NO, this is not about children abused or ridiciously spoiled by their parents. The pictures are from the documentary "Jesus Camp" from 2006. It is not exactly a new movie, but is has proven to become even more relevant in the light of the coming presedential election in the US this fall.
A BRIEF recap for those of you who haven't got to see it yet:
"Jesus Camp" is a portrait of the Evangelical movement in the US, which has approximately 80 million followers. They are a very conservative christian movement who believe in the Creation Theory (as opposite to Darwin's Evolutionary Theory). They also believe that their faith is the ONLY way to go about life (when asked why?; well,... it just is!) and they are against abortion. Furthermore, they encourage their children to become political active, so they can change the system from inside.
THE documentary revovles around a camp, called "Kids on Fire", arranged for the children in the movement and their parents. At this camp they are prepared to sacrifice their life, kill Harry Potter if they ever should meet him in person, and do whatever they can, so they one day can become people who are able to change the American political system in a conservative direction.
EVERYBODY should be surprised by the massive brainwashing of their children this movement is pulling off the first time they see this film. But I am really surprised by all the little hints throughtout the film about how deeply involved this movement is with the Bush administration and the Republican Party in general.
THIS influence was previously managed by pastor Ted Haggart, founder of The New Life Church, who had a weekly meeting with the advicers in the White House and sometimes George Bush himself. I guess they didn't discuss the weather, though Bush is known to prefer simple subjects.
UNFORTUNATELY, Ted Haggart had to resign in 2006 after it was revealed that he had been engaged in a homosexual relationship with an intellectual prostitute called Mike Jones. And just to pep things up a little, he also admitted having an metaamphetamin abuse. So, of course, Ted had to go. But rest assure, the connecting between the Republican Party and the Evangelical movement did just fine without him. It happens to be, that the Republican Party really, really likes all the dirty voting they know the evangelical pastors around the country can deliver, so the rather conservative christians are welcomed, as one of 3 guests, in the republican social and debate club every wednesday in Washington. This is basically where the "concerned" republicans meet to discuss how to win the next election, how to win the nasty wars they have started, and what to do about those cheesy democrats.
BESIDES the Evangelical Church, also knows as the conservative christians, the republican discussion/social club is attended by the ultra-right-wing conservatives, who thinks that a tax cut down to 0% tax would be appropiate, and the "Warmongers", who generally think that war is the natural state of the world and the most wise solution to every man made problem on this planet (either because they have money bound in the massive military industrial complexes, or simply because they are in love with guns...). In other words, this has been a really a nice place for the republicans to talk about their favourite subject over the past years. Did anybody notice this in the foreign policy?
WHAT could make some of us a little nervous, is the fact that the size of the evangelican movement in the US has risen from 26,3% of the US population in 2004 to 28,6% in 2007. They are not all just as conservative as the ones you see in "Jesus Camp", but overall the number of voters guided more or less be their believe and local pastors are on the rise. This will of course play a role in the upcoming election.
IF you are interested I would recommend watching "Jesus Camp" or maybe even read "The Looming Tower" by Lawrence Wright to get a historical perspective on religious fanatiscm.
If you have any comments, please feel free to post them. By the way, this is the "woman" playing with those kids above:
Keep your eyes open and for Gods sake, VOTE!
;)
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