Sunday, April 17, 2011

IndoctriNation

Right Wing Watch recently highlighted a new documentary by Colin Gunn entitled IndoctriNation: Public Schools and the Decline of Christianity in America. Due for release on June 28th, IndoctriNation follows Gunn (a homeschooling father), his wife, and seven children on a bus trip across the U.S. as they examine American public education. The project was financed by several Christian homeschool organizations, including Christian Liberty Academy School System and Exodus Mandate, according to Mother Jones and the film's website.

IndoctriNation is not the first Gunn film to promote right-wing ideas. As Mother Jones reminds readers, Colin Gunn and his brother Euan were the filmmakers behind The Monstrous Regiment of Women, an anti-feminist film that won an award at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. (See www[dot]monstrousregiment[dot]com) The Gunn brothers also released a film entitled Shaky Town, which alleges that Christians are under attack from homosexuals in San Fransisco. (See www[dot]shakytown[dot]com)

The latest trailer for the film offers a taste of the movie's content, which revolves around the allegedly un-Christian messages being taught to children in public schools. Messages about how schools are supposedly failing and how Christians have lost the culture wars portray public schools in a negative light.

At the 0:48 mark, viewers briefly see a scene from the documentary It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School, in which a teacher asks her students to write about what comes to mind when they hear "gay" or "lesbian" -- presumably shown to evoke horror in viewers assumed to be anti-LGBT. A statistic alleging that 88% of Christian children deny their faith by graduation flashes on the screen, amidst sound bites from fundamentalist Christian commentators. For example, at the 0:16 mark, Charles Stanley, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, claims that parents are sending their children into "a pagan society" when they send them to school. At the 0:58 mark, Erwin Lutzer of Moody Church laments that "they are stealing our children." At the 1:40 mark, Brian Rohrbough, former president of American Right to Life who has linked school shootings to abortion and the teaching of evolution, spoke of the "dangers" that threaten to destroy children. In short, the IndoctriNation trailer depicts public schools as ominous, anti-Christian environments.

Watch the full trailer below. (Click here if you're having trouble viewing the video.)


IndoctriNation Trailer from IndoctriNation on Vimeo.

5 comments:

  1. "The Monstrous Regiment of Women"??? Holy crap. The title alone tells me everything I need to know.

    When I read your post title, "IndoctriNation," I was hoping it was going to be about some group of former Right Wingers who finally gained enough self-insight to recognize their own immoral tactical persuasive techniques. No such luck.

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  2. Cognitive Dissenter -- Unfortunately, no such luck. I feel that the film's title is a case of the pot calling the kettle black, but that's just my opinion.

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  3. Congnitive-- I thought, or perhaps hoped the same thing. The recent bigot that ran an anti-gay crusade to cease equal rights for all, just changed his mind. I had hoped this would be somewhat similar, but noooo! Sigh.

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  4. How on earth do they link evolution to school shootings?!!!

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  5. Anomaly -- We'll have to open minds one right-winger at a time.

    Donna Banta -- I wondered the same thing.

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