I am honestly afraid.

Yes, I haven't blogged in a while, but I need to say something about this.

I just finished watching this documentary called "Jesus Camp". For any of you who don't know what this is about, here's the summary from imdb.com:

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?

In my opinion, yes, they are. This film shows several scenes that literally made me shake. One in particular, in which a man came to lecture the children about abortion, and then proceeded to place red tape over their mouths with the word "LIFE" written on it in black marker, and took them to an abortion protest.

At one point, Becky Fischer was speaking with the camera about h ow liberals would react to the documentary, and one thing she had said we would think was "what are these kids going to be like when they grow up?"

She. Was. Right.

But I don't think she was using it in the same context I am right now. I'm not seeing these children growing up as passionate Evangelical Christians, preaching the word of God and converting hundreds of people. I'm seeing this from a very negative perspective. I'm seeing terrorists, people blowing up abortion clinics, burning down buildings, forming cults and leading people to mass suicide for a cause that isn't going to matter 100 years down the road.

Or, they could hit puberty and realize "... this is all bullshit." Which, in my opinion, is worse than the previous possibility. What's going to happen when these kids realize that their entire childhood was stripped away and replaced with intense brainwashing? It could be a number of things, none would be good, at least judging by the way people like this have reacted before. Drug addiction. Depression. Rage. Who the hell knows!

The point is, that this is absolutely sick. The people who are doing this are robbing children of their innocence and trying to turn them into Christian extremists. They're depriving these kids of their childhood and implanting all of these twisted ideals into their heads.

Here are the people who pray to cardboard cut-outs of George Bush.
Here are the people who scream prayers in tongues and convulse on the floors.
Here are the people who approach complete strangers and speak to them of "purging" sinners and accepting Christ into their hearts.

At nine years old.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a Christian, but I do not hold any hostility against Christians. Yes, I am a hardcore liberal, and I am very outspoken about my beliefs. Not only that, but I will gladly lie down in front of a tank to preserve the beliefs of everyone. Not just those that agree with me.

But what these people are doing is sick.












I'm done.