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canada goose coats on sale Two years ago I got a call. Would I canada goose outlet in uk agree to be interviewed for a European film to be called “American Jesus” exploring the world of American religion. I was not paid for the interview nor do I have any official connection to the project. The crew arrived and spent a day in my house filming and interviewing to me. They left and I forgot about the movie. canada goose coats on sale
Canada Goose Jackets Two years later Brent Kunkle, the producer, sent me a link so I could watch the completed film. It turns out that director Aram Garriga’s pilgrimage across America to make his canada goose outlet store quebec movie resulted in a stunning and beautifully made film record of an outsider’s clear eyed view of the impact both personal and political of Christianity in modern American life. Canada Goose Jackets
canadian goose jacket Garriga is the new Alexis de Tocqueville. In American Jesus he doesn’t take for granted what to us Americans is so familiar it’s hardly noticed. canada goose outlet london Garriga brings a fresh perspective to the outsized place religion plays in our life, politics and national ethos. “American Jesus” is to religion what de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America” (1835) was to our national life then: a revealing outsider’s exploration of truths we Americans are too close to, to clearly see. canadian goose jacket
Canada Goose Parka My personal history prepared me to canada goose jacket outlet sale understand just what an accomplishment this movie is. As an insider’s insider to the world of American religion I was described by the New York Times like this: “To millions of evangelical Christians, the Schaeffer name is royal, and Frank is the reluctant, wayward, traitorous prince. His crime is not financial profligacy, like some pastors’ sons, but turning his back on Christian conservatives.” I grew up as the son of an American religious leader (religious right founder Francis Schaeffer). I not only lived in the pressure cooker of big time American religion my family was part of the political and religious history of modern America. Canada Goose Parka
canada goose clearance As my dad’s sidekick schmoozing with congressmen, famous preachers and even US presidents, I watched and participated during the 1970s and 80s as fundamentalist religion shaped American politics. I’ve charted my fraught and funny journey out of big time American religion in my book on the inner anatomy of religious delusion: canada goose outlet florida And God Said, “Billy!” Thus my perspective on the film cheap canada goose is one of someone who has lived through the events the movie explores. Been there done that. And I can tell you this movie gets the details right! It also goes a long way toward answering a rhetorical question I asked Rachel Maddow when she was interviewing me on the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC: “Can Christianity be rescued from the Christians?” canada goose clearance
canada goose clearance sale American Jesus shines a bright light on big time American religion and its effect on society and on the world. The movie also highlights how the wounded churches in America spread their contagion globally. canada goose clearance sale
canada goose store And the movie is fair to religion. For instance it provides a platform for the well known canada goose outlet factory and deservedly admired evangelical Shane Claiborne, to speak up. Shane talks about his Christ centered work with the outcasts of our society. And having him in the movie is a clear indicator that the director is not out to “get” religious people because he shows some of the best American religion has to offer in terms of social justice issues and compassion. These interviews bring the viewer into a deep and nuanced dialogue with some thoughtful religious people who have deep insights into faith and spirituality and even share their doubts about their most intimate hopes and beliefs. canada goose store
canada goose black friday sale In a way this film is a plea for the true spirituality that can survive the false gods of commerce and power. https://www.canadagoosepark.com Sincere believers will not feel threatened by this film, rather affirmed by its debunking of all that is worst in religion. canada goose black friday sale
Since few outsiders ever understand the “flavor” of what really animates the vast subculture of American religion the movie opens a new world to non Americans and/or to more secular Americans struggling to understand for instance how religious delusion has shaped American foreign policy. Because America is powerful understanding what makes America “tick” is not optional. That’s why I say that this film should be required viewing for everyone, at least for every world leader. What political leaders who deal with America need to know is that what motivates so called American exceptionalism is not rational. It is rooted in magical thinking.
cheap Canada Goose America, like some of the more fundamentalist Islamic countries trying to impose Sharia law, brings irrational religious conviction to world affairs. For instance America’s long involvement in the Middle East, and twelve years of non stop war in Iraq and Afghanistan, can’t be understood outside of the context of religious delusional thinking explored in American Jesus. This context is the eschatological fantasies of “End Times” theology that leads so many Americans including many right wing political leaders to conclude that America is helping to fulfill biblical prophecy by taking sides in various Middle canada goose outlet in canada Eastern conflicts. cheap Canada Goose
buy canada goose jacket If the ayatollahs of Iran look crazy to many people then so should the religiously deluded American public be branded as nuts. It was this group of people, mostly evangelicals, that voted for George W Bush and other evangelical American leaders that believed or at least paid lip service to, literalistic biblical interpretations of unfolding world events. These are the people that took us into needless bloody non canada goose clothing uk stop wars. buy canada goose jacket
What the movie exposes is the canada goose outlet store near me truth that in the American religious community life goes on as if the Enlightenment had never taken place. A look at the so called Creation Museum proves this. In what other place on earth could millions of visitors approve the obliterating rewriting of science canada goose outlet online store review and conclude that the world is 6000 years old and that dinosaurs coexisted with humans? In what other country is foreign policy hostage to a literal belief in events leading to the so called return of Christ?
For the people who wonder why American foreign policy seems insane at times one answer to their questions about America is this movie. At the heart of the superpower that leads the world are many leaders who believe in cartoonish myths. American Jesus is a brilliant warning about where these cartoon characters will take us all unless challenged.
canada goose coats And yet American Jesus takes a compassionate look at many religious people of good will who find meaning and beauty in their spiritual faith. The movie is a tribute to them as well as a subtle warning about the political and religious leaders who seek to manipulate sincere faith for their own enrichment or worse, to gain power. canada goose coats
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