It’s difficult to think of last night’s Cutting Edge documentary, Baby Bible Bashers without getting very depressed.
In it we met seven-year-old Samuel Boutell (see picture), nine-year-old Terry Durham and Ana Carolina Dias (who was, I think, about twelve). These three children firmly believe that it is their mission in life to fervently evangelise the christian faith to everyone they come across. All of them have been giving sermons in church for years. To see them standing in church proclaiming messages that they couldn’t possibly understand was a disgusting sight.
And preaching in church isn’t enough for young Samuel. He likes to get out on the street and annoy passers-by. He spends most Saturdays standing outside his local abortion clinic shouting “don’t kill your children”.
Of course, none of these children came to these beliefs unaided. In each case you can look behind them and see a deeply religious family. A deeply religious family that, in my opinion, should be locked up for child abuse. Samuel’s father proudly tells the story of how, at the age of three, Samuel asked how he could be saved from burning in eternal hellfire. I think the child protection agencies should be asking why a three-year-old is worrying about hellfire. Who has been introducing him to such concepts?
All three children seemed to live in quite small and insular communities. Communities where christianity is rife and their precocious preaching is welcomed. The documentary followed Samuel on a trip to Washington DC and New York City, where he seemed genuinely surprised that people on the streets weren’t quite as open to hearing his message.
I see no difference between what these children’s parents are doing and what the Gaede twins‘ mother did to them. The last time we saw the Gaede twins, they seemed to be rebelling against their mother’s influence. I can only hope that these children do the same thing.
If you haven’t seen the programme, it’ll be on 4OD for a week. And I expect there will be plenty of copies available on bittorrent. If you like to be outraged, then I strongly recommend that you watch it.