CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Palaest recommended

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

bkoganbing Boiled down to its essence Monumental: In Search Of America's National Treasure is a blueprint for fundamentalist Christians to restore America to their view of it. According to their view of history it was when America did such things as ban school prayer and make abortion legal and available and heaven help us decide that LGBTQ people were actually citizens that ought to have equal treatment that America just lost its way.Our founding fathers true were for the most part churchgoing folks. But they also saw how wars of religion had torn Europe apart in the previous century. They made provision that at least federally we would have no established religion and none would be given preference. Eventually each state adopted that standard as well. The skepticism of Franklin, the Deism of Jefferson, the outright atheism of Tom Paine gets nary a mention.It's a warped view of America and Cameron whose career in mainstream entertainment went south is now a star on the Christian circuit. What really annoys me about this view of America and of life when you come right down to it works wonderfully if you accept unquestioningly their view of things. If you don't buy into it,either you are a unregenerate sinner or a person for this crowd to preach to. Seeing how this crowd is excusing all the scandals and peccadillos of our current president who is trying to give them the America they want should show them up for what they are.Fundamentalist Christian propaganda that really doesn't stand up to critical examination.

mtnjak-1 This film went beyond what I learned in school about the pilgrims. It goes through more detailed events leading up to them landing at Plymouth, MA in 1620. It gives you a sense of how desperate times were in England under a tyrannical government which had no tolerance for Christians. Kirk Cameron talks to historians and experts to paint a picture of just how hard the Puritans fought to be free from an oppressive government. Cameron, with the help of a historian, discovers a hidden gem of history--a little heard about monument to our founding--and gives the viewer an interpretation of the meaning of said monument. An excellent film that every American should see.

meggs0 I've never written a review before but it also seems that Mr. Cameron has never seen a documentary before. I admittedly skipped over some points where Cameron is beyond perplexed and where he is subjected to painfully slow, rhetorical questions given in Sunday school format. However, I will attempt to cover some of my personal high and low points without rage quitting like i did this film.The first monumental bowl movement of the film is in the opening where Cameron explains that we are all going to hell in a hand-basket and that the only thing that will set us straight is a revival to God's path and adhering to the saying "one nation under God." The term was only added to the pledge of allegiance in the late 40's or 50's and we all know how diverse and accepting of other cultures America was then. The next three quarters of the film is dedicated to the pilgrims' arduous journey from England, to Holland, back to England, and then the new world in order to seek religious freedom from the Anglican church. The film almost comically takes this in full stride while prescribing religious law and a conjoining of church and state. Without even realizing it, Cameron and company come full circle back to the same environment which drove the Puritans from England. The Puritans were also relatively a small sect in colonial America. Can someone please talk about the Georgia penal colony for a fresh change?Moving on to our forefathers, the film tries to change their beliefs postmortem. They do so by citing that 12 of these heathens financed a commemorative bible and that Thomas Jefferson endorsed the bible as a book to be used in school without the consideration of some simple realities. In the late 1700's and throughout much of the 1800's books were available but scarce. While Bostonians such as Benjamin Franklin had access to immaculate libraries, you're average country bumpkin only had one book, the Good Book. This made the Bible an excellent and accessible tool to cement literacy in the fledgling nation. Why must the founding fathers be Christian anyways? It seems to me that the point of America was that it doesn't matter what you do or do not believe in, all that matters is that you're American and wish to see this great experiment succeed. It seems that Monumental would have the creed read, "One nation under God, but only for the white Anglo-Saxon Protestants.":For the pros- I never knew that Puritan monument in Massachusetts existed. Cool.Also, I've spent five years in a state school and have never f*cking heard of The Godless Constitution once. (That was supposed to make you laugh)Thanks for reading! I'm a Christian!

meanstreak38 Did you know that our U.S. Congress paid to produce Bibles and put them in homes. HARVARD's motto was "Christ and Truth." And on and on with FACTS from historians that we've never heard before. Remember a certain president saying "America is not a Christian nation" and idiots saying our country was found on religious freedom and not the Bible. That the founders were against Christianity and its tenants. Well, half of them were ordained ministers, so ... the liberals that are spreading the lies are WRONG. Why has this movie been out for two years and gotten great reviews and is not on NETFLIX? I've requested it four times in the last four years. Interesting. Watch this movie and learn. A great movie.