Should Church Be Rated Pg-13?

Most Americans define themselves as Christian. Why? And why are the vast majority of people in the Middle East Islamic? Hindu in India? Because of culture and upbringing, of course. When indoctrination occurs early in life it very often sticks. That's what the "Jesus Camps" in the United States and the Madrassas in the Middle East know and share. They also reflect the danger involved. Evangelized children are the most easily radicalized too.

While I would first and foremost acknowledge that everyone has a right to attend religious services as much (or as little) as they would like at whatever venue they might choose, I am concerned about the churching of the young. The evangelical movement, especially in America, is well aware that it makes the most headway when it approaches the most vulnerable. They know the same thing nature's predators know - go after the weak and the young. Churches seek out those who are lonely, lost, confused, depressed, or in mourning. And like predators, they also especially like to target the young.

Common themes in the American evangelical movement are rants against homosexuals, tirades against Islam, and torrid imaginations of the end of the world. The plague theology used to describe the AIDS epidemic in many Christian minds assumes that the disease is the judgment of an angry God on homosexuals. Of course, this is an idiotic idea, but it is shared by millions. And they don't seem to tell us why, if it is a judgment on gay lifestyle, are lesbians pretty much exempt? And why are there so many children who have been victimized? This is the same line of thinking that prevented real measures being taken against the plagues of history. And churches teach the plagues of the past as a good thing. The mythical slaying of all of the firstborn of Egypt, the destruction of entire civilizations, the genocide of the Noah myth....are these really things we should be teaching children?