"Jesus Camp", is a documentary directed by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing about a Pentecostal summer camp for kids who spend the summer learning and practicing their spiritual gifts and being taught about hot political issues in America. A former coworker, whom shall I say is no fan of the political conservative Christian Right, recommended this documentary to me.
Kids speaking in tongues and prophesying, a ranting Leftist talk-show host, political hot topics such as abortion, separation of Church and State and so forth are all packed into the documentary.
What I want to point out are the obvious refutations in the documentary of the talk-show host from Air America.
Right at the beginning he states, "Up in the pulpit, it's this mean-spirited message,'Us against them' that's what the religious right is doing in the United States now. And it's dividing this country." He continues, "They are being told that George Bush, of all people, is a holy man whose been anointed with the job of creating a Christian society not only in America, but all over the world."
I believe a Christian society would benefit the world over an godless society that's for sure. Two minutes into the documentary, he also stated that he's "been a Christian all his life." Then he would agree with what the Bible says in Romans 13:1 that "EVERYONE must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is NO authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God." Hospitals, Universities, Science, History, feeding and housing the poor, all has it's origin because of the Christian God.
His outcries continue, "There's this entanglement with politics and religion. What kind of lesson is that for our children?" Not to be disrespectful, but that is a moronic statement! It's a GREAT lesson for our children. God established government in the first place. Our politics is driven by our view of the world, our view of reality, our belief...and disbelief.
He also comments "...and (stuttering) you wanna shake'em. And you wanna say, 'What is it about your understanding about the fundamentals of Christianity."
"Shake'em"? Earlier, he was crying out about the mean-spirited message coming from the pulpits of America.
This "life-long" Christian also said, "Our President is still telling Americans that we should teach creationism in our schools. That we should teach it right along side with... with Evolution. Did you hear about what happened in Kansas? That you have to teach Intelligent Design along with Darwin's evolution..."
Wasn't it Darwin who wrote, "To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree." [p. 217, Charles Darwin, 1859. The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
In conclusion, the charismatic Christians in this movie had nothing to hide. The film crew was allowed into their church, into their homes and into their lives. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the "Gifts of the Spirit" is an in-house theological debate and not one that non-Christians would understand.
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