Jesus Politics

This fascinating documentary takes a look at the role of religion in the current U.S. elections. Although the basic premise will be familiar to anybody following the campaign, there are still some remarkable insights, most notably how recently religion became politicised, and also that the key event in this transition was the government's attempt, under Carter, to force the racial desegregation of religious schools. There's also a glance at the decidedly scary Christians United For Israel, whose support for that state is based on the role it will supposedly play in hastening Armageddon. The film emphasises the universality of religion in the campaign, rather than focusing on the right alone; and on the right, concentrates on John McCain, actually one of the less zealous of the Republican candidates. As a result, it slightly downplays the extremity of the conservative Christian movement, and it would have been interesting to learn more about what secular America feels about the explosion of religiosity in its midst. But it's still an insightful film, made by an Israeli who came to the U.S. precisely because he hoped to find a separation of religion and politics, and who now sees his second promised land turning away from him. And to this inhabitant of western Europe, where organised Christianity has never seemed less potent, it's a strange and alarming story.

Whatever cinematographic imperfections there are in this production, it is a focused camera on the pattern of people to turn to external authority when they are frightened. In fact this country has, as every other, been religious from its beginnings. The ground swell of religious conservatism here examined resides in, Americans, Israelis, and all peoples. Here is a portrait of a nation turning to politically or religiously dominant leadership, rather than assuming personal, responsible respect for others. The film examines the missionary quality of present day religious conservatism and documents how manipulable we can become. This film is worth sharing. We all need to see this kind of work and to be alerted to imbalances in our culture.