can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.

[Federika22]

In response to the comment made by Chris...Was this documentary made in support of the Jesus Camp themes? I was hoping it was made as an expose. I read the short description about it in The New Yorker and it didn't say what bias the filmmakers had.

[MadArchitect]

My impression from what I've read of it is that "Jesus Camp" is against the camps. So I doubt seeing it in any way provides material support for the camps themselves.Incidentally, as I child I went to several Bible oriented summer camp programs. Most of them were pretty harmless. They seemed more like hippie sit-ins than anything else -- I distinctly remember sitting in a commons room singing "Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong" -- not exactly "Onward Christian Soldiers". And our activities tended to be the same sort of summer activities you'd find at a secular camp: basketball, arts & crafts, three-legged races.I think those were probably a breed apart from the Jesus camps in the documentary, though. The current political atmostphere seems to have given impetus to a more ideological-intensive kind of camp.