The Invisible Library

David Byrne has a blog. What’s more, he recently reviewed a documentary called Jesus Camp, about summer camps where the Am Taliban indoctrinates children:

There were some perfect sound bites — at one point Pastor Fischer instructs the little ones that they should be willing to die for Christ, and the little ones obediently agree. She may even use the word martyr, which has a shocking echo in the Middle East. I can see future suicide bombers for Jesus — the next step will be learning to fly planes into buildings. Of course, the grownups would say, “Oh no, we’re not like them” — but they admit that the principal difference is simply that “We’re right.”

In another scene a cardboard cutout of George W. Bush, with his trademark smirking smile, is brought out and the children are urged to identify — many of the little ones come forward and reverently touch his cardboard hands.

I kept saying to myself, “O.K., these are the Christian version of the Madrassas (those Islamic religious instructional schools in Pakistan and elsewhere, often financed by Saudi oil money)…so both sides are pretty much equally sick, there’s a balance.” (Although it must be said the Madrassas provide some regular education and literacy where no other option is available, they do community work that is non-religious…and they take in aimless troubled youth.)

They want to turn the U.S. into the “Christian” version of Iran or Saudi Arabia. A theocracy. The separation between church and state, already shaky with Bush in charge, is under full frontal assault by this bunch — and they are well organized, too. The megachurches tell their parishioners who to vote for, what judges to support, letters to write, and where they should stand on the issues. Well, we all do this to some extent — even in casual chats with friends we attempt to deduce and arrive at a consensus of opinion; a sloppy democratic give-and-take on any number of subjects often gives way to agreement. But this is top-down messaging — no discussion allowed. There’s a scene in the Colorado Springs megachurch run by the Preacher who talks with Bush once a week — same deal as with the kids, only most of the attendees are pliant adults.

People give me weird looks when the topic of conversation turns to American religion and I mention groups like the ones in this film. As if religion is somehow so different once you cross the border into America. we don’t have anti-fundamentalist radar, people and it can happen here and already is. That’s the scary part.

The good news is that there are people who are making these documentaries. People like the gang over at Science Blogs, PZ Myers and the lot, who make it their goal to spread scientific knowledge, to combat this virulent drivel. And, in no small part, that’s part of why I became a Librarian. If I can get someone, anyone to read a book and think a little bit more critically about some of these things, especially children, then maybe we can stop these Jesus freaks from turning the next generation into a bunch of Zombies for Jesus.