I watched the start of a TV programme yesterday called ‘Jesus Camp’, about how some Americans are packing their kids off to right-wing Christian ‘holiday camps’ for the summer to turn them into little soldiers for Christ. Now I should say here and now that I only watched about 15 minutes of this, so this blog is inspired by what I saw, rather than about it. I found it pretty shocking. However, the thing that struck me most is how similar, when viewed from the outside, what they were doing was, with what they felt they were opposing!

Then it occurred to me that we often get apparently bent-out-of-shape by the thing we hate. Are we being distorted by this ‘dreadful’ thing, or is it the fact that we are looking into some kind of ‘dark’ mirror and disliking and attacking a reflection of ourselves. Certainly it is not unusual for us to dislike in others traits that others see in us!

Perhaps it is time for us to ask how what we are seeing points out where we need to act on us? Have you had any experiences like this and triumphed?

Resources:

1. Jesus Camp on YouTube
   
2. Jihad: the Children’s Club
   

“The only service a friend can really render is to keep your courage by holding up to you a mirror in which you can see a noble image of yourself” George Bernard Shaw
“Behaviour is a mirror in which every one displays his own image”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe