Baby Bible Bashers

[Vex]

I try to catch Fundie documentaries whenever they're around, and today I came across one that is new to me, titled "Baby Bible Bashers".

It follows the lives of three young children who are called 'born again evangelicals' by the narrator, and while evangelicals differ from fundies, the youngest child is definitely a fundie. This is sort of a summery/review of the documentary.

There is Samuel, aged 7:

Definitely a fundie: Homeschooled, lives in rural Mississippi, patriarchal family, baptised by his father (who isn't clergy), 'spare the rod, spoil the child', uses a switch, fond of screaming at women going into women's clinics while wearing sandwich boards and waving aborted fetus photos.

He preaches on the street with his father, and carries a long list of sins on his sandwich board which include 'fornication', 'alcohol' and of course 'homosexuality'. He seems to focus on the fire and brimstone of bring a sinner more than the grace of God and being saved. He also preaches on evolution and (especially) abortion, although at 7 years old he clearly understands neither.

Daddy says preaching is 'the highest calling'. This family is so like our fundies (apart from pants-wearing mum) that they could be one of the families. Samuel started preaching aged 3. He seems like he'd be a sweet kid if you got him off the bible and onto SpongeBob.

His father made me pretty furious. At one point he compares being heckled (in New York) to Jesus being beaten and whipped. Street preaching is not something I feel kids should be exposed to, ever. They don't understand that they're getting heckled for being self-righteous and obnoxious and insulting minorities; Samuel is used to people tolerating and listening to him in his small home town, but he is overwhelmed to the point of tears when people in New York call them racist bigots and argue with his daddy. I might also add: his father telling one such heckler to get some soap and wash off the smell? Totes Christian of him.

Then there is Terry, aged 9:

Terry is from Florida, where he lives with his Grandmother, Sharon. Sharon is a minister herself, and ordained Terry herself at the age of 7. Terry lives with Sharon because according to her, his parents are 'too young' to be parents to Terry and his twin brother.

This statement makes the fact that his 'too-young' father, Todd, has inserted himself as Terry's manager and organises his 'empire' (he sells autographed photos, along with merchandise like 'Got Terry' t-shirts that are surely infringing on copyright, and predicts that Terry will soon be head a ministry of 30,000 worshippers in a 1.5 million dollar purpose-built church) worrying to me.

Terry isn't just a mini Pissing Preacher in the making, though. His family and church believe he has the power to lay hands upon people and they claim that he is a direct conduit to God's supernatural powers, which have allegedly healed church-goes of such ailments as paralysis and cancer.

Outside of church, Terry is extremely quiet and shy. He has a great voice and stage presence, I'd love to see him use that in a church choir or doing school plays rather than having to perform miracles for the congregation.

Finally, there is Ana Carolina, aged 12, from Rio De Janeiro.

Ana Carolina started preaching at age three, and had achieved stardom, preaching to thousands of people in Brazil by 8. She isn't a fundie (she goes to school and actually preaches to crime- and poverty-stricken people. Her jail ministering sure trumps the Maxwell's nursing home churching), but she definitely lives in a patriarchal religious home where daddy (a former policeman who was jailed but won't say why) is her 'priest' and 'poet', and mama is just there to cook, clean and iron.

There's a worrying part where daddy claims God has given him an obedient daughter, which allows them to be very close to each other. He goes on to say they sleep together and wake up together. While obviously things get lost in translation from Portuguese to English (both cultural and linguistically), you have to hope that he doesn't literally share a bed with his tween daughter. They do go on to show her by a double bed, saying they can't bear to be apart, though...

As the documentary says, the three children are united by their terror of the devil and their blind obedience to their parents. Hopefully these kids will one day come to believe in and make peace with the God of forgiveness and infinite love rather than staying faithful out of fear.

This is a link to the documentary in full for those who might be interested: http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/v ... 9q5rVqbI6P

[doggie]

the children can't be fundies or evangelicals or born again. they are children of adults that claim that they are. they are not mature enough to make those choices or even understand. hell their parents don't even understand it.