Jesus Camp ... Almost Speechless- Part 1

I don't know where to start on this one. This is going to end up like a rant, I can already feel it -my apologies, in advance.

Jesus Camp is an 84-minute documentary that you can't help but wish was a "mockumentary." Within minutes, I had to pause the DVD to get a pen and paper to take notes because I just couldn't keep track of my outrages. By the end of this film, I had over five pages of angering notes and quotes and a stomach that was tied in knots from my disguist. Can this really be happening in "my" America?

One of the main reasons I started this blog was because I could no longer sit idly by as ignorance spreads like wildfire. I watch the "news" in amazement most days. Bewilderment and stereotypes, veiled as facts, passed on to millions of people in this great nation only to fuel prejudice. Arabs and Islam (the two are NOT mutually exclusive by the way) set up as the enemy of America - Public Enemy #1.

Why? Because a majority of the American public perceive Arabs and/or Muslims  to be responsible for 9 -11? Really?!

I think 20 very bad people committed a horrible act. Does that really speak for approximately 375 MILLION Arabs (of which many are Christian and Jewish) or the 1.5 BILLION Muslims (of all races, nationalities, and ethnicities)? I don't think so.

Do those 20 need to be punished?  YES.

Should the terrorist groups be stopped?  YES.

How do we do that? Apparently, we should become LIKE them. Huh?

Jesus Camp focuses on the Evangelical movement/sect of Christianity in America. One of the central "characters" is Becky Fisher, a Pentecostal Children's Minister. While she calls Muslims the "... enemies..." she elaborates on how the Taliban and Al-Qaeda use children by saying that those "... camps are putting hand granades in their hands. They are teaching them how to put on bomb belts. They are teaching them how to shoot rifles ..." She goes on to say that it is an "... intense training ..." and "... that those young people are ready to kill themselves for the cause of Islam."

I disagree with her statement because Islam is not a "cause" it is a faith. One that preaches peace and ethics ... but I digress. I'll leave this issue for another day.

So these camps are, in her own words, what the "enemies" use. Yet, she goes on to say, "I want to see young people as committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as they are committed to the cause of Islam. I want to see them as radically laying down their lives for the Gospel as they are over in Pakistan, Israel, and Palestine because we have, excuse me, but we have the truth."

Hmmm. Did Jesus (pbuh) teach us to mimic our enemies? To be "radical?" I must have missed that day of religious study.

One little girl says, "I feel like we're kind of trained to be warriors."

Levi, a young boy who is one of the main "characters" and wishes to be a preacher says, "A lot of people die for God and stuff. They're not even afraid."

Another little girl says, "There are missionaries and stuff and when they are about to go somewhere dangerous and stuff, people yell 'martyr, martyr.' It is really cool."

Rev. Fisher goes on to preach that "The Apostle Paul said 'make war with them ... this means war.'" The camera pans the audience of children jumping up and down, chanting, speaking in tongues, and with their young faces painted in cameoflauge - like the army. It is a chilling scene. Again, to me, no different than watching a young middle eastern kid on the news.

This isn't "brain-washing?" This doesn't sound like an Al-Qaeda camp? The Taliban? These kids want to be martyrs! They want to not fear death and think dying for the sake of God is "cool." How are they any different from the suicide bombers in the Middle East? Other than they are white and Christians living in America .... um, nothing.

They are still children and young adults, being manipulated and used as pawns in a political game of chess, in which religion is just another weapon in the over all war being waged on the board. Rev. Fisher was even quoted as saying that "... children are usable in Christianity."

"Usable."  "Warriors."  "Martyrs."  "Dying for God."  "We have the truth."

How are these words and phrases above, any different from the ones terrorist groups use?  The same terrorists we're trying to eradicate?

The answer, again, is that they are not!

To be continued ...