Jesus Camp
Jesus Camp is a startling 2006 documentary from Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing. The documentary covers a charismatic Christian summer camp for kids that encourages spiritual “experiences” and teaches children to win America back for Christ. The film switches back and forth between stories of various children and their parents and moderate Christian radio host Mike Papantonio. Unlike many documentaries, the film utilizes no running narrative and rather lets the subjects speak and act for themselves. This creates an effective “form your own opinion” style, which I feel many documentaries lack.
Jesus Camp is essentially a documentary that covers the “Kids on Fire” charismatic summer camp for Christian kids. This is a summer camp that is run by Becky Fischer and her ministry, “Kids in Ministry International”. The camp was situated in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, and has since been shut down because of the unfortunate actions of zealous vandals that saw Jesus Camp. Fischer has said that “Kids on Fire” is currently searching for a new home to hold the camp.
The filmmakers splice the occurrences from this camp with footage from Papantonio’s radio studio and a children’s prayer conference in which kids are introduced to political issues through church leaders. Jesus Camp focuses in on three kids in particular and follows their stories with succinct detail, dropping in at their homes to see how their lives are led. The film details themes such as home-schooling and religious instruction in the home, setting up a complete characterization of the role of religion in the lives of the children.
As the film progresses, the connection between church matters and political matters is focused in on. Ted Haggard, the former Evangelical preacher convicted of homosexual sex and drug abuse, is featured in the film as the leader of one of the mega-churches. Haggard gives a word of encouragement to one of the kids about the content of his message. Two weeks after the film was released, Haggard was arrested.
As a Christian, I found the film to be incredibly frightening. Other religious people and non-religious people will likely get the same reaction from watching Jesus Camp, but I would venture to say that their reactions would be based rather differently than my own and other reactions from within the Christian community. Many Christians have stepped forward to critique the film, saying that it focuses unfairly and with bias on children that are “just trying to live out their faith”. As I watched Jesus Camp (I’ve seen it twice now), I don’t see children trying to live out their faith. I see children, many of them as young as four or five years old, being coaxed and coerced into emotional-spiritual matters that are far beyond the realm of their understanding. As a Christian with years of research and education under my belt, I see the actions within Jesus Camp as being deplorable and borderline child abuse.
The film effectively will inflame and enrage its audience or, conversely, it may encourage its audience. Some folks from Focus on the Family claim to be inspired by the actions of Fischer and the children in the film, wishing that all Christians could have similar faith experiences. But that’s just it. Without going on too much of a rant or going too far off-topic with what is normally a film review blog, Jesus Camp shows us a crowd of Christians thirsty for a spiritual experience. It shows us speaking in tongues, for example, and little children under the age of five being coaxed and shouted at to “pray in tongues”. No child that young is going to have any idea what speaking in tongues means or, moreover, what the hell they’re doing when they’re praying in tongues. Instead, Fischer and her gang of religious hooligans merely tarnish what is an extremely rare and important spiritual ritual that many Christians (myself included) may never experience. Jesus Camp is filled with this type of content, as spiritual experience-seekers continue to push what should be a natural and organic faith on children that lack the understanding and intellect to fully grasp the implications of that type of lifestyle. It’s shocking, frightening and disturbing.
Jesus Camp isn’t a generalization in and of itself, as it is a film telling a story about a group of Christians. But for those that don’t know much about groups of Christians (or Evangelicals), there is a multitude of groups within even Evangelicalism. Jesus Camp takes its focus from the Charismatic Christian movement, primarily. While political parties and Evangelicals have been bedfellows in America for quite some time, it is not that way everywhere. Not all Evangelical churches pray in tongues or teach their children in the way that Becky Fischer does. While it is not the job of Jesus Camp to lay this out in black and white, many viewers of the film may come away with the notion that all North American Evangelicals instruct their children in this fashion and combine politics with their religion. That is not the case.
Mike Papantonio is the voice of reason in the film, which I loved. He represents moderate Christian views with class and dignity, but also knows how to fire back properly at the notions of what Fischer and gang are up to at Devil’s Lake. Papantonio himself is a Methodist and has a great point of view on many of the issues within Jesus Camp. The “final showdown” segment between Papantonio and Fischer is heart-pounding.
Jesus Camp is an effective and balanced documentary that never coerces a point of view out of the audience. It is a film every Christian should see, as the Church desperately needs a time of evaluation within today’s modern climate. It is also a film every non-Christian should see, as information and education as to what the Church is up to within your nation and your land is something to be desired. Jesus Camp is a powerful, moving and shocking documentary and one of the best of 2006 (far better than Gore’s sleepy An Inconvenient Truth).
Trailer:
