Jesus Camp

Jesus Camp is a film that depicts the lifestyles and opinions of a group of devout Evangelical Christians in Missouri. From what I saw, the film’s main points were that there should not be a separation between religion and state, that Evangelical children should be raised as devout as Islam’s children, and was also simply to show the lifestyles and beliefs of the people depicted in the film. The film portrays these points in many different ways, focusing on the views of a children’s priest along with a few kids and their families.

The way they talk about how Christian-Judeo beliefs are the only religions that are morally right really bothered me because I believe that this teaches their children to be close minded about others beliefs. For me this film did not exactly shed a positive light on the people portrayed, because I believe that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and that we should work, live and love each other despite the religion we choose to practice, the God we choose to pray to, or even if we choose not to believe in anything at all. It really bothered me when the boy in the film said that he was bothered and disturbed when someone who didn’t believe in Jesus Christ spoke to him and when the Children’s priest said she could go to a playground and convert non-Christian children within minutes.

I was brought up in a very open minded household since my dad is Jewish and my mom is Christian, which is maybe why I take some offense to those who are closed minded when it comes to religion. I am in no way saying that what the people depicted in the film believe and how they practice their beliefs is wrong, I just feel that this film was saying that if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ you are morally wrong and should convert. I think when we teach our children what to believe we should also teach them to be open minded and sensitive to others beliefs too.

Writing Process

To start writing a paper I generally begin by researching the topic that I am going to write about. To research I google the topic or use the library research tools. After this I usually write a quick outline of what I plan on writing without any details just broad topics. After this I generally free write as much as I can to get down as much information as possible. I try to make it the length or close to the length of what I am writing. This makes writing the paper much easier because I do not worry about what my writing sounds like I just get it all down and then reorganize it. This seems to work well for me. After I get done free writing I generally take a break if I have time and new ideas usually come to me. Then I go back to the paper, sit down and re-read what I wrote. Now I go back through and reorganize my thoughts, make grammatical changes and generally add information and re-write a majority of my paper. Once I go through and get my paper to sound like what I want it to I go back through and make grammatical changes. After this I print it out double-spaced and get out my colored pens and make lots of corrections. Printing it out helps because I see more errors and make more corrections. Then I go back through and fix the errors that I have found. After that I usually print it out one more time and let someone else read through it and give me tips on grammar and the way it sounds. If I have time I will go to the writing center if not then I will just fix the things that my friends have found and print it out one last time and turn it in. I generally get stuck and have a hard time writing papers if I do not know much about the topic or am not interested in what I am writing. I also have a hard time writing papers when the topic is really broad and I cannot find a narrow enough topic or viewpoint to write on. I generally write the first draft at home in a relaxed environment but do my second and third drafts at the library or coffee shop. I need it to be quiet after I get done with the first draft or I can’t concentrate. I also get stressed and frustrated if there is a lot of clutter around my writing space.