My curiosity is piqued by the review Yawning Bread wrote about this documentary. I am definitely going to catch it in the theatres.
Synopsis take from imdb, written by Ken Miller:
Jesus Camp follows several young children as they prepare to attend a summer camp where the kids will get their daily dose of evangelical Christianity. Becky Fischer works at the camp, which is named Kids on Fire. Through interviews with Fischer, the children, and others, Jesus Camp illustrates the unswerving belief of the faithful. A housewife and homeschooling mother tells her son that creationism has all the answers. Footage from inside the camp shows young children weeping and wailing as they promise to stop their sinning. Child after child is driven to tears. Juxtapose these scenes with clips from a more moderate Christian radio host (who is appalled by such tactics), and Jesus Camp seems to pose a clear question: are these children being brainwashed?
Here’s the trailer if you are curious what it is about:
I am usually not interested in subjects about religions because they alway make free thinkers/people with no religion/atheist (whatever you want to call us) seems superficial and insignificant.
If this documentary is presented in a non-partisan manner, perhaps it can help me get a neutral glimpse into the world view of fundamental Christians. It’s something I have been trying so hard to get a grasp on – having been turned off by ten years of aggressive preaching by the Anglican primary and secondary school I attended.
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It is important to note that not everyone who calls themselves Christians act in ways that their God will approve of. People misinterpret stuff, or let their passions cloud their judgement and do lots of wrong things under the name of religion (like the Crusade).
I myself came from an Atheist background, having been turned off by 4 years of aggressive preaching by the secondary school I attended (which is probably yours too). Recently though, philosophy classes have opened up my mind and I have begun to investigate what religion is all about, and one interesting thing I have discovered is that Christians, as a whole, aren’t a whole. The only thing keeping them together as one faith is the common belief that God wants to save everyone, and has sent Jesus down to die so people can be saved. Everything else about the religion seems to vary so much from Christian to Christian (which is why Christianity split into so many denominations in the first place).
Thus, in conclusion, the only real hard and fast rule is that as a Christian, one has to believe in Jesus. The rest is up to you to follow/interpret. If you don’t like evangelical Christians, then don’t be one. Be the quiet worshipping kind. If people speaking in tongue freaks you out, then don’t go to churches that do that.