The Lord's Army

Lana Chiad
Ms. Clark
English 101
18 November 2010
The Lord's Army
Although I shall eliminate myself from this assumed fact: everyone wants children. Some may want boys while others may want girls. Regardless, there is nothing more beautiful to some than to look into the wide eyes of the physical embodiment of innocence and see the entire world there. To see the future that the child could potentially have, to experience all the joys and dissatisfactions that life just loves to throw at people. The first day of school. The first girlfriend/boyfriend. The first date. The first of everything that creates the monumental moments in the child's life that will be remembered forever.
This saying, of course, that the child experiences these major life instances in an environment where this is provided.
Religion is everywhere. It is the very foundation in which the current American government and laws were founded and established upon. There is nothing wrong with faith, regardless of what it is one believes – it is simply the way the faith is practiced and forced down the throats of the youth of the United States of America in the 21st century that is the problem.
Of course, it is always the radicals of every religion that gets the attention, and this is especially the case in this particular practice of immersing a child into a religion that he or she had no choice but to follow. In a way, parents incorporate religious beliefs into the way that he or she is raised in order to make certain that the child does not grow up to be a psychotic murderer who carves up humans and wears the skin to parties. However, there is a line between morals and religion that is not universally understood to be different teachings that do not necessarily have to be connected with religion.
One particular sector of Christianity, the Evangelical community, have managed to warp and twist the teachings of the Bible, and use it to not only incorporate its teachings for the benefit of childhood development, but by almost brainwashing the child with the fear of God into near hysteria. In the 2006 documentary, Jesus Camp, the owner of a children's Bible camp called Kids on Fire School of Ministry, Reverend Becky Fischer founded this establishment on the basis of raising children to be “warriors of God,” growing them to be the fuel that will eventual “steal [America] back into Christianity” (Jesus Camp). Fischer continues with her belief, explaining how she “can go into a playground with kids that don't know anything about Christianity, lead them to the Lord in a matter of just no time at all, and just moments later, they can be seeing visions and hearing the voice of God, because they're so open. They are so usable in Christianity" (Jesus Camp). The most vulnerable time in any human's life is developmental childhood, where the lessons one learns during this stage of life is the foundation in which further knowledge is built upon, establishing the core of who that child is and what that child will believe, regardless of whether it is right or not.
Furthermore, the educating of children in the ways of a particular religion extends further than simply sending a child out to a Bible camp to teach him or her to be a soldier of God, but rather the opposite. Rather than allowing the child to experience the world for his or herself, the parent(s) will shelter the kid in the house – even using religious-based books to educate the child in the way that the parent(s) seem fit. In my experience of attending a Christian school for eight years, the most frustrating aspect was the way the Christian-based textbooks found itself means to explain itself, particularly in the field of science. When explanation of scientific phenomena became too abstract or elaborate, the simple suppression of “God did it” would be suffice for the authors to use to avoid dispute against the beliefs of Christianity – particularly when it comes to the controversial quarrel between Creationism versus Evolution. This is why most of the extremist Evangelical Christians find it necessary to shelter the child by means of home-schooling him or her in order to have complete control of what he or she should be learning. Also, by doing this, it allows the parent to control all aspects of the child's life, ensuring that he or she will not have any outlet of contradiction arising that may conflict with the pure Christian teachings of the Bible – or at the least the warped version of the faith.
Yet religious teachings for teachings goes beyond simple education to make sure that the child truly does understand the teachings of Christianity, especially by means of literature. Even books that are written with the intentions of teaching children the ways of a religion can be controversial to the point of appalling. In a novel written in 1814 by Reverend Phillip Doddridge, The Principles of the Christian Religion is a children's book that is supposed to teach children the ways of Christianity, incorporating pictures and using a rhyming scheme to help encourage children not only to read, but to take in and focus on the messages presented in the book.
This is not the bad part. What is bad is the way the book explains to the children the ways of the Word: “Who can abide God's wrath or stand, / Before the terrors of his hand? / And yet his frowns and vengeance too / I by my sins have made my due. // Is there no hope ! and must I die ! / Is there no friend nor helper nigh ? / It is beyond repeal decreed, / That ev'ry soul that sins must bleed” (Doddridge). Despite what may be considered a fun rhyming scheme, as well as an interesting layout of the text, just look at the descriptions. “That ev'ry soul that sins must bleed” (Doddridge). The imagery that sends shivers down the spine – and this is meant for children? Books like this do not teach children about religion – it scares them into religion, especially when the parent(s) only show their kid a book like this of just one religion: the one that the parent wants him or her to follow.
Please understand that while this may be an evaluation solely based on the Christian faith and the extremists that it glorifies, it must be understood that Christians are not the only religion that have these extremists, obviously. However, it must be said that there are, in fact, extremist groups in the faith of Christianity that, while it does not embody the religion as a whole, they do exist. If other religious extremist groups in the world are highlighted and put on display by the media, Christianity can be, as well. Majority or not, this cannot be brushed under the rug.


Work Cited

Doddridge, Philip. The Principles of the Christian Religion Divided into Lessons for Children. Hudson [N.Y.: Printed by Ashbel Stoddard, 1814. Electronic.
Jesus Camp. Dir. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. Perf. Mike Papantonio, Becky Fischer, Ted Haggard. Magnolia Pictures, 2006. DVD.