God's Next Army

[kat_lair]

So, Friends in the UK, who saw tonight's Channel 4 documentary about the Patrick Henry College - a fundamentalist Christian "university" dedicated to educating the future leaders of  USA? And Friends in the US or elsewhere, are you aware of this and what's your opinion?

I am just... horrified and sad but not surprised. I have a Christian background and count myself as fairly spiritual person. But when religion becomes this organised, this manipulative, this absolute, it stops being about faith and becomes about power and control.

Most of all I felt so bad for these students in the College, most of them completely home-educated, kept totally apart from any mainstream cultural influences, not given any chance for independent thought. One of these children (they may be 18/19 but that is what they are, brainwashed children) earnestly compared the last US election and the issues debated within it (mainly abortion and homosexuality) to a 'battle between light and darkness'. The young women were saying things like "The God has given me these talents to serve him until the right guy comes along and then it is my duty to serve him" and "One thing that I have come to realise is that women are just not suited for higher leadership positions" - 150 years of feminism down the drain.

I don't know wherther to laugh or cry. At the moment I'm leaning towards the latter. Any thoughts?

Comments

[nausica2.livejournal.com]

Other than scared?

Haven't seen this documentary, but I have seen others similar. I'm not sure how big the number of people who think like this is, but the problem is that they get to be very influential in the country that has the most power in the world. And it affects all of us who live elsewhere.

I have seen similar things in ultra-catholic groups in here (Opus Dei being the best example) and it is like being in a cult. No critical thinking, no options, mind games...

Scary. :(

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

I don't know the exact numbers but I know they're growing. You're right, it *is* scary. Evangelist Christians in the US (and to a smaller degree elsewhere) are organised and ambitious. They are looking to fill all the influential positions with people who will use them to push the extreme conservative agenda. And in the US they are well on their way to succeeding.

[drunkenfop.livejournal.com]

Dude, this does strike me as being very, very scary. I'm also a Christian and just recently had an interview applying for a job in a small evangelical community doing youth work and I have to admit I'm a little worried about the Stigma against that kind of thing nowardays, but then you hear about terrible backward thinking places like that, and it's hard to see how Religion can not be stigmatized

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

Fundamentalism in any form is bad, because life is not clear cut or black and white. You cannot *make* someone believe anything and I have always just resented people who try to force their beliefs (whatever they may be) on others. It does not work and is counter-productive.

But it is scary how backwards some corners of Christianity still are. There was a documentary about women priests in the Anglican Church maybe a year ago and I remember just getting so angry at watching the people spew out their stupid sexist attitudes. I know women both in Finland and here in the UK who work for the church, some of them ordained priests, and the stories they tell... Even in this day and age it is a constant battle to be acknowledged and accepted in that line of work.

[moth1.livejournal.com]

I forgot to watch it but my friends are discussing it anyway. Fundamentalists of any creed scare me so much! And the idea that they are deliberately targeting government jobs is even worse.Definitely tend towards crying. We have worked so hard for feminism, anti-racism, tolerance, and so did our parents and grandparents.

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

I agree, it is the cold calculated way they are going about it. It's like something out of a bad conspiracy theory but jeesh! I guess it just means we have to be more vocal about equality and tolerance.