My spiritual cold shower

I feel that I've been remiss in my duties as a UU Blogger. I haven't had much to say lately that one could consider spiritual. (I know that some UU's consider things like hiking in the woods and getting back to nature "spiritual", but that hasn't been my own experience...yet anyway.)

I have to admit there is a reason for this. About a month ago we received the movie Jesus Camp as part of our Blockbuster Total Access membership. It had a deep and profound effect on me in a way that I don't think was at all positive. It kind of served as a cold shower to cool the flames of my newfound passion for Christianity.

I was disturbed by the way the beautiful message of love that Jesus taught has been twisted so severely into a hateful "us vs. them" mentality. I was also really upset by the way they are indoctrinating the young who are still in their formative stage with a message so based on intolerance. I really have trouble understanding how they can believe that Jesus, were he here today, would advocate this movement. I look at the woman who leads this "Jesus Camp" and shake my head at some of the things she says. But then I see the young children being so emotionally stirred while those emotions are tied very closely with their philosophy. It is no wonder that some people grow up to be like the camp leader when they are taught these things and make an emotional investment at such a young and impressionable age. It literally made my chest ache to watch the young girl who so desperately wanted to convert people because she'd been told it was the right way to be and couldn't seem to understand the reaction of the people on the street who resisted her. Yikes.

That movie jarred me. I noticed that after watching that movie, there were subtle differences in my life. For a long time now I've listened to contemporary Christian radio in the van when I'm running errands. Most of the music really moves me. I'm not terribly connected to the ones that focus on life after death, but the ones that celebrate God's presence in life speak to me. But the talk between the songs really puts me off. I've noticed when they do their "news", they always give three stories. The first two are what I would consider real news items about something going on in the world. The third is always Christian in nature and has a tone of "look how good we are" to them. Lots of reports of missionaries in other countries "spreading The Word" and bringing people to Christ. Or it's about some Christian group overcoming political obstacles like abortion laws, etc. It is so obviously propaganda that it always bothered me. Now I cannot even listen to the station. It feels like part of the Jesus Camp machine. I've gone back to listening to Radio Disney.

I think what upsets me about this movie the most is the fear that the average Joe American may watch this and think that the people in this movie represent what it means to be a Christian. While there are many people who fall into this category, I am finding more and more people who consider themselves Christian but are appalled at this kind of behavior. Jesus came to tell us that the very most important thing is to love God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself. If you let that be the guiding principle of your life, how can you belong to a group that says the majority of humans on earth are doomed for eternity? How can you believe in a God who would do that to his creation? I just can't get my mind around it.

Anyway, I was so bothered by this that I had to take a figurative step back for a little while to take a breather.