I’m watching a documentary called Jesus Camp. It’s focused on the radical indoctrination of children into far right-wing Evangelical Christianity, and it’s deeply offensive to me.

In between vignettes, facts are shown onscreen. One of these is “43% of Evangelical Christians become “born-again” before the age of 13.”

I don’t believe that anyone is capable of making that decision at that age. I came to my religious beliefs after years of search, study, and learning. I believe as I do because I carefully examined myself and how I perceive the world. I didn’t become a Buddhist until I was in my twenties. Children simply do not have the capacity for depth of thought necessary to make these sorts of decisions. This is brainwashing, pure and simple.

I firmly believe that the unexamined life is not worth living. There’s none of that in this style of agressively, belligerantly ignorant Christianity. Prior to opening the camp, the pastor, Becky Fischer, prays over the equipment:

“Father, we pray over the electrical systems, we pray over the electricity, that it will not go out, in Jesus’ name… We speak over the Powerpoint presentations, all of the video projectors, and we’ll say devil, we know what you love to do in meetings like this. And we say you will not in Jesus’ name, you will not prevent this message from going out. No microphone problems, in Jesus’s name. In the name of Jesus, we speak that.”

And then SHE BEGINS TO SPEAK IN FUCKING TONGUES.

That’s clearly not rational thought. These people don’t want religious inspiration. They want a supernatural security blanket that will solve all their problems. I have a real problem with anyone who believes without question or examination. That isn’t faith. That’s abandoning the capacity for rational thought in favor of blind, stupid obedience.

The opinions and lack of intelligence expressed would actually be hilarious (“Had it been in the old testament, Harry Potter would have been put to death!” “Creationism is really the only way to explain everything.”), if not for the fact that these people can vote, hold public office, and purchase handguns.