Tuesday 10 March 2009

Deborah 13: Servant of God

One of the saddest things I've seen on British TV, recorded in the UK, a 13 year old girl, raised by her parents, home-schooled, isolated from people her own age. 4th of 11 children, with no contact with people her own age. Sent out (or maybe volunteers, who knows?) to proselytise on a friday night, complete with bible tracts and an attitude for God.

Everything seems to be a sin in her little world, and it's a very little world indeed.

The family are easily described as young earth creationists, they actually think the planet is 6,000 years old. The bible is taken as literal.

Interviewer: 'What are you training them for?'
Father: 'Eternity'

Of course, everything the family watch on the internet (no TV) is from creationist broadcasts which basically repudiate anything not agreeing with the literal interpretation of the bible.

My main problem with the whole family isn't with the parents, but with the oldest sibling, currently at university, who seems to protest a little too much. He's probably the biggest influence on the youngsters, yet still, after going out into the big wide world, continues to contribute to the continuation of the usual fallacies.

He's the role model.

The whole programme reeks of guilt as I'm watching it.

Oh, no, the Big Bang is a theory....how can it be proved by science?
He takes her to meet his house-mates at his Uni digs.
On the way:
Brother looking at the landscape... 'look at it! Created, I think!'

So she meets his house-mates. Very embarrassing for the housemates.
Then shopping. 'Oh, what a shallow life, compared to when the "elements are all melting up"'. Rapture anyone?

Oh, it's too much. I'm not sure I can watch it to the end. The poor girl has no real social skills, no sense of perspective. Everything is about her and god, but no question of what other people do with their lives.

Interesting error: the bible, apparently says 'no drinking'. I seem to remember something about weddings and water into wine. No?

According to this girl, people who tell 'little white lies' and 'paedophiles and murderers' are all going to hell.

It's all guilt, guilt, guilt.

The last 60 seconds of the program shows a 13 year old girl struggling to make sense of cognitive dissonance, she has seen real life, people who don't think as she does. And she struggles to reconcile what she's seen with what she believes, and in my book fails. And she looks wretched going through that. Not her fault. The fault of the people who indoctrinated her. Very sad to watch.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the father of this family (his father was a churchman of some kind) fell in with the Jehovah's Witnesses, then went off to start his own cult, beginning with his wife. Lots of witnessing going on, and strict adherence to biblical truth.

apologies if that seemed a bit stream-of-consciousness, I began blogging after watching the first 60 seconds, I wanted to get down what I was seeing, I couldn't really believe it.

JH

(thanks to GemmaK for the head up)

3 comments:

  1. You have managed to sum it up exactly in my opinion, where I, having felt so horrified, just couldn't form the sentences to describe quite how horrified and appalled it left me feeling!

    Almost everything I feel is bad in religion was there, it was extremely sad and concerning and I suspect had I been able to see myself, I probably watched the whole programme with my mouth hanging open!

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  2. Well, it's up at Richard Dawkins' web site now.

    I was open-mouthed too.

    http://www.richarddawkins.net/article,3655,Deborah-13-Servant-of-God,BBC-3

    Thanks again for the heads up, I'd never have noticed it otherwise.

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  3. Found your blog on blogsearch, looking for something about Deborah Drapper, this documentary freaked me out and angered me, so I needed to read some rants about it. I will never understand why fundies think it is moral to worship a jealous, vindictive, angry God and that the way to salvation is being a cosmic *rse licker. If they believe this God is real, is he really worthy of any kind of worship?

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