Watching It

Watching It
World Religions
Sarah Nakano Purgett

For my "Watching It" I viewed the PBS film documentary The Buddha. It is directed by David Grubin and is 112 minutes long, covering Siddhartha Gautama's life from beginning to end. His teachings, beliefs, and lasting legacy is also discussed. The film consists of narration, interviews with scholars and practicing buddhists, animation sequences, footage from India, and photos of artifacts / statues / sacred places.

The film is split into two parts.

The first is titled "Siddhartha" and covers his birth, early life as a privileged prince, and his rides in the chariot where he first encountered the pain and suffering of life. The narrator says that because Siddhartha's mother died soon after his birth, he was exposed to suffering at a early, primitive level. In other words, something tragic happened right at the beginning of his life. I thought this was a very interesting point - would he have been so interested in the idea of "suffering" if his mother had never died?

I am going to try to keep this brief but basically the film continues to show Siddhartha's voluntary transition from extreme luxury to extreme depravation. He leaves home, apprentices gurus, tries to understand why humans suffer, and attempts to transcend the limitations of the body. He remembers all of his past lives as various creatures and finally understands that all creatures go through life, death, and rebirth. They are universal experiences, just like suffering, or dissatisfaction, is a universal experience. He achieves enlightenment after many many years of struggle.

Then the second part of the film, titled "Buddha" begins. This part focuses on his teachings and how he began to acquire disciples. One thing I didn't realize (for some reason) was that in Buddhism there is no creation story and no explanation for what happens after death. Buddha explained that these two things are not important, the only thing that is important is to understand your suffering. The only reason people ask "why am i here?" "what happens after death" is because they are suffering, and their suffering causes them to ask those questions. Here are some notes I jotted down while watching this section:

-the vast unknown
-what is a miracle?
-violence only leads to more violence
-recognizing that we fail sometimes is part of our suffering
-change must come from within
-everything is interconnected
-compassion
-transforming the three poisons

At this point the film explored Buddha's legacy and how people pilgrimage to four important sites: his birthplace, the place where he attained enlightenment, where he first taught, and where he died (from eating spoiled food). It is common that people go to these places in chronological order, feeling the spirit of the Buddha.

I would recommend this film if you like documentaries and are interested in Buddhism / the Buddha. Personally it is not something that I would watch for fun in my free time but if you are looking for something education this works pretty well!

I watched "Everything is Illuminated" on netflix. This was a film adaptation of the book by Jonathan Safran Foer.

The movie is about a a young, Jewish American named Jonathan who travels to the ukraine to find the woman who helped his grandfather escape the Nazis during World War II. He quickly finds himself entangled in the inner workings of the relationship of his tour guides, a grandfather - grandson duo. The grandfather runs a business that helps Jews locates 'other dead Jews' and is quite cynical about the whole thing. But something about Jonathan's journey brings out a speck of compassion in the old man.
Jonathan eventually finds what he is looking for and unwraps a intricate history – he finds that his roots are intertwined with his tour guide's.

The cinematography was beautiful and the film revealed as much about the past as it did about the way these events have shaped modern day views and culture in Europe. I felt that is portrayed Judaism as much more than a religion - it's a culture with a history that spans generations and continents to drawn people closer together under a wide tent of understanding. The characters were relatable and though the message was serious, the film is peppered with humor and kept me engaged in a large range of emotions. This was beautifully done.

I chose to watch Jesus Camp a 2006 film documentary that focuses on a specific sect of Evangelical Christians and a summer camp where Evangelical kids are sent. The distributer attests to the un-bias quality of the film, which has no specific aim. The makers intended to encapsulate the experience this religion offers, their beliefs, and allow viewers to see Jesus summer camp. Personally, I found myself cringing nearly every moment of the film.
There are apparently 80 million Evangelical Christians in the United States, and because of Evangelical entanglement of politics and religion, they have great influence over politics. The film follows the journey of multiple kids and their leaders through Jesus Camp. Countless interviews are presented, some less outrageous, but most, incredibly alarming. In one, the Director of the camp says, “Enemies are putting energy on the kids and schools… taking kids to camps in Palestine and putting weapons in their hands”. She goes on to lecture that American’s need to do the same, but put Jesus in their hearts and send them to war with the enemy. She also says, “I wanna see young people radically laying down their lives for the gospel… we have the truth”. Excuse me if I’m wrong, but in their eyes, terrorists are the enemy. Those who commit suicide attacks are their enemy, why would they encourage youth to do the same? It’s hypocritical.
The film gives many statistics: 43% of Evangelicals became “born again” before the age of 15 and 75% of homeschooled kids in the US are Evangelical Christians, there are many more. These Evangelical super churches indoctrinate their children from birth. They teach them what to think, how to think, and tell them exactly what they should hate. In one scene a Mother who home schools her children says, “If you look at Creationism, it’s the only possible answer to all the questions. There are two kinds of people in the world, people who love Jesus and people who don’t.” It baffles me to think that a parent would so drastically limit the outlook of their child, and deny any scientific proof evolution or global warming.
There is another scene that I thought was incredible: The director of Church camp says to the children, “Sin in designed to destroy you. The devil goes after the young. Let me say something about Harry Potter: warlocks are enemies of God, had it been in the old testament Harry Potter would’ve been put to death. You’re a phony and a hypocrite, you do things you shouldn’t do and you talk dirty”. She then begins to invite the kids to wash away their sins with water from her water bottle. There’s also a scene in which an entire church of kids is laying down praying to George Bush, worshiping George Bush.
This film exposed a scary side of Christianity that is extremely prevalent in the US, particularly the Midwest and the Dakotas. In one of the final scenes the Director asks a church full of kids, “How may of you want to be those who would give up their lives for Jesus?” – The children all scream “Me!”. It’s terrifying. These kids are growing up with such fear, hate, and prophetic ideals of the world. The Director yells in the final scene, “Take these prophecies and make war with them! This means war!”
This film exposes a section of religious radicalism in the United States that I was previously unaware of. I may be narrow minded in my understanding of Evangelicalism. It’s hard for me to comprehend why these people would ever teach their children these things, and maybe that’s my wrong. However, this film is certainly worth watching, no matter your religious beliefs. It expresses the power of faith, community, and the power adults have over their children.

With many recommendations I decided to watch "Everything Illuminated" that was based off of the book by Jonathan Safran Foer. Going into watching this movie I had not read the book nor did I really know anything about the movie so it was a pleasant surprise when I began watching.
The film is about a young, Jewish American named Jonathan who goes on a journey to the ukraine in hopes of finding the women who helped his grandfather escape the Nazis during World War II. He quickly finds himself in a grandfather- grandson duo with the inner workings of the relationship of his tour guides. The grandfather runs a business that is to help Jews who are in search of other Jews who have passed away. Throughout this journey Jonathan becomes aware of his family history that is in fact linked to his tour guide's.
This film was a really good film to show how World War II has shaped modern culture and views in Europe. It really portrayed Judaism as more than just a religion but more of a culture with a history that has brought people closer together under a wide understanding of what had happened throughout Judaism history. This film was very serious but it did also contain a little bit of comic relief entangled in the well played characters. I would definitely recommend this film to the rest of the class if they are in the mood for a film with a lot of historical facts and an interesting plot line.

I watched the documentary, Jesus Camp, and it was a documentary following multiple people in the Fundamentalist Evangelical Christian community. It was a camp that allowed children to come and learn the ways about the Evangelical ways, and the head woman, Becky Fischer, directed it. There were multiple scenes were it showed sessions were little children near the ages of 3, 4, or 5 would be speaking in a crazy tongue language and bursting into tears. Child after child tries to promise they will stop sinning, and to be honest this summer camp was borderline brainwashing. On another note, the documentary has a moderate Christian radio host who questions these tactics and prevents the question what these camps are doing to these children. It’s almost like the older Evangelical Christians are brainwashing the younger kids into thinking about the Fundamentalist views. Naturally, at such a young age, they follow what their parents are telling them because it’s all they really know. For example, a homeschooled kid’s parents explain to him creationism is the only answer for everything. As the documentary goes on, they bring in speakers talking about abortion and how it’s bad, further proving that this might be a form of brainwashing.
To be honest, I really recommend this movie, I had no idea going into this movie that I would be seeing what I saw at this camp. It was so interesting seeing all these small children talking in tongues, and crying profusely. It was a little scary to see how well this form of brainwash was working on these little children. Like Lauren, I don’t understand why these parents would want to teach these children these kinds of views; it’s a little disgusting in my point of view. But I guess it’s the vicious cycle, the parents learned from their parents and etc. This film really proves how innocent these small children are to believing and absorbing all kinds of information given to them.

If I knew so many people watched Everything is Illuminated I wouldn't have watched such a popular movie! The movie is about a kid who travels to the Ukraine in search of a woman who may have saved his grandfather during World War II. It starts out with his guides that annoy him to death guiding him through small town in the Ukraine when his journey shifts for the better.

Seeing this film from my perspective was interesting because other than learning about the holocaust in Conway's class, I don't know a lot other than the main ideas. We didn't talk a lot about the other European countries that were effected by the holocaust, at least not like this movie did. Some how this film got me to precariously laugh when I least expected it.

There was a scene in the movie when Jonathan was talking to Alex and he was explaining how he didnt eat meat and Alex asked, How can you not eat meat? and Jonathan said, I just dont. For some reason I didn't see this coming and actually laughed.

In another conversation between the two, Alex was asking about Jonathan's sex life and he said he was like John Holmes and Alex said, I have heard of this John Holmes. He has premium penis. This was also a very comical quote that I loved. As a whole, this movie really was better than expected and i would recommend this to anyone in our class because its easier to watch than some other boring history movies.

I watched the Documentary "Jesus Camp" by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. This documentary follows several children, their normal lives as well as documenting their beliefs on certain, as well as evangelical preachers at a Evangelical Christian Summer camp. Some of the parts that I saw I found rather shocking because of how drastically different it was compared to my world view. The person that runs the camp, Becky Fisher, says many things that seem rather extremist, such as children needing "I want too see more young people laying down their lives for the gospel." Near the end of the film she was talking about how it was ok to brainwash peoples children as long as they were telling the truth and that democracy would eventually destroy itself because people only need to find the lord to be saved. I am rather concerned about these people leading my country if they don't really understand what our country was built on, which were not solely christian morals.

There were additional scenes depicting how mega churches were being set up, and how they were appealing to a much wider group of audiences then the traditional church setting. The preacher at one such sermon said that everything that christians need to understand is in the bible, which was written over a millennia ago. Another part of the movie showed a cartoon depicting how science can't explain anything, which it can, and that the fact that we came from an explosion makes no sense. (The big bang wasn't an explosion, it was just the entire universe being extremely hot and dense, but the universe just happened to be very small at that point in time.) This is especially concerning given the fact that 75% of all home schooled students are evangelical. Children are being taken out of school to be taught things that have no basis in reality.

I watched this movie almost exclusively to be mad at evangelicals and how much I think they are wrong, if someone shares my point of view then I would encourage them to watch it.

Just like so many other people, I also chose to watch "Everything is Illuminated", a movie based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer.

The story is about Jonathan, AKA Frodo, traveling to Ukraine in search of a woman who may have helped his grandfather escape persecution during WWII. He gets caught up in the relationship of his tour guides, an old man who runs a business to help Jews find other dead Jews, and the old mans grandson. Throughout his journey, Jonathan becomes more aware of his family's history, and in the end, he unravels the story of his past and realizes that his roots are connected to his tour guide.

This movie actually taught me a lot about how all of the countries in Europe were affected by the holocaust, and how to this day it still has a huge impact on the lives of everyone around the world. Not only was the story solid, but the way the movie was filmed was wonderful. Elijah Wood did a good job with his character and made me connect with his character on a deeper level.

I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who still needs to do this assignment. It was really well made, the acting was wonderful, and it did a fantastic job of showing the current affects that the Holocaust has on people around the world.

I, like most of the class, watched Everything Is Illuminated. I didn't enjoy it as much as everyone else did, however. Although there were some funny parts of the movie, I wouldn't have sat down to watch this movie for any reason other than for class credit. One of the funniest parts of the movie, in my opinion, was when Jonathan and Alex, and the grandfather were talking about eating meat. The grandpa could not believe that Jonathan was a vegetarian. I thought it was entertaining that for many of the conversations there was the constant need for translation between the three men. I thought it was interesting to see how the history of the Jewish people was so intwined with one another and how that affected the way families had been lost and to then again find one another many years after the holocaust. This movie helped to show a bit about how Jews and families were affected in more ways that the typical history class lessons. It was entertaining from the standpoint that this was a movie for class, it was better than average, but when it comes to being a movie to watch for enjoyment, it was well done especially for a movie for school.

Just like so many other people, I also chose to watch "Everything is Illuminated", a movie based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer.

The story is about Jonathan, AKA Frodo, traveling to Ukraine in search of a woman who may have helped his grandfather escape persecution during WWII. He gets caught up in the relationship of his tour guides, an old man who runs a business to help Jews find other dead Jews, and the old mans grandson. Throughout his journey, Jonathan becomes more aware of his family's history, and in the end, he unravels the story of his past and realizes that his roots are connected to his tour guide.

This movie actually taught me a lot about how all of the countries in Europe were affected by the holocaust, and how to this day it still has a huge impact on the lives of everyone around the world. Not only was the story solid, but the way the movie was filmed was wonderful. Elijah Wood did a good job with his character and made me connect with his character on a deeper level.

I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who still needs to do this assignment. It was really well made, the acting was wonderful, and it did a fantastic job of showing the current affects that the Holocaust has on people around the world.

Religulous is a documentary that over sees and reviews the beliefs of Christianity. Bill Murray, the producer and interview in this movie goes from house to house, church to church and even in some cases; state to state, to hear these ridiculous stories about how God has changed a person’s life.
First and foremost, this movie was very entertaining. Bill Murray’s comedic relief on Christianity is simply hilarious, especially when he comments on those who tell him ridiculous personal stories about their relationship with God. For example, there was a story about a gay man. Bill Murray decided to meet with this man to discuss the issue of gay-rights in America. This was gay man turned straight. His story was simple; he said that he had always felt a little bit different than other people in the world and realized that he was gay when he was in his late teens. He attended a church camp in which the camp helped him overcome his “gayness”. The morals he spoke of were absolutely ridiculous. Bill Murray argues with him, saying that every man should be treated equal and that in America, everyone should be given the ability to practice their religion without discrimination.
As Bill Murray travels from state to state, he manages to catch up with a man who owns a Christian shop. He has a conversation with this man about the values of Christianity and how this man came to become a follower of Jesus Christ—this man, told such an unbelievable story. The man said that he had experienced a miracle—when he said this, I was very surprised and ready to hear every word of his. His story goes like this—one day he was at a party, and he stuck his hand out of the car and prayed to god that it would rain. Coincidentally, it rained. This man believed that just because he prayed for rain, god sent down the heavens and let it rain. He was so blind and didn’t realize the chances of coincidence.
Religulous was more of a comedy film than it was a film to take seriously but it was still good to watch. Bill Murray points out the gaps in Christianity, and after watching this film I have learned about different loop holes. Overall this movie was very appealing to me and made me laugh. It was a good documentary and Bill Murray does make some valid points about Christianity in America

I watched the movie Jesus Camp, a documentary about the summer camp so affectionately named "Kids on Fire." Kids on Fire is run by evangelical christian and pastor Becky Fischer in Devils Lake, North Dakota, and its main purpose is to develop children to be "soldiers in God's army." Ms. Fischer's main expectation is that the growing evangelical movement in the US will end the constitutional ban separating church and state. This sounds absurd, but based on her ridiculous methods and rigorous training at Kids on Fire, her expectation might just possibly become a frightening reality.

This was really a frightening movie for me to watch. The brainwashing that occurs at Jesus Camp speaks to the frightening realization that impressionable young children really can be groomed into whatever you want them to be. In this case, the pentecostal environment brainwashes children into jesus loving fanatics. In the words of Ms. Fischer, "There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who love Jesus, and those who don't." Ms. Fischer, through strange and unorthodox (no pun intended) tactics, is making cure all the children at Kids on Fire, love jesus.

From speaking in tongues to opening their mouths and letting the holy spirit in, Ms. Fischer convinces the occupants of Kids on Fire that their is only path in this world, and that is the path of jesus. Some highlights of this process were cleansing the children with a bottle of nestle pure life water, some screaming into a microphone, and out of control spasms, crying, and praying. By far, my favorite part was watching the man break things with a hammer that were unholy.

Overall, this was more of a psycho horror movie than a documentary. Seeing impressionable children being completely brainwashed and lose all control of their bodies to jesus was insane. These fanatical people are absolutely insane, but the fact that they believe so much in what they are saying is even scarier. I hope to never meet someone from this pentecostal background in my life.

For my "Watching It" I watched the documentary "Jesus Camp." "Jesus Camp" is about a Christian summer camp where counselors teach and lead young children in practices showing the kids that they can turn America back into the land for Christ. The documentary focuses on three children, Levi, Rachael, and Tory and their experience at camp at Christ Triumphant Church. Each kid is very into Christianity and have much experience preaching at churches. We later find out that the church is teaching these children to be part of the Army of God. They believe only children have the capability of turning America toward conservative Christian values, and they also believe that Christians need to focus on training kids to know their enemy and the wrong.

A scene that jumped out at me was the one in the church during a preaching. All these kids are throwing their hands up as their parents are directing them in what to do. They all look uncomfortable and some are crying. Honestly it seems like the parents are brain washing the kids and its so easy for them because they are at such a young age.

I really do recommend this documentary because is really interesting and in a way very disturbing. I really liked it. But to be honest when I watched kids cry it was very uncomfortable.

Independent Assignment #3: Watch It
Jesus Camp
Arjun Sridhar

I watched the documentary Jesus Camp that is a documentary about a Christian summer camp run by a women named Becky Fisher and her ministry. The film focuses on Levi, Rachael, and Tory who are three children who attended the summer camp in the summer of 1005. The three children are already very loyal Christians. For example, Levi is a homeschooled kid because his mother thinks that God did not give her a child so schoolteachers could raise him. At the camp Fischer thinks that children need to purify themselves and she insists that these children need to be part of an “army of God.” Fisher thinks these kids need to lead the conservative Christian values. Fisher is basically brainwashing these kids full of Evangelical Christian values and she thinks the world is sick and she wants Jesus to return. The documentary also focuses on the abortion fight. There is a scene where the viewer watches Lou Engle and his message to end abortion. Engle prays for President Bush to appoint “righteous judges” that will overturn the Roe v. Wade case. Overall, this documentary was very informing and I would definitely recommend it to others. I really learned a lot about Evangelical Christians and I learned that there are a lot of extremely conservative Christians who strongly believe in their cause such as Becky Fisher and her summer camp where she teaches kids the values of Evangelical Christianity. Overall, this was a very fascinating documentary!

For my 'watching it' assignment I chose to watch the 2006 documentary "Jesus Camp." This film follows a group of evangelical Christians who attend a summer camp located in North Dakota. For the most part, the film focuses on three kids (Rachel, Levi, and Tory) who attend the camp and their stories. These children are raised in very conservative Christina environments, being taught about creationism and the falseness of global warming. One of the children even dances to Christian heavy metal music. In the film, the director of the camp, Becky Fischer, essentially works to brainwash these kids with conservative christina values. At one point, the kids join together saying, "I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag."
This stuff was crazy to me! I would definitely recommend watching this movie, as it was certainly eye opening to me. It was incredible to see this large group of people, who apparently represent a relatively significant proportion of the United States, so filled with evangelism. It was shocking to see how completely and totally brainwashed many of the kids were, and how strongly they held their beliefs in God. Of course, I certainly don't agree with the ideas propagated by the leaders of this camp, so it was frightening to see the future adults in America already so thoroughly indoctrinated. In my opinion a kid must be given the chance to decide for his or her self what they want to believe, and this camp leaves no room for different interpretations.

For my "Watch it" extra credit I watched, Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson, starring Jim Caviezel. The film focuses on the last 12 hours of Jesus' life and begins in the Garden of Olives where Jesus has gone to pray after the Last Supper. Betrayed by Judas, He is then arrested and taken within the walss of Jerusalem where the leaders confront Jesus and his trial results in condemnation to death.
As I watched this film I found myself losing interest throughout the film because it wasn't as fast as I would have liked. Also, because the film was not in english I had trouble being able to follow completely. The majority of the film was very graphic and had Jesus's torture shown the entire film. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone younger than me because it truly is the most graphic film i have ever seen. I have always heard about this film so I am glad i finally got to see it but I wouldn't watch it again to be honest. I saw many things I've learned in this class throughout the film but it was also only the things I already knew. When they showed the crucifixion of Jesus it was very graphic but not as graphic as i'm sure it actually was. A very strange movie.

I watch Schindler's List that can be found pretty easily if you want just look on Netflix and it is there.Schindler’s List is a film that tells a story about a German businessman named Schindler that saves the lives of many polish Jews during the Holocaust. He is able to saves their lives by employing as many Jew as he can in his own factory. Schindler was a member of the Nazi party and came to the city in hope of making money off the production of things needed during the war. As his factory grows with the help of a Jewish accountant named Itzhak Stern, who has contacts to the Jewish black market to help Schindler get all the things he will need. Schindler makes new friends with Nazis as the Herr Direktor while Stern basically runs the factory. Schindler only wants to employ Jewish Pols because they cost less money than anyone else. As the war continues and the concentration camps are built Schindler is an onlooker of the evacuation of the Jews from the Ghetto to the Concentration camps. Schindler is sure to make friends with the needed Nazis, and is able to bribe them into letting him have a sub part of the camp for his workers so that his factory can stay open, and saving them from being randomly killed by the Nazis. As the German forces realize that they are going to loose the war and must kill all the Jews in the camps, Schindler creates a list of as many Jew he can afford to “buy” and employ in his new factory in his own town, saving them from being killed and setting them free once the war is over.
This takes place during the Holocaust showing the huge amount of Anti-semitism that was happening. I would recommend this movie but also first saying how sad it really is. I would be lying if i said it was easy to watch the movie broke my heart! But it really shows just how horrible the treatment of the Jew was. So i would recommend this movie just make sure you have tissues around.

**spoiler alert
I unfortunately thought it would be a good idea to get ideas of movies from the previous posts so I watched The Passion of the Christ (2004) directed by Mel Gibson. It was the most appalling movie from all the violence inflicted on Jesus.
The film started off with an opening scene of Jesus praying in a garden. He is then betrayed by one of his followers Judas Iscariot and is taken back in chains to Jerusalem since he claims to be the son of God.Jesus is brought before the Roman Governor for his sentencing. He then realizes that by setting Jesus free will put him in the middle of a political conflict and therefore leaves it up the the people who are watching the sentencing. He gives the crowd a choice between a murderer, Barrabas or Jesus and asks which one they would let to be set free. After choosing the murderer Jesus is put into the hands of Roman soldiers a very very brutally beaten to the bone. With the crowd still unsatisfied he is nailed to the cross and and left to die. The movie then ends with seeing an angelic healthy image of him with holes in his hands from the nails, showing he was reborn.
It was definitely a gory movie and do not recommend it if you have a weak stomach. I felt the beating scenes went on way too long, but I suppose they were showing the ultimate brutality that was thought to have happened. I think it was sad a very sad movie and shameful that the Roman Governor did not speak out to protect his own image and status although he saw it was an injustice.

I watched the documentary Jesus Camp. This movie is very disturbing. These extremist parents are brain washing their children to believe what they believe. They are spouting off all this gospel at age 8. How could these parents do this to their children. I chose this movie because I wanted to see it for a while. These people just seem so different so I wanted to see the movie.
The movie starts with this radio DJ speaking about how they are wrong for doing this to their children, then it cuts to a woman who is an extremist evangelical christian. There are children dancing wearing camo and their faces are painted. Then this woman starts to preach. She says that all these children have to watch for satan and other things but she is so extreme. Then after a while they show a parent home schooling her kid and the book is title Evangelical science. Kind of an oxymoron. They are saying that evolution is a lie and that creation is the only possible answer. Watching this movie was annoying. Just how much I don't agree with these people was bugging me. When they do eventually go to Jesus camp it just gets worst. They have pray and they are all crying and waving their hands in the air, and she is telling them to speak to god in tongues. This lady is so extreme in her views. Then there is a guy who comes in and speaks about abortion. He told all the kids that god created them in their mother womb. Then he pulls out a little box of fetuses (plastic of course) and show the kids. He already is just feeding them what he wants them to believe and they do. Then they have to go and attack homosexuals. The emphasis on people being gay is too much. They can't just let people have different opinion they have to convert everyone. That is what bothers me keep your religion to your self quit forcing it on other. Watching this movie while we are studding Islam is kind of fitting. The woman from the being said that she has the right religion. She attacked Muslims for just being Muslims and called them all terrorist. She said that in their religion they are handing their kids AK's and Grenades. So far from the truth lady.
I would recommend this movie just to see how far from the truth these people are. If someone threatens them they hate them and bash them. They seem to be very narrow minded people. If someone wanted to kill an hour and half I would saw watch it but for pleasure no. I found myself getting board with it sometimes. It can be found on Youtube if anyone needs or wants to watch it.

skrikava
Watching It

I watched one episode of a series called "Christianity and Islam" that explained the differences between Christianity and Islam. I found it on Netflix. It was based on the book, Is the Father of Jesus, the God of Muhammad? The narrator of the film was Dr. Timothy George. What I found interesting about this video was that Islam is a fast, and ever growing religion. I didn't know it was the second largest religion, and each year there are more and more conversions. It's amazing that there are actually more muslims outside of Israel than in. There are more Muslims in Western China than western baptists in the entire world and Indonesia is the world's largest population of Muslims!! Who'da thunk? It was amazing to listen to Muslim speakers talking about all the connections with Christianity. The movie also covered the five pillars of faith.
The one thing I didn't like about the movie was the biased point of view. Dr. George said near the end, "There is much in the Qur'an as that in the Bible, and we should claim common ground when possible but also help Muslims understand their need for Jesus whenever possible." I didn't like that part.
I probably wouldn't recommend this video a) for it's biased point of view, and b) I think the information may be a bit old.

The second thing I watched was part of a National Geographic film titled, "Inside Mecca". It documented the Hajj, or the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca where the Kaaba rests. I felt this video was really well done, and even thought it was a slightly outdated (I think it was made in the 1990's) it was really interesting. The film followed a few Muslims who all came from different backgrounds. One guy was from Africa, another from Indonesia, and a woman who was from Texas. (She was originally a Catholic). They all had really interesting and unique stories. I would recommend this movie to others because I think it accurately documents the pilgrimage without any bias. National Geographic did a nice job.

I watched the same two things as Susie, one episode of the "Christianity and Islam" series and one part of "Inside Mecca" by National Geographic. I enjoyed both, but I would certainly recommend one over the other.
Christianity and Islam was interesting because it touched on much of what we had and have learned in class about the two faiths, and then put them side-by-side for comparison. Like Susie said, I had no idea (well, some idea from class, of course, but still not as complete a picture) that they were so connected! Islam is also an incredibly fast-growing religion (as I learned from class when talking about numbers, which is staggering), and more and more of the world is able to open an eye to Islam in general. One young Muslim woman talked about the veil being a choice rather than forced upon women, and how it predates Islam the religion by a long shot. One thing she said stuck with me: in every image we see of the Christian Virgin Mary, she has a veil of some sort. This clearly isn't an Islamic tradition--it was part of the time, the centuries before and during the creation of Islam. That blew my mind, really; I had NEVER thought about that or realized that about Mary and other images of Christianity! Anyway, this film was VERY biased--the narrator, Dr. Timothy George, is an evangelical Roman Catholic and is quite active in the religious community. I think Susie's quote was a very good example of his views and how he presented much of the film. It bothered me how much this leaned towards "let's accept Muslims, but then help them find Jesus" rather than a straight comparison of the two faiths. Therefore, I would not recommend this as an unbiased source. (And it really is too old now to be a decent source of up-to-date info.)
The other film, Inside Mecca, I thought was great! It showcased three different Muslims on their Hajj to Mecca, and the stories were really fascinating. Although I've never been super knowledgable on the subject, I always like to think that I have an open mind when it comes to faith(s), but I honestly think this film smacked me in the face. Seeing an Irish-American woman living in Texas who converted from strict CATHOLICISM, a South-African man, and an Asian guy (from Indonesia) and his wife, made me realize I still thought of Muslims as Middle-Easterners concentrated in that area of the world. Their stories were amazing, especially that of the Irish woman. I truly felt educated when I stopped watching, and I really want to finish this film! This comes A-okay recommended from me because of its diverse, unbiased outlook and portrayal of the pilgrims, their histories, and the information about Islam.

* What did you watch? (Provide specific enough information so that someone else could find this if they wanted.)
* Provide a brief overview of what you watched: (I mean a paragraph or two at the most.)
* Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not?

For this assignment, I decided to watch a film called "The Buddha." This film was a documentary released through PBS that I found on Netflix. It was also nominated for an Emmy.
This documentary explored the life of Siddhartha Guatama through visuals, narratives, and commentary by a group of scholars. The film began with the Buddha's birth and continued to tell the entirety of his life. The film also did a good job of relating his life to modern occurrences. For example, there was a scene in which the Buddha's experience with yoga was followed by a short interlude about modern yoga. The film included some pretty incredible video footage, but I was really amazed by the artistic visuals that were included to help tell the story of the Buddha.
I would definitely recommend this film to another student. No matter how you feel about Buddhism, the film does an incredible job of interpreting the story and gave a pretty inspirational rendering that entertained and left me in awe of the great Buddha's life

I watched the movie 'Jesus Camp', a documentary about a summer camp named "Kids on Fire" in Devils Lake, North Dakota. Kids on Fire is run by evangelical pastor named Becky Fischer, and it prides itself in its goal to develop children to be "soldiers in God's army." Fischer's main goal is that she wants to make more youth religious, and end the United States ruling on separation of Church and State, and to make America a Christian nation.
This movie was pretty terrifying. The brainwashing I saw in the film really shows how impressionable children are, and how dangerous people like this who indoctrinate people are. These children seemed to be almost fanatical about Jesus. Ms. Fisher seems to have a very black-and-white view of the world, saying that there were only people who "love Jesus, and those who don't."
Ms. Fischer makes the children believe that the only right path in the world is the path of jesus. Some horrible scenes depicting this process were of breaking things with a hammer that were unholy, out of control spasms, but mainly lots of crying and praying.
This movie really scared me, and it was hard for me to even fathom that it was real life. Seeing children lose their self control to Jesus was very uncomforting. The kids were so indoctrinated into this strange belief system and even the adults who were running the place seemed to believe it. They skew religion and use it for their own agenda and they really don't seem to understand the religion that they seem to be so focused on.

I watched the film "Schindler's List." Schindler’s List was a movie about a well off Polish man, Oskar Schindler who becomes sympathetic and concerned about his Jewish workers and decides to do something about the horrible way they’ve been treated. Schindler’s workplace is a very comfortable workplace compared to all the other camps and work place’s in Poland. He had a reputation of treating his workers very well and having a safe environment. One day, an old Jewish man came into his office and thanked him for basically saving his life because he was moved from a dangerous factory where they constantly abused their workers, to Schindler’s factory. He thanked him for treating them so well and he blessed him. I think this was the beginning of the way Schindler’s feelings started to change for his workers. Later on when the war was coming to an end, Schindler tried to move workers from other factories to his because he knew that they would be better off and have a better chance at survival at his workplace. At first he wanted to move them because he thought it would be better for his business to have more workers, but then he came to realize that what was happening was extremely wrong. He witnessed Jews being massacred throughout the cities and wanted to save as many as he could. He changed the rules of his factory, making them less abusive and respectful. He told the guards that they were not to kill any worker without reason, or without talking to him about what they had done to deserve such an extreme penalty. The guards were not allowed in the work place, and were not to make contact with any worker without consent or reason. Schindler changed so many things to make things better for the Jewish people that worked for him. He spent all his money on transferring and buying workers, losing millions. By the time the war was over, he was nearly bankrupt, but he still told himself that he could have saved one more; he said that his car was worth five more people, his coat was worth 1, he kept on going on, almost making a list out of guilt of how many he didn’t save. He saved almost 1,200 Jews during WWII. As of 1994, there were over 6,000 descendants from those 1,200 people. Oskar Schindler made a difference in the lives of those people.

I watched the film "Schindler's List." Schindler’s List was a movie about a well off Polish man, Oskar Schindler who becomes sympathetic and concerned about his Jewish workers and decides to do something about the horrible way they’ve been treated. Schindler’s workplace is a very comfortable workplace compared to all the other camps and work place’s in Poland. He had a reputation of treating his workers very well and having a safe environment. One day, an old Jewish man came into his office and thanked him for basically saving his life because he was moved from a dangerous factory where they constantly abused their workers, to Schindler’s factory. He thanked him for treating them so well and he blessed him. I think this was the beginning of the way Schindler’s feelings started to change for his workers. Later on when the war was coming to an end, Schindler tried to move workers from other factories to his because he knew that they would be better off and have a better chance at survival at his workplace. At first he wanted to move them because he thought it would be better for his business to have more workers, but then he came to realize that what was happening was extremely wrong. He witnessed Jews being massacred throughout the cities and wanted to save as many as he could. He changed the rules of his factory, making them less abusive and respectful. He told the guards that they were not to kill any worker without reason, or without talking to him about what they had done to deserve such an extreme penalty. The guards were not allowed in the work place, and were not to make contact with any worker without consent or reason. Schindler changed so many things to make things better for the Jewish people that worked for him. He spent all his money on transferring and buying workers, losing millions. By the time the war was over, he was nearly bankrupt, but he still told himself that he could have saved one more; he said that his car was worth five more people, his coat was worth 1, he kept on going on, almost making a list out of guilt of how many he didn’t save. He saved almost 1,200 Jews during WWII. As of 1994, there were over 6,000 descendants from those 1,200 people. Oskar Schindler made a difference in the lives of those people.

In God's Name

We watched this movie during class. it is a movie that takes us inside what some of the most influential spiritual leaders have to say, and how they live their life, and what they believe in.
What Dr. Williams said talking about 9/11 really struck me. People would ask where god was on the terrible day, a question that i have asked myself many times. Why would god let this happen? But god was with the people who helped find the injured people, and all the fire fighters who sacrificed themselves to save others. 9/11 brought our country together, and god was defiantly with us in out time of mourning. I also liked how during "The Calling" section, where the leaders talk about what/when there defining moment when they decided to be a part of the church. I noticed that almost all of them had a moment that they remembered where they were called by god at a very young age. I would absolutely recommend this movie. It was very well put together and i learned a lot from hearing what all the leaders do. They are all so passionate about their religions and it rubs off onto you when you watch this movie.

Watching It
Jordan Sinkfield
“In Gods Name”

The film I watched was titled “In Gods Name” and it is a documentary involving the twelve most influential spiritual leaders of all time. It describes these leaders in many ways and talks to and interviews many people about certain events and situations that have happened in their lives that involved these leaders and let them talk about their own experiences that their faith and belief was brought forth.
There were interviewers from all over the world and all types of people. From your average everyday common working man in North Carolina all the way to a high up, very important Buddhist monk. Experiences on how they truly dove into their religion or their faith was talked about, or how ‘God’ or “the Lord” has played a huge role throughout their entire life or how ‘God’ has helped them in rough times of needs.
I would recommend this to others definitely; especially if this was a topic under study. It was not only factual and informational but it was also very interesting and capturing. It kept my attention and it was overall a very nice film. I found it so amazing how there were all different types of people from all over the world with different stories or different circumstances and situations but all who had one thing in common and that was how powerful of a role or how influential of an entity their “God”, that one special almighty leader was in each and everyone of their lives. It was absolutely amazing to see.

What did you watch? (Provide specific enough information so that someone else could find this if they wanted.)

Provide a brief overview of what you watched: (I mean a paragraph or two at the most.)

Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not?

I watched the movie "In God's Name", a documentary that reflects on major world issues, and world views with 12 influential religious leaders from around the world.

The video interviews leaders such as the Dalai Lama, and the Pope Discussion about the effects of the events that took place on 9/11 on spirituality, and the world view of religions. There is also a questioning of where God could be to allow such an event to take place. I found through the video that various religious leaders had different reactions to the events that took place, and the worlds reaction to it, and that these reactions varied to reflect the religions they lead. Each world leader also goes through and tells about the defining moment in their life that gave religion significance. There is no unanimous thread that connects each of their experience; each leader tells of a very personal and varying experience. The leaders also share the importance of God in their own life, and the influence their position has on their personal lives.

I would suggest this video because I found it interesting, and it had a lot of information that goes beyond simply stating facts. That is, I found it more helpful to listen to individual accounts of members of the faith, than simply reading about it.

The movie I watched for “Watching It” is called “In God’s Name”, which we watched in class. The point of the documentary was to get into the personal life of the spiritual leaders in order to see their personal faith, hopes and dreams and how they came to be “called” by God or by faith. Some had specific moments that pushed them into faith, while others just came into faith.

The movie is about twelve of the most influential spiritual leaders throughout the world. The Dalai Lama made a great point at the beginning. He said that Buddhism is the religion best suited for him, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best religion for everyone. If you don’t like spicy, then you won’t like food with jalapeños.
The movie was shot after 9/11 and there were scenes of firefighters shooting a documentary right before the planes hit the towers in New York. Many people questioned where God was after the planes hit the towers. This experience was very similar to the reaction of Jews after the Holocaust; of how can you believe in God after what has just occurred.
All of the leaders agree that God is everywhere, and in everyone. Rev Mark Hanson talks about how his call to be a leader in the world has affected his personal relationships, especially with his wife. This was very similar to the Archbishop, who said that his most important relationship was that with his wife.

I would recommend this movie to anyone, but especially those that are religious. I think that this gives a good idea of the personal life of the spiritual leaders and I think that’s something that you don’t get to see very often and has really opened my eyes to view religion differently.

We watched "In God's Name" in class. This movie gets inside the personal lives of 12 Spiritual leaders, including leaders of Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, and many variations of Christianity. It was interesting hearing all these different people's views on the human experience and religion. The film would jump back and forth between the leaders talking about their experiences with numerous topics the film brings up (like how they started their spiritual path, their views on other religion, etc.).
I liked this movie a lot because it showed these incredibly wise and powerful people discussing questions we ask ourselves very frequently. One of the most interesting people in the movie was the Baptist from South Carolina. When others said that thou shalt not kill should apply to all religions this man said that everything is a battleground and he would almost gladly kill for his country family and faith. This was pretty disturbing to me and really juxtaposed his faith from the others.
I would recommend this movie because it is interesting and relevant to almost all people.

Watching It

The switching back and fourth between the different religious leaders was very interesting. It helped with my perspective and tying together all of the worlds religions that were included in the film. It helped to see that maybe they all are more closely related to each other than we think. The Dali Lama was very interesting to listen to and see. Especially after watching the movie about the Dali Lama. It was cool to be able to have the knowledge and background of his life. How do you make sense of death? Where was God on September 11th? I thought it was interesting how the christian guy(priest? can't remember what his title was) said that God was there. No matter what occurred. God was inside all of the firefighters and the rescue crew searching for dead bodies. He was all around that day. This is one way of looking at it through Christian eyes. Others could say that the reason it happened is because there is no God. I really enjoyed watching this movie in class! On a side note, i remember you wondering weather or not we should watch this at the beginning of the course or end. I think it was nice to watch it at the end because i was able to focus in more on what was being said and actually had an understanding because of all i have learned in class.

"In God's Name"

I watched this in class. For this film, National Geographic interviewed 12 spiritual leaders from around the world including the Dalai Lama, and the Pope, whose views range from a passive, to each their own kind of perspective to a belief in "spiritual warfare", meaning that evil actively seeks out followers. The film, which was made not long after 9/11, also talks explicitly about that day. The documentarists say that they got the idea for this film on 9/11 while they were filming a documentary about firefighters in New York when the first plane hit. The doctumentarists say one of the most common questions they hear about that day is, "Where was God?". Each of the leaders talks about their upbringing and how they became religious. Some following in their parents' footsteps, others finding their faith by chance. They each talk about their "calling", when they became really serious about their faith. Some just had strong attachments to God at young ages, another heard a voice telling him to follow his calling.

Each of these leaders are similar in one way or another. Most of them wake up incredibly early in the morning to continue their prayer or meditation. They each feel God all around them; they feel it in their breathing, their surroundings, their actions, and the actions done unto them.

The leaders talk about the sacrifices they make for their calling, and how it affects their relationhships. The leader of Russian ortodoxy says, "I don't belong to myself. The leader of a congregation belongs to his parish, his people." Still, they value their personal relationships and thrive in them.

They explain their feelings about the nature of good and evil and the role of humanity in them both. The Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders talk about how both saint and sin are inborn and how environment can bring one out over the other.

I enjoyed this documentary because of the parallels they draw between such a variety of spiritual leaders. I think it is cool to see someone in India and someone in England wake up at the same time (relatively) to focus on their prayer.

I watched “In God’s Name” The movie interviews twelve spiritual leaders from different religions. We see footage from the lives of leaders from Hinduism, Islam, Sikh, Orthodox, Anglican, Shinto, Catholic, and Lutheran and we get their opinions on religion. From the video we learn about each of them, and how they perceive god, and other religions. We got to learn about the life styles of the leaders and how the manage being a spiritual leader as well part of their family. They were asked about the presence of god and they each answered about their own interpretation of God on earth, they all answered that god is part of everything, be it people or things. I think people get a good understanding of a religion. I like the movie it was easy to follow and understand what the people are talking about and I think people should watch the movie.

As most of the class did, I watched “In God’s Name”, a film that delves into the personal lives of 12 influential current religious figures and leaders. I thought it was interesting to see the personal side of these people, and also to see how many beliefs they shared. Switching from leader to leader, religion to religion, accented the similarities between belief systems. I found it interesting that the idea of this film came about because of 9/11. Despite the differences and tensions, one thing every leader agreed on was the presence of a God even though tragedies happen.
I would definitely recommend this film to others. Often times, famous people, whether they are a religious leader or a celebrity, are elevated in society. Seeing these religious figures discuss the problems that common people think about everyday was very interesting to see and reminded me that even though these leaders are looked up to by millions and in some cases billion people, they are still just people, the same as everybody else.

What did you watch? (Provide specific enough information so that someone else could find this if they wanted.)
Provide a brief overview of what you watched: (I mean a paragraph or two at the most.)
Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not?

I watched "In God's Name" during class. This film takes a closer look at the lives of 12 of the worlds most influential religious figures. I really liked seeing a more personal side of these figures and seeing what kind of person they are. A large part of this film talked about tragedy and 9/11. Every leader, in their own way, all said that god was present in times of tragedy. I would recommend this film for others. It was really neat to see the personalities and accents and to hear how each of the leaders found god and whatnot. It really is an interesting movie.

We watched "In God's Name" during class. And I thought it was very interesting to explore the complex questions of our time through the personal thoughts and beliefs of 12 of the world's most influential spiritual leaders. Everyone's voices on that film offered compelling and enlightening perspective on mass issues in our post-9/11 world. Each leader said that they believed that God was present during all tragedies, which is a really interesting standpoint because some people believe that if God was present, most calamities would not have even occurred. Not all evil can be stopped, and not all sorrow from misfortune can be prevented, but it can be healed, and I think that is why all those spiritual leaders say that a God is present during even the most trying times. I would recommend this film to anyone, religious or not, it has a very good message and I think I learned a lot from it.

We watched "In God's Name" during class. I thought it was very interesting to explore the complex questions of our time through the personal thoughts and beliefs of 12 of the world's most influential spiritual leaders. Everyone's voices on that film offered compelling and enlightening perspective on mass issues in our post-9/11 world. Each leader said that they believed that God was present during all tragedies, which is a really interesting standpoint because some people believe that if God was present, most calamities would not have even occurred. Not all evil can be stopped, and not all sorrow from misfortune can be prevented, but it can be healed, and I think that is why all those spiritual leaders say that a God is present during even the most trying times. I would recommend this film to anyone, religious or not, it has a very good message and I think I learned a lot from it.