Before watching this documentary I formed an opinion based
only on the title. I was not raised with any form of religion, but the belief
in science and that everything works together in the universe. I respect
people’s beliefs, but do not like beliefs to be forced upon me. Religion
though, and how people can believe some of the things that they do does not
make sense to me. The title Jesus Camp was unappealing even before I started
the film. As I watched the film I became even more astonished, confused, and
scared about the beliefs that the Christians had. What scared me the most was
how passionate the children were and how brainwashed to believe a certain thing
they are.
The children are being taught from a young age that they
must follow God and Jesus. I was raised a certain way, but never pressured to
believe one thing. I was able to develop my own views and opinions. In this
documentary one child’s mother told him specifically that creationism is the
only possible belief and explanation. Also the woman who started the camp said
that it is most important to get to the young generation. She said that the
children should be trained to die in the name of the lord. Even the children
themselves explained that they are being trained to follow God.
Some of the Christians in the film also indicated that evangelism was going to come up and take over America. there is evidence though that shows otherwise and it is shown on this website if you follow the link below.
The majority of the documentary just shows what is happening
in the lives of the evangelical children. There is not a lot of persuasion to
believe one thing or another while watching the film. Throughout the film
though it switches to a man speaking on a radio station who believes that the
evangelicals are absurdly radical. In the very in of the film he interviews the
woman who started the camp. He questions her about whether brainwashing
children is really what god wants us to do. She holds strong in her opinion in
training the children a certain way. In my opinion she is insane and no good is
going to become of what she is doing. I believe that every child should be able
to choose their beliefs for themselves.
I completely agree it's absurd that parents have only raised their children with one option as the truth. Parents have almost too much control over what their children are exposed to, and to take advantage of a young forming brain seems demonic. Part of me really resents the fact that this stereotype, of a crazy Christian, is cast upon other sects as well that do not have the same beliefs necessarily.
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