The book, Jesusland: Stories from the Upside Down World of Christian Pop Culture, is described as an empathetic and funny collection of essays exploring Christian pop culture of the 2000s, but what I read was a critical and rather frightening look at just how powerful and dangerous evangelicalism is.
Jesusland: Stories from the Upside Down World of Christian Pop Culture
As a former Roman Catholic who is now aggressively anti-organized religion, I was very interested in reading this ECW book written by Joelle Kidd. I was hoping to understand how an evangelical cult had infiltrated all three branches of the United States. When Andy Burns, our fearless leader of Biff Bam Pop!, asked me to review Jesusland: Stories from the Upside Down World of Christian Pop Culture, I said that I would only under the condition that I could freely speak my mind. So here we are. Buckle your seatbelts, dearies.
Joelle Kidd is an amazing writer who takes us on a journey of life within an evangelical Christian education system. Joelle had spent three years in Bratislava, Slovakia, because of her father’s job. She returned to Canada at the age of seven, where she was enrolled in a Christian school.
Joelle Kidd tells her experience with her schooling through nine essays that reveal how religion, especially the Evangelical preachings, used an almost mind-culturing technique to mould the minds of the children who attended Christian schools. Every trick is used to reach the goal of spreading their interpretation of the bible.
How did the Evangelical movement succeed in infiltrating the secular world of pop culture? They just disguised themselves as secular. And no one suspected what was happening. Using rock bands like Superchick and Jump 5, the Evangelical movement was able to distract its children from listening to secular rock music, but there were also books, magazines, and films to entice Christian children to ignore the fact that they were pawns in a major conversion tool.
Conclusion
I could not put down Jesusland: Stories from the Upside Down World of Christian Pop Culture. Joelle Kidd was speaking my language. While Joelle’s primary intention might have been an inside look at how an ultra-conservative Christian movement used every secular trick of the trade to groom an entire generation of children, what was revealed was a dangerous organization that not only threatened a woman’s rights and worth but was slowly becoming a global threat.
Like I said in the beginning, I am a former Roman Catholic with twelve years of Catholic schooling under my belt. I have my own horror stories…some funny…ranging from saving space at our school desk for our Guardian Angel to have a seat, to collecting money for Pagan babies (whatever the fuck that was). What the hell is a Pagan baby? I never found out, but we collected pennies to save them.
And of course, there is the pedophilia that went on for generations. But I do have to say this, the Catholic Church in America did not (at least in South Philadelphia) try to brainwash us with Christian rock groups, magazines or films. Superchick and Jump 5 were second bananas to Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, and, of course, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
Jesusland: Stories from the Upside Down World of Christian Pop Culture is a must-read. I highly recommend it, especially for all of us who are fighting a malignant conservative group that is trying to destroy the Constitution of these United States.
