'The Thaw' Video: Christian Teens Call For “A War For the Hearts and Souls Of Our Generation”

Impact

A new video released last month by the Christian youth group “Reach America” calls for teens to join a “Christ-centered counter-culture,” or “C4.”

They claim their traditional opinions on abortion and gay rights have put them at odds in an increasingly secular and accepting society, resulting in anti-Christian bullying in schools and persecution because of their religious beliefs. 

“The Thaw,” which went viral on Monday jumping from a few hundred views to almost 50,000, begins with a montage of Christian teens bemoaning a series of questions: “Why can’t I pray in school? Why do I have to check my religion at the door?

“Why am I called names because I believe in marriage the way God designed it?”

The teens argue that “People who do not love our God have stolen our country,” before proclaiming that, “We are an army. Christ is our commander.”

This melodramatic and quasi-militant video, produced by the kids, makes a number of references to a Christ-driven army of Christian youth. “We are in a war for the hearts and souls of our generation … failure is not an option.” 

The video cites the landmark 1962 Supreme Court case Engel v. Vitale, which ruled that prayer was unconstitutional in public schools, but then inaccurately claims that the 1963 case School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp ruled “the Bible unconstitutional.”

Reach America is operated by its founder, Gary Brown, a long-time conservative pastor from Atlanta and president of the Idaho Values Alliance. He started the group when a public school teacher in northern Idaho instructed students to write an essay titled “I Believe,” though prohibited them from writing about God.

“There is a lot of bullying directed at Christian kids in public schools and the culture at large. So many teenagers are being ostracized for being Christian,” Brown claims. “One of the girls asked why. It turned into [“The Thaw”] where Christianity is being frozen out of the American culture. These teenagers say it’s time for a thaw.” 

Allegations of anti-Christian bullying are nothing new — conservative pundits have recently begun citing the rapid and wide-spread acceptance of homosexuality as source of push-back against those holding increasingly-unpopular anti-gay views. 

Do these kids have a point? Or is this more social conservative victim-playing? Feel free to sound off below.