Saturday, December 27, 2008

The Lord's Boot Camp

OMG. Did anyone see this on 48 Hours?
I appreciate that the Lord's Boot Camp wants to teach religion to teens, but the Lord's Boot Camp exemplifies exactly what's wrong with religion.
Instead of practicing the tenets of Christianity, the Lord's Boot Camp teaches these vulnerable teens to preach it, to convert even Jewish people. One evangelical teen was shocked at how wrong she perceived Mormons to be. Ugh. 
They teach these teens that anyone other than a Christian needs saved. As if a teen or a human could "save" anyone. 
It's dangerous when a religion claims it's right and everyone else is wrong. That's teaching intolerance, conceit, and to me, is morally wrong. I believe this kind of intolerance and self-righteousness is the root cause of the rift between the Muslims and the Jews in the Middle East. Intolerance for others' religious beliefs always seems to be at the heart of war. Iraqis certainly perceived that the purpose of the U.S. war in Iraq was, in part, to conquer Islam. Sometimes I wonder if that's what Bush meant when he talked of "freedom marching." Conservatives like to talk in code. 
It doesn't seem as though evangelicals are helping the orphans of Zambia for the sake of doing good. Good deeds aren't the motive. Rather, they seem to be doing good deeds to spread Christianity. 
I did like the feet washing. If evangelicals could do more feet washing and serving the poor as opposed to preaching that their way is the only way, they wouldn't bother so many people.