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Tuesday, 03 April 2007 14:42 |
 | | Marc Mullinax |
ìTrain up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.î
ó Proverbs 22:6
ï
MARS HILL ó The ìJesus Campî video is out on DVD, and you should watch it.
If you are a strong believer in Christian faith and its supremacy of truth over all worldly forms, you may well find a cogent representation of your belief system in this documentary.
Strong skeptics, non-evangelicals and moderate and liberal Christian believers may be shocked at this exposÈ. Youíll need some aid to close your dropping jaw for this 80-minute film.
If
you are an observer of the American religious scene, or you embrace a
sociological or psychological worldview, you will be fascinated at the
non-scripted, unrehearsed and spontaneous expression of religious
fervor in ìJesus Camp.î
No one will find
the documentary entirely enjoyable, but all should find satisfying food
for thought in this A&E video. Iíve seen the video twice recently
and find myself tripping over it as I teach, talk with others, or just
stay quiet at home. Itís burned a strong after-image in the frame
through which I view the world.
The video is the
interplay between an Assemblies of God childrenís minister, Becky
Fischer, and a Christian radio talk show host. The two do not agree on
how children are to be ìusedî in Christian ministry. (The minister
herself says kids ìare so usable in Christianity.î)
The video
follows three kids between nine and 12 years old as they prepare for a
week at a Bible camp in North Dakota and what happens to them and their
friends in that week. It then follows the three for a few months as
they visit key evangelical leader Ted Haggard and the Supreme Court to
lobby dramatically against abortion.
The section where an effigy of George Bush is brought out is ... compelling video. Itís already on YouTube.
The three
children are amazingly cogent about their faith, but one can
legitimately wonder if the three truly own their words and actions, or
if they are mimicking expected behavior modeled by adult mentors (a
question for child psychologists). I still speculate about this
question.
This video
teases out human-nature ideas: Are human beings essentially malleable
and shapable into just about any kind of behavior mold? (See the
Milgram Experiment and ìObedience to Authorityî by psychologist Stanley
Milgram.)
If we are, might
children be especially susceptible to authority? For example, when
Becky Fischer ordered, ìWeíll now pray in tongues,î what is a kid in a
group to do? What might a kid who does not ó or cannot ó pray in
tongues do?
No one can
contest that leaders of children have extraordinary responsibility
vis-‡-vis their charges. Jesus himself said that whoever harms children
should be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around their neck.
ìNothing you do
to children is ever wasted,î Garrison Keillor said. Whatever we put
into them ó good or ill ó will be salted away. Itíll all come back, or
out. An acquaintance, a former fundamentalist, who watched this movie
said, ìThese kidsíll need lots of therapy.î Perhaps. Perhaps not.
The strength of
the documentary is its captured moments of children involved in fervent
religious faith. The filmmakers provide a window into a world most of
us know little about. But while they provide on-screen analysis of the
conservative political values the adults promote in their evangelizing,
they provide little perspective on what is≠≠ ó and is not ó evangelical.
The video tells
us: ìThereís a new brand of religion out there, something other than
Matthewís gospel and the Sermon on the Mount.î
Does this video
document the formation of a future generation of Christian soldiers, or
does it establish the brainwashing of the innocent?
That question Iíll leave to you, hoping youíll view this video for your own conclusions.
ï
Dr. Marc S.
Mullinax, chairman of the philosophy and religion departments at Mars
Hill College, can be reached at mmullinax-at-mhc.edu.
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