I Like You

The other day I watched “Jesus Camp.” I need a hug.

(“Jesus Camp” is a documentary about charismatic evangelicals who send their grade school aged children to evangelism camp to learn how to take America back for Jesus.)

There were a few times during the film that I almost moved toward the remote to turn it off — mainly because I find the story so frustrating and depressing that I almost couldn’t handle watching the whole thing.

Since I was raised in an evangelical movement, worked in a huge evangelical church for five years  and am currently serving on the elder board of our little church, one might assume that I would feel defensive of the Christian parents and clergy depicted in the film, or that I might feel angry toward the filmmakers for choosing an angle that makes these parents look ignorant or foolish. But actually, my angst while watching the film was much more directed toward the evangelical movement, or at least the fringes of it.

My main beef with the world view of these folks is the philosophy that (1) from its inception, America was always meant to be a Christian nation, (2) it has strayed from those original tenets over the years, and (3) we as believers are therefore called to take America back for Jesus.

These are the people that are still mad about prayer being taken out of schools, who think the Ten Commandments ought to remain posted in civic buildings, who think George W is God’s man for America and everything he does is guided by the hand of God, and who homeschool their children to make sure they know that global warming is just a farce perpetuated by the liberal media.

I don’t take issue with these Good Christian People’s right to believe as they do, or worship as they do.  My beliefs are similar to theirs in many ways, and I admire their commitment to doing what they believe is the right thing.

The thing that really burns my toast is that these children are being raised without the ability to use critical thinking, ask questions, and engage with others whose beliefs are different from theirs. Some of these moms are homeschooling their kids because they don’t want them to learn anything about evolution or global warming — as if by drilling creationism into their heads they will prevent their children from ever encountering another explanation for the world. Wouldn’t it be better to help your kids dialogue with culture and science and politics in age appropriate ways, and help them begin to develop a respect for conversation and for other people’s views?

I wanted to jump out of my skin when a whole evening at evangelism camp featured a speaker who came to talk about abortion. He whipped these nine years olds into a frenzy as they wept and shouted “No more!” while holding little pink plastic babies in the palms of their hands. Again, not that these kids shouldn’t be taught about abortion and other moral issues of the day, but why in the #@*! didn’t anyone teach these kids anything about the poor, the fatherless and the widow? Or better yet, include them in a hands-on project to serve those less fortunate? Jesus talked about the poor more than anything else, and exhorted us to show compassion, but somehow we are more interested in being outraged about other people’s lives and fixating on one issue instead of doing something productive to serve the poor or provide comfort to those who are suffering.

These parents are revved up to turn their children into an army of soldiers to go out and take the world by storm through the use of gospel tracts. What kind of delusional world are they living in? We are living in a post-Christian culture. It’s going to take a lot more than a stapled mini-comic book bursting with pat answers and truisms to get your average agnostic or skeptic to consider the lordship of Jesus.

Watching a sweet, wide-eyed and zealous little girl march up to a friendly but uncomfortable stranger at a bowling alley and hand her a tract, announcing that God loves her and wants to save her, triggered memories of youth retreats I attended as a middle schooler. We were lured to the event with the promise of skiing at the mountain or sunning on the beach, but once we were there we were tasked with approaching a certain number of strangers, engaging them in a brief and stilted conversation and eventually presenting them with the four spiritual laws booklet. We were supposed to report back to the group afterward about how many people we talked to and whether or not we “succeeded” by leading any of them through the Sinner’s Prayer. Ugh. Just the thought of it leaves a palpable knot in my stomach.

I hated the approach back then and I find it just as distasteful today. It’s not that this “stranger evangelism” doesn’t ever work or is evil at its core, but I find that it almost always feels awkward at best, and disrespectful at worst, to the unsuspecting stranger who is being evangelized on the ski lift. I just don’t think this is the best we have to offer the world, as followers of Jesus. We can do better.