Jesus Camp (2006)

Whether you go to see this film as a non-believer or an Evangelical Christian, one way or another you're going to be enlightened, and not in a Biblical sense. We get no narration throughout telling us what to think of Becky Fischer's "Kids on Fire" youth summer camp, nobody trying to drag us to hate these people, and yet from just interviews alone of the parents of these children, it quickly becomes apparent that these kids aren't being prepared for living on their own in the real world, and also that the preaching of Fischer and her cohorts is much more politically motivated than faith-based. Is it fear? Is all this desperate reaching for traditional Christian values just a response to the uncertainty of the times? Frequent references are made after all to Islamic terrorism (this film lives in the shadow of 9/11 without outright talking about it), the dissolution of the American family, global warming theories and modern pop culture influences, like Harry Potter and ghost stories. It soon becomes blatant that these parents are paranoid and trying to save their children from every horror that they feel is destroying the values that they hold dear. We also get a particularly grueling view of these kids being made to protest against abortion (they think it's the murder of babies but don't have any concept of what a "baby" by definition of law, ethics of science actually is - and how do these ten-year-olds even know what abortion is?), being made to give propaganda pamphlets to people on the street and getting berated for having good, clean fun if it isn't related in any way, shape or form to God. No matter your views politically or religiously, the film raises a very important question - what kind of people do we want our children to grow up to be, and is it really moral to use them as a pawn and mold them into what we wish we could be? All through it these kids continually hear from the Pastors and their parents, "God loves you", but we never hear any of these adults say "I love you no matter what you do in life". We hear Becky Fischer say "kids are so usable in Christianity" and "I can go up to a playground of kids and lead them to the Lord in a matter of minutes", but we never hear her say "I care about kids". There's a lot of hypocrisy throughout, especially displayed towards those in the nation who happen not to be Christian. The adult Evangelicals in the film show nothing but disdain for these people unless they've been "saved", which shouts out at all viewers to ask themselves, "what does it truly mean to be united as a nation?"

A stark and telling portrayal of how US Christians are made. They don't have to become fundamentalist or evangelist. They just have to have this push behind them. There are two words that scream at me throughout this... CHILD ABUSE. Horror stuff, but essential viewing. I've given it 10 out of 10 because everyone should see this.

There's a cultural bubble caused by full-on immersion in Christian dogma and lack of contact with the secular outside world of different people, experiences, food, places, smells.For a (surprisingly large) group of evangelical Christian fundamentalists, there's no other life, and this documentary shows how religious intolerance, bigotry, one-sidedness and violence can be fostered through childhood indoctrination.Not that the kids in Jesus Camp are actually trained to do anything specifically anti-social, many are just brainwashed into the modern tenets of conservative Christian ideology; pro Christian governance, anti-secular schooling, anti-abortion, and of course support for US military intervention against false religions. (barring, of course, the support for Israels right to a national homeland, despite the fact that the spiritual ideal bares zero resemblance to the injustice and bloodshed in the modern state of Israel.)The most disturbing facts about this doco are the sect's anti- abortion stance. You can easily argue (and people do) for and against an individuals right to terminate early term pregnancy. Governments do of course, but then play puppet strings with the economy and peoples jobs as well. in Jesus Camp, the idea of impressing anti-abortion dogma on children (not young adults, children) is positively CREEPY. In fact, the overall tone of fetishistic reverence for gospel and imaginary Christian holiness is creepy throughout the whole film.Jesus Camp isn't really about religion per se, more the concept of childhood indoctrination, and how it fits into the larger concept of midwestern 'megachurch' businesses that supported and answered to the Bush administration during the making of this film. While the documentary doesn't take aim at the concept of faith in general, it does show the invasive and frankly crazy nature of Christian teacher Becky Fischer and her North Dakota group of pre- teen fundamentalists. Their camp activities were closed after the release of this film.

If there's one thing guaranteed to cheer me up it's religion . I don't mean I'm going to be spiritually touched by the hand of God , I mean I'm going to feel morally and intellectually superior to some Muppet talking about eternal afterlives and other nonsense . A documentary about evangelical Christians might just be the sort of thing to lift me out of festive gloom ( Christmas humbug) and if this had confined itself to deluded adults spouting metaphysical mendacity it probably would have . However a factual feature consisting of child abuse isn't going to cheer me up and neither does I suspect to any other rational , decent human being The film opens with Mike Papantonio hosting his radio show decrying the religious right with Christian callers phoning in saying they can't understand this new militant type of evangelical Christianity . Of course right away you might think this is merely selective and biased and the callers might be criticising rival Christian sects . God might love us all but he really hates heretics does he not ? Cut to a stage version of APOCALYPSE NOW with children is cameo face paint dancing to a heavy metal soundtrack . Instantly you're reminded of the line in the movie where Chef states "This is pagan idolatry man" . You said it mate . This event is the brainchild of Becky Fischer who lives up to every outsider view of Americans . Loud , ugly and clinically obese by many pounds she wastes no time in making this audience member concerned with the junk coming out of her mouth rather than the copious amounts of junk food she stuffs in to it "We have too many Christians who are fat and lazy" If you don't believe Americans suffer from an irony deficiency then this documentary will make a believer out of you , believe me . I'm doing my utmost best to be diplomatic and guard my back by saying not all Christians are like this , not even in the American bible belt . She continues and there's a rather disturbing use of the word "training children" . Let's think about that for a second . "Training children" . You train a dog , not children . Maybe she meant "condition children" since as human beings we're all products of social conditioning to a degree , but that would be concede Karl Marx is fairly correct in that a belief in God is simply down to cultural environment and the degree of belief and what God you believe in is down to culture . Worse Fischer then starts saying that children should be trained in faith in much the same way as terrorists are in the Muslim world . Hmmm train the kids to blow themselves and some infidels up you mean Becky ? Please tell me you didn't literally mean that ? The documentary then focuses on three children , Levi , Rachael and Tory and while Christian theocratic nutjobs like Becky Fischer need put in to a straitjacket and forcefed anti-psychotic medication the children here are poor wretched victims of deluded and bad parents . Tory shows us her dance moves and states "When I dance I really have to make sure it's really God because people will notice I'm dancing for the flesh and people sometimes notice that" Tory is a ten year old child FFS ! These children are victims of child abuse . It's not the sexual abuse associated with the Vatican based Christian cult but it's still child abuse and comes from superstitious nonsense . Maybe Chris Hansen and Richard Dawkins should join forces and do a show called TO CATCH A Christian CHILD ABUSER . If nothing else it's more evidence than God was , and is the worst man made invention