Jesus Camp Speaks More of Society than Fanatical Religion
Published January 05, 2008
The more hateful parents among us are protected by the ever-persistent idea that the welfare of someone else’s kid is no one else’s business. As long as they aren’t caught violating the law with regard to their child, it's all good. We can suspect all we want and we can point to signs in the child's behavior as indications of a problem until we're blue in the face, but until that child says something or there is a visible, physical sign of harm, the elephant in the middle of the room will continue to be the child who flinches from touch or touches everyone, who reacts to situations with an inappropriate amount of anger or defensiveness, or who cries for no apparent reason.
Society (to include parents) does not support the role of parents or the practice of parenting. It treats its children with minimal regard, and then wonders how it ends up with so many troubled adults. It would shun the likes of the Jesus Camp parents without certain knowledge of where their own child is at this precise moment, who they’re with, or in some cases that they’re even gone.
It would appear that Betty Fischer loves children as much as she loves God. She’s giving children tools and they are taking them because they are, before she gets there, tool-less. She may not care about children with our standard of what is right, and it can be reasonably argued that what she’s teaching children is fundamentally wrong, but her passion and her position are worth our notice. She got to the children first.
I would submit that we let adults do what they may with other adults as long as it falls within the law; but children? Outgunning the rest of society with the amount of time, money, and energy they’re willing to invest, Betty Fischer and her followers and the enemy she names (the Nation of Islam) are getting their message through to their children: We care about you.
From unprotected crosswalks and vending machine lunch programs to a lack of health insurance for every child and the release of child sexual predators from prison, the rest of society’s children are hearing the rest of us loud and clear: We don't really care about you at all.
Diana (nee Gulick) Hartman is the Culture and Tastes Editor for Blogcritics.org. She is a freelance writer, mother of three, and a (Ret.) US Marine spouse. She is a Wichita, Kansas native, having also lived in the California desert, Southern California, and eastern North Carolina. She currently resides for the second time in Stuttgart, Germany. She is a contributing writer to Holiday Writes.
- Jesus Camp Speaks More of Society than Fanatical Religion
- Published: January 05, 2008
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Culture
- Filed Under: Culture: Family and Relationships, Culture: Religion, Culture: Society, Politics: Law and Rights, Video: Documentary
- Writer: Diana Hartman
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Diana,
I saw Jesus Camp several months ago. I found it most disturbing. They are in fact training those children to be warriors for Jesus. The militant approach they take is tantamount to brainwashing. Young minds are the easiest to mold, and as they grow into adulthood, they will be much more difficult to change. Most of them will be dyed in the wool "true believers" upon reaching their majority. That what we - atheists, agnostics and other less ardent christians - likely would look upon as mental and emotional abuse is, unfortunately, considered by their parents to be none of our business.
Obviously, coming between a parent and his or her children is a dicey proposition. Defining just when active, concerned parenting becomes abuse is difficult at best. There are people for a number of reasons have no business having or raising kids. But, in a supposedly free society restricting parenthood smacks of an authoritarian or even totalitarion society, which we find repugnant. Given several historical precedents, the government certainly cannot be assumed to provide better child rearing skills than a child's natural parents. Government or other outside intervention in some instances such as that illustrated in Jesus Camp might be preferable, but very difficult to pull off.
Baritone
I just saw Jusus Camp for the first time this weekend. The movie is scary for anyone who is not an Evangelical Christian. While I do not agree with everything you wrote, I agree that the movie is indicative of American Culture. When I was growing up in Colorado, radical Christians were around but they were a fringe group not to be taken seriously and easily ignored. Now, living in the heartland again after a 9 year absence, the landscape has changed. Now it is hard to hear a point of view other than the radical religious right. Now it is impossible to ignore them because, as the woman in the movie says, their goal is total domination. More moderate voices have been silenced. The more moderate churches are dwindling in the shadow of the mega-churches.
i appreciate that the makers of Jesus Camp let the people interviewed do all the talking; over all, there is some truth in this flick as long as it's taken with a grain (or maybe a bucket) of salt
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While I do not agree with some of your perpectives, you have the key points lined up. The parent is the teacher of the child, and if the parent allows someone to "get to the kid first" with an intelligent upbringing, that parent can no longer be heard to whine about society. The first society the child knows is mommy and daddy. If mommy and daddy don't care, SOMEONE ELSE WILL. Children are a valuable commodity, and the parent who cannot see even this is truly a fool who deserves to lose his child to a sick culture.