MovieChat Forums > Jesus Camp (2006) Discussion > Just wondering what the motive of people...

Just wondering what the motive of people watching this movie is

posted 10 years ago by icyharris-539-169904
31 replies | jump to latest

I watched some of it because I was intrigued by the title and wanted to see how Christians were depicted. I didn't even make it past the first third because I saw where it was going. Invariably, these documentaries pick the most extreme of the Christian world. Hopefully, no one on these boards thinks that's how all of Christendom thinks and behaves. Where are the documentaries on people like the missionary I used to support who provides relief to Haitians who have been through numerous natural disasters? Or the people from a local church who went down and did clean up work during the tornado season of 2012? Or the woman in Atlanta who opened a rescue mission to get girls out of the sex trade and to help them finish their education and learn valuable job skills? There are all sorts of good that people are doing in the faith community, but you wouldn't think it by these movies.

[–] CapnKaos 9 years ago

As a life long atheist I simply was curious as to what kind of movie this would be. I found it disturbing and while I realize there are loads of moderate Christians out there that don't subscribe to this, the people in this movie are the ones with the loudest voices and the ones that vote the most.

The greatest enemy these people have are the so-called moderates. The only problem is they need to get up off their butts and speak out against these extremists.

[–] splumer 9 years ago

Those people weren't shown because that's not what this doc was about. This camp didn't teach kids to go out and do good deeds, it taught them to fear God. People can do good things without being religious.

[–] jtmichaelson 9 years ago

My motive to watch this was to educate myself about a side of life I don't understand. This documentary intrigued me, scared me, disturbed me and made me ask more questions than it answered.

I fear many religions and this one did nothing to ease my mind.

[–] DwightFry 9 years ago

You must have missed the beginning of the movie, when a man identifying himself as a Christian calls the radio station denouncing the camp thing as harmful. Rationally-minded Christians WERE depicted.

This is not my signature. This is IMDb's automatic translation of my signature.

[–] generationofswine 9 years ago

It does say, on the cover, that it is about extremism

[–] !!!deleted!!! (28128673) 9 years ago

In a political discussion about what constitutes the "American Taliban," this movie came up repeatedly.

[–] Kiririn 9 years ago

I think it's fairly obvious to the viewer that this is extreme Christianity. Mike (the commentator) himself is a Methodist and provides a sort of counterargument to the evangelical side of the film.

[–] puirt-a-beul 9 years ago

Where are the documentaries on people like the missionary I used to support who provides relief to Haitians who have been through numerous natural disasters? Or the people from a local church who went down and did clean up work during the tornado season of 2012? Or the woman in Atlanta who opened a rescue mission to get girls out of the sex trade and to help them finish their education and learn valuable job skills?

But are these people doing work like that solely because of their beliefs, or because that's the nature of their spirit? There are plenty of people doing similar work who have no religious beliefs at all, and similarly I've met many pious Christians who would screw you out of your last dollar without even blinking.

There are all sorts of good that people are doing in the faith community, but you wouldn't think it by these movies.

This documentary is about what some people do in the name of religion; it doesn't claim that's all there is.

You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

[–] coolspot18 8 years ago

You have to remember the time period in which this documentary was made - it was the height of Christian fundamentalism, middle of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. This documentary is a product of its time.