This documentary is filled with so much Evangelical Christian irony I felt physically ill at least three times. I don't think this should have lost the Academy Award to An Inconvenient Truth, because Al Gore is like a billionaire now, and making his money off the same suckers who are appalled by Jesus Camp (except me). Capitalism! In the end, Christianity is war without science. Well, I mean, who actually believes in global warming or evolution anyway?RATING: 90%
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I effing loved Jesus Camp. At the same time, I hated most of what I saw in it. I was literally nauseated a few times, too. That woman is one evil presence onscreen. Deliver Us From Evil was another good documentary from around the same time, this one dealing with the hypocrisy and evils of a different Christian church... (evil, foreboding fanfare) the Catholic Church. *shudder* Anyone see that one?
I thought Jesus Camp was just about the laziest name for a documentary I'd ever heard. Not a bad flick, though.
I've never seen either; I'm kind of scared.
Do any of you know any Catholics who are like, scary and serious about their Catholicism? I don't know any. Where I grew up, everyone was Catholic, but hardly anyone knew the words to the prayers, went to church, cared, believed in God, etc. Is this a Northeastern phenomenon? It always confuses me when people are like, "Whoa, Catholics!" as if they're way more hardcore than the Evangelical Protestants. Like, does anyone really know a Catholic family with a billionty kids because they don't use/believe in birth control? Do these families exist?
Yeah, Jesus Camp was super-super well put together -- but it falls under the category of docs that are less objective and more subjective. How on Earth are Americans more scared of external hate-forces than internal ones?
PS - HateForce is a comic book that Glenn and I will write.
Some of the Catholics I knew in high school were pretty scary.
But you can always find large groups of religious zealots from every sect. Anywhere. Obviously people tend to spend more time with people who share similar beliefs (and perhaps that's even regional).
I think that explains that kind of phenomenon more than anything.
Loco: Ohhhhhhh you'd better believe I know some "scary and serious" Catholics. One in particular is a Papist who believes Latin mass should be brought back, and who often takes "Which saint are you?" quizzes on Facebook. He sometimes writes his status updates in Latin, too (though I probably shouldn't talk since I do mine in Spanish sometimes). He's a nice guy, though, and he doesn't push his agenda on others too badly, except for his pro-life (anti-choice?) agenda. He's hardcore about that.
My mom's a pretty hardcore Catholic, too. She did not react kindly at first to Phur and me getting married outside of the Catholic church. It got kind of ugly. It's weird seeing my fairly liberal parents subscribe to a religion that's so far to the right politically.
And yes, I know of some families on whom Monty Python's "Every Sperm Is Sacred" song was probably based. There aren't as many as there used to be, but they're still around.
In addition to myself, I know at least a half dozen other recovering ex-Catholics. Deliver Us From Evil will not convince anybody to convert anytime soon, either.
If I were a reviewer here, I would probably have some choice words about Catholicism.
Wow. Also after I posted this, I read a story by a professor of mine about a big scary Catholic family across the street. I guess they're out there. I'm sorry you're in recovery! Everyone I know I guess was born lapsed...
That little kid reminded me of every scary "the devil is reborn as a child" movie ever made. Seriously, I think he is the antichrist. Scary little bastard.
My favorite line in the film is when the little kid tells the attractive girl at the bowling alley, "Jesus just wants to love on you." (Sounds so dirty.)
I'm going to see the new Harry Potter movie this summer even though the woman in Jesus Camp told me that "Warlocks are God's enemy."
Those damn Warlocks will get you every time.
One thing I didn't like about this movie was that it reminded me exactly of going to high school in Lake City, Florida. I was told I was going to hell at least once a day when I lived there.
I had to go to mass and Catechism until I was 13. The Catholics are pretty backward, but they're less aggressively ignorant than their cornfed evangelical shitpoke counterparts. More likely to write the Divine Comedy or paint the Sistine Chapel too.
Of course, there's that whole diddling the altar boys thing. And they're probably hoarding like 1/3 of the world's priceless archaeological treasures over there in the Vatican. Still, I'd take The Da Vinci Code over Left Behind any day of the week.
Hehehe... "diddling"...
You're right, though, about Catholics not being as loud about their views as some other churches. In fact, it seems the Catholic Church has quite a history of keeping things quiet...
Still, the your point about The Divine Comedy and the Sistine Chapel are good ones. Aesthetically speaking, I've gotta hand it to the Catholic Church.
"The only good thing ever to come out of religion was the music."
-George Carlin
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