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The Taliban for American Youth


Sunsara Taylor over at Truthdig writes about the BattleCry group.
The leaders of BattleCry claim that their religion and values are under attack, but amid spectacular light shows, Hummers, Navy SEALs and military imagery on stage, it is BattleCry that has declared war on everyone else. Its leader, Ron Luce, insists: “This is war. And Jesus invites us to get into the action, telling us that the violent—the ‘forceful’ ones—will lay hold of the kingdom.”
Taylor lists some of BattleCry's sponsors including Pat Robertson, Charles Colson, (from the Nixon Watergate Scandal), and Jerry Falwell. Barbara Bush and former President Ford have both addressed BattleCry events which draw thousands of participants. Taylor continues,
BattleCry is a part of the evangelical organization Teen Mania, and you can learn a lot about the kind of society that Teen Mania is fighting for by reading up on its Honor Academy, a non-accredited educational institution that offers directed internships to 700 undergraduate and graduate youth each year. Among the academy’s tenets: Homosexuality and masturbation are sins. Interns are forbidden to listen to secular music, watch R-rated movies or date; men can’t use the Internet unsupervised; the length of women’s skirts is regulated.
Read all of Taylor's opinion piece, Battle Cry for Theocracy.

Comments

Christine Bakke said…
Wow, I think Ron Luce was around and working with Teen stuff back when I was a teen! I think I've heard him speak before...maybe I was in college. But I sure know that name.

Anyway, the whole war imagery sure gets a bit crazy, doesn't it.
1:42 AM
Christine Bakke said…
Although they get bonus points for having a woman as the main silhouette, instead of a man.

On the other hand, isn't that anti-Biblical? I thought the man should always be in charge, especially when it comes to war (or, Concerned Women for America, etc, etc)...

So confusing. Or maybe they are putting the women on the frontline to save the men from any real danger.

Or perhaps the flag-waving woman is just the cheerleader....

So many interpretations, so little time.
3:24 AM
SoulPony said…
That scares me. It is a small world we live in (our own heads) where things like that don't happen.
10:17 AM
Peterson Toscano said…
Christine, the strong female imagery is curious. That with the "Ann Coulter" looking young woman helping the emotional young man in the flash photos on their homepage. I don't know what they attempt to communicate through those images. I wonder if they even thought about it and just wanted to be "inclusive".

I have to say though that the young woman's skirt seems shorter than one would imagine they would like their "girls" to be wearing. They have another image very similar except the young woman also wears wings ???

The blood red is what gets me with the khaki. Military, bloody, serious business colors.

Tonya, Yes, it can be quite small in our heads and in the compounds we build for ourselves.
10:29 AM
Jon-Marc McDonald said…
I went on a "mission" trip to Cile, SA with Teen Mania when I was 15. What was interesting was that of the 7 guys I kept in touch with after the trip, 4 have since come out of the closet.

Yes Christine, Luce was around then running the show.

This group scares me.
2:34 PM
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