I've been putting off watching this movie for some time now. I kept bumping it down on my Netflix list. But, since I'm in the midst of vacation and would have the time to really process the flick, I figured I should watch it now.
If you don't already know the gist of this movie, Jesus Camp is about a woman who runs a ministry of Evangelicals called Kids On Fire. Her aim to is minister to born again Christians at a young age. She says (to paraphrase) it isn't indoctrination, it is faith. She also says that she is not going after the children politically, but if you watch the movie there seems to be nothing further from the truth. We follow several children as they go to her camp that was held since 2002 up in North Dakota. Ironically, it was held at a place called Devil's Lake. You can't make this stuff up.
The youth minister pulls no punches in her attempts to lead her flock. This is not a stupid woman. She tells us that kids today need to be visually stimulated. She searches through the toy departments at stores looking for items she can use to preach to the kids. The sermons employ music, video, and high drama to put forth her message. Like all good propaganda, it is made to entice, motivate, and play on one's fears. The first sermon we see at the camp closes with her telling the kids she senses that there are some children there that say one thing when they are in church and others when they are at school or out in public. She calls these kids hypocrites. She says "we can't have phonies in the Army of Christ."
Don't get me wrong. One of the major issues I have with organized religion is it's almost inherent hypocrisy. (Note: these are just my opinions here, I could be completely wrong and be on my way to hell for all I know) But, it was really disturbing to see this woman accusing kids as young as pre-schoolers of not having complete devotion to the Lord. In a bit of a ludicrous moment, she holds up her bottled water and asks the kids to come forward so that their disbelief may be washed away by the water of the saviour.
Before the kids arrive at the camp, she goes around (seemingly without irony) and prays over everything from the seats to the equipment. She asks God to bless the Power Point presentations! Apparently, the Devil likes to make mischief by screwing with the weather, knocking out the power, and ruining the graphs needed to put forth the message. This woman is insane. More frightening, she is completely devoted to her cause.
Towards the end of the camp, the group pulls out a life size cut out of George W. and lays hands on the cut out! They pray and lapse into speaking in tongues. I felt like I was watching old footage of Jonestown at different moments. The highlight was the big end of camp finale which revolved around telling kids why abortion was wrong. Imagine, all this and go-carts too.
The kids make for an interesting bunch. One girl, Rachel, is very,very sweet. She is so joyous about going to church and really getting into the sermon. She mentions she's thinking of being someone who does nails so she can sit down with people and spread the word of God while working on their hands. She prays when she's bowling and asks God to help her ball get to where it needs to go. You can't help but think, that in less extreme hands she would turn out to be a really good person. And, she might do so anyway. But.
She goes up to people on her own to ask if they know God. She is doing her best to spread the word. In a really funny scene during the end credits, she and another couple of kids are walking around and they come upon a group of three older black men sitting in a park. She very sweetly asks one man "if you were to die today, where do you think you would go?" He answers confidently, "Heaven." She asks, "Are you sure?" He sort of chuckles and says, "Yes." She doesn't really know what to say to that so she and her friends say good bye and walk away. As they are leaving, she turns to her friend, and without sarcasm says "I think they're Muslims." Ha!
Levi is home schooled and wants to be a preacher. He gets to talk to Ted Haggard after a sermon when he and his family go to Colorado Springs. Ted asks him if he is a good preacher and the kid says that people seem to be paying attention to him. Ted then asks if people listen because of his content or because he's a kid. Ted suggests, somewhat jokingly, that the boy ride that kid thing till he's 30 and by then the content will catch up. There is a lot of slime in Haggard's appearance and I guess we shouldn't be surprised. About 2 months after the movie came out, Haggard admitted to buying meth from a guy and being gay (although he says he didn't have sex with the guy who sold him the meth). Not that long ago, Haggard claimed he had been "cured" of his homosexuality by something like a week of intense prayer, etc. Sure.
Oh, the home schooling stuff scared the crap out of me. Just gotta say.
The documentary is really interesting and depending on your views, disturbing. I certainly was aware that beliefs like this exist, but it is another thing to see a collective consciousness rise up in front of your eyes. I've watched my fair share of doc's and it felt like the directors just let their subjects talk and be as they are. I didn't get the feeling that there was an overt manipulation of the piece through creative editing. To be honest, the only way to not alter the piece would be to release all of the footage, but that's not really possible. Editing is always going to happen, but I got the sense that the directors and editor did stay true to the piece and what was presented to them through the interviews, etc.
This film is definitely worth seeing and talking about. As a side note, a bit after the film was released in theaters, the camp grounds used by the group were ransacked. Due to the damage, the people that own the land couldn't let it out so currently the camp has no home. The filmmakers have stated they feel bad about what happened to the camp.
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