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JESUS CAMP II

By Felix Vasquez Jr. | November 17, 2006

Rachel is willing to die and sacrifice herself for religion.

Levi is educated at home and taught that religion plays a role in everything from math to science through special textbooks that angle toward the creationism theories.

Make no mistake about it, the children in “Jesus Camp” are one stone’s throw away from being suicide bombers.

The reasoning for this, Ms. Tucker explains, is that if Muslims can have camps to train children to fight for their religion and sacrifice their lives, why can’t they?

This is from a woman who lives in America, the supposedly evolved country.

To which she eggs on her audience that they’re going to war, while the children, in the most disturbing sequence, clutch their fists screaming “War! War! War!” Meanwhile, the children feel they need to be saved. What harm could a five year old do that doesn’t stem from innocence and ignorance? I’m still wondering.

But Tucker isn’t solely to blame. She’s only a part in a wider range of bad parenting, to which she merely influences in her utter ignorance. She prays that the devil doesn’t ruin her Power Point presentation for the camp.

The children in “Jesus Camp” are the religious equivalent of stage families. They think they want to be there, they think they believe what they’re doing is right, only because at a young age they’ve been taught it was, and seek to satisfy their wholly flawed parents reflecting their views onto them whether they like it or not.

After watching “Jesus Camp” I wasn’t all that surprised. I mean, religion in the wrong hands is a wicked and potentially damaging tool in the hands of the wrong groups of people.

The kids look healthy, and basically seem well off, but you can sense something just isn’t right in their minds. They want to satisfy their parents, they’ve convinced themselves they believe what they’re saying, and their only ambition revolves around their religion.

Then they’re told they’re guilty, they’re told they must atone for sins when the adults never ask what they think a sin is, and never actually sit down to talk to a child to ask them what they’ve done and why they think it was wrong. Because they don’t need to. The children are clay, and they’re being formed.

This film shows how adults tailor their children to cater to their desires regardless of how inevitably damaging they may be to their children. Particularly from Rachel, a very young girl who while well intentioned, is also noticeably disturbed in many ways.

She approaches a woman in a bowling alley giving her a pamphlet about god, and only beams with pride when her father congratulates her and murmurs “You’re finally being obedient.”

What is witnessed in “Jesus Camp” is the potential creation of adults with disorders, both mental and physical. They drill these children with almost immense guilt and dissatisfaction that the children will never be able to fulfill into early adulthood, and it will inflict potential harm to themselves and to their loved ones. And they’re also told that thanks to abortion many of their best friends couldn’t be there with them, which leads to passing around of plastic embryos.

As is shown in common cult studies, one of the principles of cultists is instilling an impossible sense of guilt in their followers that they can never fulfill; this keeps them loyal die-hard followers. The children here are attacked at very young ages, and they’ll always feel this sense that they can’t fulfill a standard set before them, nor can they ever reach a life of true happiness for fear of sin.

Five year olds screaming and crying, Tucker preaching that she wants the children free of sin yet when she calls for the murder of a fictional character the children cheer.

“Jesus Camp” is an utterly disturbing account of bad parenting, and children falling to the prey of dangerous religious fanatics. You can’t help feel sorry for them.

American and Muslim extremists are not as different as you’ve been told. And they’re both very dangerous to the well being of humanity.

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  1. dan says:

    hello my name is dan. i grew up with my grandfather being a pentecostal preacher for all of my life. i spent quite sometime with him when i was very young and then into my early teens. i went to church 4 times weekly and was active in the youth ministries. i also attended a camp every summer in northern Wisconsin that mirrored the “kids on fire” camp. when i became older is started to see major discrepancies in the teachings of my church. when i was old enough to make my own decision to attend i decided that this was not the way to live. i used to be terrified of hearing “secular” music with the notion god is watching what im doing in disapproval. that was when i was 16. i am now 37 and i watched jesus camp last night. to my dismay, my mothers friend becky fischer was on the movie ( my parents live in Lees Summit, Mo.) i had no idea! the message and the kids depicted reminded me of my childhood and opened a terrifying feeling in me. there was times during the documentary that i had to fast forward because of the severe anxiety and terror i was experiencing. the only way to explain this documentary is ” this is like being raped as a child and then someone finding a video of said rape and gave it to you to relive it by watching” i found myself in tears wanting to intervene in defense of those young kids that were being accosted. dont get me wrong, i think belief in god can help some and bring a center to others in their time of need but this militant behavior in the name of god and politics is enough to make anyone, even a die hard christian, really second guess the spiritual belief system they have chosen….

  2. Felix, I know you are not religious, but I felt a calling to offer my (brief) opinion on the above blog you wrote:

    I have not yet seen Jesus Camp, but I have firsthand experience with these so-called “Christians.”

    The ones who spew venomous hate from their mouths, “in the name of God.”

    It sickens me. And I can pretty much guarantee that it sickens God.

    As a gay Christian, I am well aware of the Bible (I grew up in church) and how its words can get twisted around to fit a certain denomination or political candidate’s agenda.

    I have seen so many people turned off by Christianity (and religion in general) because of the actions of these hateful individuals. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, even good ole W.

    People who are using their fame and power to preach the messages of hatred and intolerance.

    We are all human. We are all sinners. We all make mistakes, intentionally or unintentionally. It’s human nature. Nobody’s perfect.

    That’s why Jesus did what he did.

    I am a sinner. I always have been. I always will be one.

    But I know where I am going when I die.

    Despite what Ms. Tucker, Mr. Falwell, Mr. Robertson, and Mr. Bush say.

    Because I think that I can take the word of Jesus over those people.

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