Jesus Camp

[Ihateyoumike]

Yes, I do realize that this specific "jesus camp" was shut down, but there are too many people like this out there. I just watched this movie recently and it really disgusted me. These people are just as much child abusers as someone who beats or molests their children, in my opinion.
I did a search and didn't find a thread specifically to discuss this film, so I thought I'd start one. I would like to get the thoughts of my fellow happy-atheists on this film.
http://www.documentary24.com/jesus-camp-kids-taking-back-america-for-christ--231/
This link is to a website where you can watch the video in it's entirety if you have not seen it yet.

[curiosityandthecat]

I tell everyone I can about this film. It makes me wonder about some of the Pentecostals I know, and whether or not their home lives are like the home lives of the people in the film. I even have my students watch it whenever we're not busy at work. It's really quite disturbing.

[SSY]

Mental abuse, pure and simple.

I still can't beleive people are allowed to indoctrinate their kids into religion. If my kid turned out gay, and I sent him/her off the camps, counsellors, hypnotists, brainwashers etc to try and turn them straight, make my love conditional on their hetreosexuality, or throw them out of the house if they refused to have sex with people of the opposite gender ( we get many posters here who are too afraid to tell their parent about their atheism for fear of being homless ), I would be regarded as a monster*. Yet this is apparently OK.

* Note, the people who actually do send their kids away for being gay ( almost always in the light of their religious belief ) commit the double whammy if you will, and as such, deserve nothing but unlimited contempt in my view.

More on topic, that film made me realise how powerful group think can be, even when dressed up as fun childhood activities.

P.S. What do you work as Curio? What do you teach?

[curiosityandthecat]

Right now I"m not teaching anything because I'm just finishing up my degree. I've taught EDCS 400 (Education, Cultural Studies: School, Society and Professional Education) and next quarter will be co-teaching CLWR 222 (Classics and World Religious: Difficult Dialogues: Religious, Gender and Sexuality). The student workers I've shown this to are my workers at the library (where I currently work for the university -- free tuition, muaha).

[/aside]

[Enoch Root]

This movie was hard for me to watch, because I spent many years working at a Christian summer camp as a counselor.  I "led" many kids to Christ.

The camp in the movie is an extreme example in just about every way, so the one I worked at was not as "crazy".  There definitely wasn't the whole "spiritual warfare" angle, nor was there the political indoctrination that unfortunately seems to prevalent among American Christians.  But there was plenty of emotional manipulation, guilt trips about the kids being sinners, scaring them about hellfire, making them feel left out if they didn't give their life to Jesus.  We had seminars on "saying no to sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll" (though the latter was more "stay away from the really bad stuff").  And we had tear-filled altar-calls, and every camp would end with at least one or two kids wanting to be baptized in the river with their parents watching.

I've heard sermons preached on the fact that the overwhelming majority of people who become Christians do so before the age of 18.  The preacher was using that fact to emphasize the importance of reaching children, but geez, it disgusts me that I couldn't see the writing on the wall before.  People convert before 18 because they haven't yet developed the healthy skepticism and ability to question that ought to come with just being an adult in the real world.

I still can't beleive people are allowed to indoctrinate their kids into religion.

Well you'll raise your kid to distrust and question religion, won't you?  The religious parents would accuse you of doing the same: indoctrinating your kid.  Every worthwhile parent alive is going to try to raise their kid to believe what the parent thinks is right.

[Tanker]

Well you'll raise your kid to distrust and question religion, won't you? The religious parents would accuse you of doing the same: indoctrinating your kid. Every worthwhile parent alive is going to try to raise their kid to believe what the parent thinks is right.

I disagree my mother never pushed any relgious belief positive or negative. In fact I thoght she was a non religious THEIST (think deist/Unitarian) until a couple years ago. Shes an atheist and has been for 20+ years and before that she was a budhist, to cult like for her tastes. She expressed so few religious beliefs I diden't even know her own. Not surprisingly left to think for ourselves my brother and I are both Atheists.