Outchurched

ABC has a video reporting on Jesus Camp:

I’ve never felt, at any point, that we’ve been exploited.
- Pastor Becky Fisher

Fisher has also been cited as believing that the movie could be used as an evangelistic tool.

People who see Jesus Camp should not come away with the idea that evangelizing to youth means indoctrination.
attributed to Chap Clark from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Pushing religious dogma and a political agenda down the throats of kids who have “itching ears” isn’t indoctrination? Would Clark suggest that “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength?” (the Freedom is Slavery meme is already common in Christianity already, so Clark certainly should be asserting that part if he takes the Apostle Paul’s writings seriously/literally).

Crooks and Liars has a still shot from the movie of a cardboard cutout of President George W. “Third Awakening” Bush in front of an American Flag (visit the Crooks and Liars post on Jesus Camp to see the image.)

Tangent:

CrewCreative is a smart marketing company. They forwarded me links to the following clips (which we all have permission to post/share). This is one of the first times I’m received marketing materials that I was actually interested in, and I could write multiple paragraphs about how smart it is to embrace bloggers who are interested in your product. I’m more than happy to share the following clips, as they’re remarkably relevant to the discussion we’re having here at Outchurched.

An extended clip of Becky Fisher, the Youth Camp’s pastor:

An extended clip of one of the campers, Tori, talking about “dancing from the flesh.”

It’s very obvious, listening to the clip, that Tori is fluent in Christianeese, and struggles to work towards the ideals about Jesus that she’s been presented. Tori is obviously very receptive to the teaching she’s received, and should be commended for trying to understand and work for the Gospel. The adults who have indoctrinated, her, however should be held responsible for their reprehensible actions.

Very little of what I’ve heard in these clips is “new” to me. I’ve heard these kinds of statements (and some… perhaps more shocking than these) from kids in youth group, youth camps, etc., for years. Why this is especially relevant and shocking now is that we’re seeing the Extremist Christian Right follow in the path of Extremist Islam. We’re seeing a shift from this being merely Christianized rhetoric to being a national movement to replace Democracy. We all, Christian and non-Christian alike need to stop this growing evil.

I’d like to remind you that Outchurched is offering to pay for your ticket to see Jesus Camp. Please take us/me up on this limited offer. I will be attending the Sept. 29th showing in San Francisco. Please come just us, and post your thoughts about the movie (once you’ve seen it) here on Outchurched.

How do we find common ground between Christians and non-Christians to work together to stop this kind of extremism? How do we overturn the efforts and successes of Religious Extremists and restore Democracy in America? Let’s have a reasonable conversation about this.

This entry was posted by Rev. Dan on Monday, September 18th, 2006 at 6:26 pm and is filed under Dominionism, Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.