MAn....the Holyland part reminded me of Ned Flanders and his two kids!

:D

As a Christian and a regular reader/viewer of 1gm, I'm happy you posted this. It's true, there are a lot of us behind pulpits and microphones (white house podiums, etc.) who shouldn't be, but there are a few who are genuinely interested in showing some kindness in the name of our God and, if you're interested, are happy to tell you about her.

"You don't own me. God does."

Someone saying that is using God as the same thing that most people are using MTV and other hollywood crap for -- Escapism. They've lost their ability to think for themselves, but they realize that the values put forth in the MTV-type culture aren't in agreement with their worldview, so they just switch to whatever does agree.

I don't know whether it's the succinct assertion of the inability to think for themselves or what that's giving me this vibe, but that singular statement is one of the creepiest in this video.

I've been to a big stadium with that huge praising and rock star type of signing you see in this clip.

You really have to visit one to really feel how scary and crazy it is. It is akin to staring into a ocean of zombies. With their eyes closed and hands raised, swaying together.

The one I went to was Liberty University (started by Jerry Falwell himself), where a friend of mine attends.

Beside that daily mass praising you must attend (or you will get 'bad' points which are issued), they also had many archaic rules (not to mention I couldn't smoke any cigarettes) normally to do with the seperation of genders or when, why, where, how long, with whom, you have left campus for.

The area surronding it was pretty bad as well. They didn't sell alcohol past, I believe, 9 p.m. .... sigh

Where is this video from? Seems like a video designed to scare Christians into more action, and in typical fashion it is quite deceptive in its presentation.

At first, i thought this was going to be propaganda, what with the faux-news intro. Then i thought it would be amusing.

Then i realized i was right at first, and that this was a not-so-cleverly concealed evangelical christian effort to raise concern about the plight of christians, while seeming to be charmingly distant from the cause itself.

I'm reminded of hearing Hezbollah's operations in lebanon. While one branch walks amidst the people and tends to their sick and poor, another branch stands amongst the sick and poor and launches rockets at an aggressive enemy, pulling violence down upon the lebanese people.

Thinking on that metaphor, i may be stretching. My point, however, is that large groups of the evangelical movement gather regularly to demonize anyone who disagree with their arguably loony world-view. They use the language of warfare to assert their positions against non-christian and even christian but non-evangelical members of our nation and world and speak of the dire circumstances of our eternal damnation. Meanwhile, groups like those depicted in this movie are shown to be quaint and benevolent, if a bit silly, preachers with big hearts.

So... do they pose a threat? Only in so far as their hostility to women's rights, gay's rights, the plight of the poor, the plight of the poorly educated and the plight of anyone who won't quote their worldviews back to them with a smile and a donation is allowed to influence public policy in this nation. So, if something like.. say.. gay-marriage is ever elevated to the arena of national politics... oh wait.

Yeah, they pose a threat. This well-financed ideological movement must be acknowledged as the powerful organization it is. Whether you support it or oppose it, don't let films like the one posted here convince you that the evangelical are just a fringe group of believers trying to make a difference for their children. they want to draw the battle lines and intimidate YOU into joining their army.

Scariest quote to me: "You don't own me. God does." Why does anyone else have to "own" you Dana? Are you a slave?

deep sad sigh

That guy from the theme park and his "purity ring" sounds effeminate. The poor guy is probably a closeted gay and feels so guilty that he hides in his religion. I'm not saying this to insulting him or anyone, simply think that many people express their fears and anxieties through extreme religion.

Thanks for posting this, Norm. Not sure why people are thinking this is religious propaganda...I don't think having Canadian reporters go to "Holyland" is a great way to convince other Canadians that they need god or whatever.

Oh, and I thought the quick clip before the DaVinci code thing about evolution was funny...it made the same mistake Ted Haggard did when he was interviewed by Dawkins, saying that evolution is random. It amazes me that people who know nothing about evolution can dismiss it so easily!

This sort of behaviour scares me. Seriously.

Andrewfish & Paul,

It's actually not a faux-news episode. I'm curious what info you received that told you it was a Christian propaganda film - As this is a CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) documentary report. Mark Kelly, the guy reporting, is a correspondent for 'The National'.. which is the largest telecast news program in Canada. -- Last month he started a mini-series of documentaries called "7" - where, in each episode, he'd spend 7 days with some different group.....

In case you were wondering.

Andrewfish & Paul,

It's actually not a faux-news episode. I'm curious what info you received that told you it was a Christian propaganda film - As this is a CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) documentary report. Mark Kelly, the guy reporting, is a correspondent for 'The National'.. which is the largest telecast news program in Canada. -- Last month he started a mini-series of documentaries called "7" - where, in each episode, he'd spend 7 days with some different group.....

In case you were wondering.

Oh, it is Canadian! Something about the cheesy ah-shuck-i-nesss of the reporter had me thinking this was more propaganda from TBN or something. In fact it bears a striking resemblence to the TBN fake news.

well to me all I could think of was the whole "Mithras" thing, and if wondered if they really knew where thier book of fairytales originated, lol. They are so closed minded people, they cant even stand to watch the things they are protesting, so, how would they know if its bad or good? If they stop programming their kids at day one, I'm sure they know the religion will fizzle out, the one preacher even said so, so they propagandise everything since childhood, I feel sorry for them, brainwashing is hard to un-do. Its good that there are people in this world who see through all the smoke and mirrors of the new age preachers, and the fairytales of the past , to expose a lie thats plagued the earth for centuries.

"...And then somebody's cellphone rang, and snapped me out of it."

LMAO!!!

Hold me Norm. I'm scared.

Having not done my research, i assumed that this was propaganda created by members of the evangelical movement and being passed off as real news. Instead, it is reportedly (and i've no reason to doubt, although i'm still too lazy to click a few links and verify it) a real news program that fulfills much the same role.

Accepting that this is a segment from a news program, i still assert that it portrays the subject in such a way as to minimize the seriousness of the divisive intent and political clout of the evangelical christian movement in the US.

And, while fully accepting that i was making a false assumption about the origin if not function of this clip, i feel that news reports ought to report facts to the best of the journalists' abilities, with as little color commentary as possible. When the journalist begins to interpret the facts and spin the audience toward their conclusions, it ought to be put into a new category.

perhaps "faux-news propaganda" would work. perhaps just "comedy".

anyway, thanks for the clarification.

I'm scared too Eric. The 3 percent of us here in the U.S. are scared. All the other Americans think that we are delusional, Anti-American or something else...

Awww wtf the host was cynical until the end, besides the jesus thing(wtf)...how the hell did that stupid note convince him of anything? Shes just spouting what they told her....Anyone can find comfort in religion, it doesnt make it true.

Wow. So much to snark at.

I wanted to ask the preacher that was handing out bibles at the porn convention, what do the Christians love? I've heard a lot about what they hate, but not really anything about what they love. His crusade against porn and masturbation is not about love. He said Christians should be working on what they love, and not what they hate, so what do they love?

To the "Jesus", who was complaining about the "ruckus" of gay activists vs religious activists, when was the last time Christians were protesting to get equal rights for themselves? Religion has a well protected status in this country, sexual identity and gender identity do not. It's not just marriage that gay activists want, it's also little things like equal rights to housing, employment, and custody.

I also wanted to point out that music is an under appreciated aspect of this. When the "Jesus" was being crucified in Holy Land, it was combined with some pretty heady music. Sadistic imagery + emotional music = emotional experience, I guess. Music, especially pop music, is an integral part of this new Christianity.

I think the most compelling part of the Christians' pitch comes when they seem to be offering some kind of "significance" to people in the face of pop culture's noise. Unfortunately (for them), what the they actually offer is pure tedium and a twisted morality that places martyrdom and irrationality amongst its highest "virtues".

So while I fervently hope the fundies are correct in believing that their fundamentlist grip is declining rapidly, I also hope that we will succeed in finding some other way to loosen the grip of rampant materialism and triviality in what passes for culture.

I think the most compelling part of the Christians' pitch comes when they seem to be offering some kind of "significance" to people in the face of pop culture's noise. Unfortunately (for them), what the they actually offer is pure tedium and a twisted morality that places martyrdom and irrationality amongst its highest "virtues".

So while I fervently hope the fundies are correct in believing that their grip is declining rapidly, I also hope that we will succeed in finding some other way to loosen the grip of rampant materialism and triviality in what passes for American culture.

Andrewfish, in your first post, the Hezbollah did not pull down violence on the Lebanese people.

In response to a kidnapping Israel First attacked Lebanese civilians and civilian infrastructure nationwide in 2006.

Israel also first kidnapped 2 Arab civilains in 23 June 2006, 1 day before Hamas retaliated and 1 month before the Hezbollah kidnappings by kidnapping ONLY Israeli soldiers. And fighting the Israeli invasion and its soldiers.

Israel focused on attacking Arab civilians indiscriminately. Hence the death toll:

At least 845 Lebanese were killed in the 34-day war: 743 civilians, 34 soldiers and 68 Hezbollah. Israel says it killed about 530 guerrillas. On the Israeli side, 157 were killed — 118 soldiers and 39 civilians, many from the 3,970 Hezbollah rocket strikes. The figures were compiled by The Associated Press, mostly from government officials on both sides.

South Lebanon welcomes country's army 18 Aug 06

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060818/aponremiea/lebanon_israel

Vonmeth, I too have also been to such Evangelical rock show concert masses. And I will like to add to your examples on how people may be uncomfortable with them.

1] Compulsory 10% tithe.

2] Ridiculous name-calling i.e. referring to non-believers and Christians of other denominations as The Lost while urging members to be more sensitive to others.

3] Reliance on big name Christian celebrities to pull in the crowd for entertainment, rather than real enlightenment.

The girl at the end of the show said something about MTV destroying her life. my question is, if she hates MTV so much,why not just stop watching MTV and listening to rap music? Could it be because the ultimate goal is for christians to push their own life philosophy and that the materialist culture that MTV represents is a direct competitor?

Whats really funny is that MTV is winning. Companies spend millions trying to figure out what people actually like, and then market those products to consumers (I mean people :) Christians on the other hand have a dogmatic point of view that they try to cram down people's throats. its not all that hard to see who is going to win here, and as much as I hate MTV, I dislike christianity even more.

Susceptor, your first paragraph makes a lot of sense.

It probably matters more to the girl that other people is sinning when they watch MTV, even if she does not watch it.

It does points out that Christian zealots have a twisted heroic mentality in they can't let go of what they can't accept or hate. They see themselves as vigilantes that will deny not just to themselves but other people of the things they hate.

In other words, they seek to circumscribe the choices of other people in what they want, as long as they think it is against Christian values.

In their twisted heroic mindset, such Christian zealots see themselves as saving you, instead of robbing you of your right and freedom to choose.

As for your second paragraph, MTV is in financial diffuculties and they are losing a lot of business to Youtube and other online channels.

But it does not really matter whether MTV survives or not.

Because these Christian soldiers will find another bogeyman to scare people and rally the faithful intto righteous though misguided fury.

Just imagine a repeat performance of how Bush used Sept 11 to rally unquestionable support for his wartime Presidency for the last 6 years.

Media abhors a vacuum without a train wreck and Evangelicals provide that service perfectly . So, if your game is to discredit Christians by underscoring the Evangelical circus, then you certainly don't have to work very hard. You don't have to lift a finger. Evangelicals do a more devastating job than any detractor would by thoroughly mocking themselves, usually by appropriating pop culture and infusing it with their own lame-ass commercialism.

I felt like I was watching an episode of the Simpsons, although I gotta hand it to the CBC for treating this about as good-natured as they possibly could.

The Evangelical mistake is that they don't really trust their own beliefs. They wouldn't act that way if they did. They re-route this insecurity into overly-emotional displays, which seem to aspire to fat Elvis aesthetics . Outsiders understandably get annoyed at their in-your-face approach but I see it as a sad example of a group of people trying to convince themselves that what they believe is true. ...'sort of like a support group for people stuck in their awkward teen years.

The Amish, on the other hand, are completely hip.

Actually, the difference between the Evangelicals and the rest of the Americans in US is neatly charcterised by this SNL joke:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWy2-3qiHko