Charissa DeLuca- Jesus Camp

The video Jesus Camp demonstrated strong views of religion in politics from many different “sides” or forms of belief. The radio announcer stated that there is a “new brand of religion” in our country: one with the entanglement of politics and religion. He then goes on to ask “what kind of message is that for our children”? When I heard this I was taken aback and wondered why it mattered so much that religion had a hold in politics. After watching the rest of this video however, I came to the realization that religion within politics may not be such a great idea after all. The idea that Jefferson put forth about the separation of church and state seems to be the best way to handle politics still today. As we saw in the video when religion is brought into a political arena, the message that is trying to be portrayed gets tangled up and causes uproar for some. I was very surprised when the children were told to destroy the government (crushing the cup) because it was an enemy of God. This was strange to me because the children were then taught that it was important to get into politics. This can be seen when the children’s minister is teaching them about abortion and how they can get hold of the political reigns and put an end to it. I was confused by these teachings because earlier in the video the minister was talking about keeping politics and religion separate but later on she states that she is teaching kids how to get into a position of power in order to teach the world about what is “right”, and that “children don’t learn anything by choice”. She basically states that she is creating an army to take over the world and press her beliefs onto everyone else. The final conversation between the minister and the radio announcer brought into light just how difficult it is to keep religion and politics separate but also how crucial it is to the way America is run today.