Friday, November 10, 2006

Jesus, what a Fallout!

Does anyone else feel like the earth has suddenly reversed its orbit in the last week or so? Or, at the very least, slowed its downward spiral? First the Foley scandal, then Ted Haggard’s “outing,” the election results, and resignation of Rumsfeld… suddenly so many liberals have hope, in what seemed just a few months ago like a dismal Bushocracy.
When the documentary film, Jesus Camp, hit theaters a couple of months ago, people everywhere, of all religions, rose up and decreed it a shining example of everything that is wrong with conservatism in America. And the movie itself dispels any hope the viewer has that Evangelicals are a small, powerless subset of America. The now infamous Ted Haggard states that there are 30 million Evangelical Christians in America, and if they vote, they win the election. Scary thought, especially given the kind of Bush-worshipping fanaticism the movie portrays.
No one is claiming that “Jesus Camp” represents all Evangelicals (thank God), but the images conjured up in the film have lead people to respond with claims of “brainwashing,” “child abuse,” and even drawn parallels to Nazi boot camps. Several months of this outcry has lead to the closing of Pastor Becky Fischer’s “Kids on Fire” summer camp.
I am shocked, given the “what are you gonna do about it” zeal exhibited by Fischer. But I can’t say that I am not a little relieved. Perhaps there is hope for our little nation yet.

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