"Did you get to the part yet where they say that science hasn't proven anything?"
After dinner last night with the NBFiF (had a steak that was too rare for the first time in my life; odd, that), I saw
Jesus Camp (just released here a couple weeks ago), and I gotta say, freaky. For the record, I realize that I'm way, way behind the times on this, but... I'm out of the loop in general, and so it is. Also, I know I don't normally blog about stuff like this, but... eh. Get bothered enough by something and out comes the highly judgmental attitude, I guess. So, shallow, pointless stories about my life next time; shallow, pointless commentary this time.
So
Jesus Camp is a pretty biased documentary about evangelicals in middle America, specifically a Pastor Becky who works with children, and a few kids who attend her camp in North Dakota. And, um... wow. Like I said, the film is biased, but at the same time, it's not as though the people weren't saying the things they were saying; I doubt the quotations were even pulled that far out of context - the bias really just came into play with the actual film making, like the background music increasing the creep-out factor in a few scenes. But, for example, when one kid, Levi, talks about how he was saved at the age of five because nothing was fun and he wanted more out of life, you can't argue that it's not what he believes. Even if I can't imagine a five-year-old being cognizant enough to make that sort of decision, it's not that surprising with a mother who teaches him, for example, that science is wrong (welcome to
conservapedia, but in real life).
The worst part, for me, was sitting in the theater full of French people as I cringed at the American flags behind all of the zealousness. For as much as I say the French are pretty good at differentiating between the US government and me, Zannah (at least, that was my experience while I was here studying for a semester in 2003 during the Freedom Fry period when the US started bombing Iraq), it seems like that applies only to the government; they tend to group Americans into one big lump (Joe-Bob with his "gun control is being able to hit your target" bumper sticker, Pastor Becky, and me, Zannah... joy), often giving us all the characteristics of the lowest common denominator. I've had to answer enough questions about Bush getting elected (new answer: Sarkozy!) and refute statements about all kinds of things I don't support to make that awfully clear, and the thing is, most of us don't worship cardboard cut-outs of the president. And while I feel like I might have an answer for the craziness in this film (Le Pen, résultats: 1er tour, 2002) it bugs me to think that this adds "all Americans are religious crazies" to the "all Americans are fat fast-food eaters" and "all Americans are gun-toting freaks" and whatever else our documentaries are showing the world.
The part that was especially difficult to watch was the home-schooling about global warming. Like we don't already have a bad enough rep on that topic as it is, but no, let's make sure that the craziness is clearly all over the place. When did things like global warming become religious issues, anyway? I have a hard time believing that there are politicians in power who are still ambivalent on the topic (soooo disturbing!), but to actively teach your children that it's false doctrine perpetuated by the evil liberals? I mourn for America. I have absolutely no comprehension of how someone could honestly not think it's occurring. I can sort of maybe kind of see how you could debate the cause of global warming, but the mere existence? Perhaps Ted Haggard has been sharing whatever it is that he's
on? Speaking of which, the part with good ol'
Ted was terribly interesting considering what has
come out since then (pun absolutely intended).
Now, I realize that my perceptions of this film are, of course, colored by my own highly religious background and beliefs in a religion that many would consider crazy, and in the opinion of the evangelicals, the work of the devil and not Christian and all that jazz (or as our favorite 9-year-old evangelical missionary Rachel says, it would be a "dead church" where "God doesn't like to go"). I fancy myself a pretty open-minded person, and I tend towards a laissez-faire attitude about most things, but I've actually got an opinion I'm comfortable with voicing on this one. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't kind of glad that people like this think I'm evil. If not being anti-abortion in ALL cases, no exceptions, and if not telling 9-year-olds that they are horrible, awful sinners, and if not believe Harry Potter is of the devil makes me wrong, then I don't want to be right (go....cliché!).
Also: after seeing this film, I finally get why Giuliani and Romney are campaigning so far to the right (although: bad move to win overall, which is just further proof that our primaries and bipartisan system just result in two candidates that no one much likes in turn resulting in ultra-low voter turnout) , but then, it's abundantly clear that Romney will never win the Republican nomination with this kind of crazy controlling the party.
Best part of the film: the preview for
Made in Jamaica. It comes out in a couple of weeks and THAT is one I'm excited to see, and not only because I won't leave the theater thinking about people calling Bush the Lord's anointed (literally: heaven forbid).
