1:10 pm - Sunday, Feb. 18, 2007
\"Jesus Camp\"/\"The Weather Man\"

Just finished watching the documentary Jesus Camp on dvd.

It was one of the most disturbing things I've seen in years.

(The movie follows children being indoctrinated in the faith--and politics--of right-wing, evangelical Christianity.)

Now-disgraced former Evangelical leader Ted Haggerd (sp?) has a cameo in the movie, and makes perhaps the most chilling comment, of many chilling comments, in the movie--"If the evangelicals vote, that determines the election".

And why would that bother me, you might ask? Why would I find that "chilling"?

Because, in a nutshell, I think evangelical, right-wing Christians and what they believe are unequivocally, categorically not what America is about, or what it ever should be about.

(And I know--I write as if they haven't already been ruling the country for the past number of years. But I still have some faith left in our ability to "course-correct", and hope that's what just what happened in this past election.)

And I'm not a Christian, but I think other Christians should be appalled--horrified, even--that this is the "Christianity" that gets the lion's share of the press, and has the lion's share of political influence.

("Jesus wept" indeed...)

(I could write an entire entry just on my feelings about what I feel is the use, abuse, and brainwashing of defenseless children for political/religious purposes, but I think you're probably getting a good sense of where I stand on the matter, so I'll spare you further ranting.)

(The movie follows "Dave Spritz", a Chicago weatherman who's going through a pretty bad existential crisis.)

I'm not sure exactly when it came out (2004? 2005?), but I know it crashed and burned at the box office, and watching it yesterday, I completely understand why: In this day and age, the message (At least the one I came away with) that you stumble around trying to find some meaning and purpose, but life doesn't work out the way you'd planned and you just have to deal with it, seems downright un-American.

Who wants that kind of reality at the movies? How do you market that?

The movie was too big to be an "art movie", and too downbeat to be "mainstream".

And maybe because of that, I was really intrigued: It was something I felt I hadn't seen before (And the older I get, and the more I see, the harder that feeling is to come by).

And beyond the novelty of "seeing something I hadn't seen before", I just found it a thought-provoking film; it left me thinking about my own life, and finding that balance between trying to make your life go the way you want it to, and having to roll with things when it doesn't.

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