I could barely sit throught this documentary about an evangelical/charismatic summer camp that trains kids for the "culture war." Not because I was bored, but because it made me mad.First of all, I was angry about the rhetoric from within the movement. It felt like brain-washing, not education. There is so much more to be analyzed in this, but I want to keep this short.
Secondly, I was angry that ideas I hold as true and/or beautiful were lumped in with the extremism and came off as religio-bable. For example, the Christians were in favor of intelligent design and in denial of global warming. Ergo, since only "freaks and idiots" deny global warming, only freaks would believe in ID. This isn't expressed outright, but it's how I perceived it. To me they are both worthy of consideration by reasonable people, but ID comes across as ridiculous since these "crazy" people hold it so strongly.
Another example... I believe that beautiful aspects of Christianity include (a) life is valuable, (b) we have meaning, (3) our lives do have purpose, and (4) God loves us completely. But even these amazing teachings came across as marketing tools and second-rate theology from Ted Haggard. Again, my perception and reaction.
It's quite possible that because of their fanaticism, anything they might say (even 2+2=4) would seem ignorant and backwards.
Finally, there was a line something like, "George Bush has brought credibility to Christianity." As the Sonic ad goes, "That is wrong on a so many levels; I don't even know where to begin!"
I did appreciate the Christian radio host for the most part, which I presume was the filmmaker's intended response.
Scary.
3 comments:
We watched this several weeks ago. It was very frustrating but I didn't feel it was unfair. Largely because of the radio host.
Because the focus was on one group within one organization the implications were pretty tightly clustered. The views and the arguments and the logic were all from one circle that was pretty obviously an extreme sect of Christiandom.
Also frustrating: I recognized a lot of the tactics used to move and impress the kids in the camp. Some of the basic devices of evangelical rhetoric were very familiar from all the training and "worshiping' that I grew up hearing.
Many of the same maddening arguments are continually used by the SDA church: we're worthless; this life doesn't matter; G-d won't put up with much; we need to fight to share G-d; witnessing is an attack; each belief relies on every other belief; strong emotion is the clearest thought...
All dangerous. But I keep hearing several of these in almost every service I attend.
Thanks a lot for sharing, Wishydig. Both on this and other posts. In other news, how long is your goatee now? It's hard to see.
It's pretty much out of control. I'll get a picture for you.
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