My husband and I watched the documentary Jesus Camp recently. I wasn't sure what
to expect from it, having heard mixed reviews from many sources.
There was one obvious problem with the documentary immediately. The filmmakers were apparently
unaware that 'Pentecostal' and 'evangelical' are not interchangable terms. The wild manifestations and extreme views
of those in the Pentecostal church were presented as though they were common to the Christian experience. As a presentation
of Pentecostalism, it worked well (although it was rather moderate Pentecostalism and did not represent more extreme groups
such as the UPCI), but as a presentation of evangelical Christianity in general, it failed.
Jesus Camp differed from many documentaries in that we never see or hear the filmmakers
at all. There was no audible commentary. Other than a few typed words that appear onscreen to introduce subjects,
it is strictly observational; the only words are those uttered by the subjects themselves--Pentecostal children's minister
Becky Fischer, Pastor Ted Haggard (before his dramatic fall from grace in the midst of a sex-and-drugs scandal), several families,
and a radio talk show host.
Jesus Camp is a very serious film. The only funny moment only occurs with the advantage
of hindsight, when Ted Haggard stares into the camera and declares, "I know what you did last night!" It is virtually
impossible to not blurt out at the screen, "I'll bet it wasn't half as bad as what YOU did last night!" But overall,
the documentary is very intense with an atmosphere of something like desperation.
The families in the film take their religious views extremely seriously. Their children are
homeschooled to avoid the evils of public education, they only listen to Christian music, they think Harry Potter is demonic,
etc. Even while on a simple bowling outing, they feel compelled to witness to others around them (very awkwardly and
uncomfortably) and one child speaks over her bowling ball in the name of Jesus.
With all the constant barrage of religious teaching, a non-Pentecostal might think that the families
would be quite confident in their children's salvation, but this is not the case. In what to me was by far the most
disturbing scene in the documentary, the camp begins with an emotional tirade by Fischer in which she accuses the children
of sin and hypocrisy and orders them angrily to come to the front of the church to confess. One child is even handed
the microphone to give a humiliating confession to the entire gathering. Most of the children are crying and seem extremely
distraught. Fischer seems to view this bullying as a 'work of the Holy Spirit'.
Scenes such as this were the most distressing to me and no doubt to many others who can recall such
experiences ourselves and the lasting damage they inflicted on our assurance of salvation and our faith in general.
Much of the documentary focuses on political aspects of Pentecostalism, and there are a few bizarre
scenes, such as the famous 'praying for Bush' event where the children reach out to touch the feet of life-size cardboard
picture of the president.
Although we are left to draw our own conclusions, the gist of the documentary seems to be some concern
that the Pentecostal church and (by generalization in the film) perhaps Christians in general are raising up an army
of children warriors to overthrow American democracy. Personally, I found this concept laughable.
Becky Fischer is seen at the end of the movie delivering a threat or a promise (depending on your
point of view) that in another ten years or so these children would be mighty warriors of God. I'm not worried about
that. I am saddened, because I am quite certain that I know where these children will be in ten years or so. Some
of them will be pretty much where they are now--smashing cups and babbling nonsense words, thinking they are doing battle
with demons and breaking spiritual bondage, when they are doing nothing at all. The rest will be very much like me and
every other ex-Pentecostal--disillusioned and angry over a childhood lost to religious chaos and superstition.
I know that because none of this is new. Any of those children on the documentary could have
been me twenty years ago or my mother fifty years ago or my grandmother seventy years ago. The cycle repeats generation
after generation, and it always has the same outcome.
(Article by Caroline Weerstra)
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