Jesus Camp

“there are two kinds of people in the world: those who love Jesus and those who don’t”

Evangelicals, according to the dominant stereotype, will propagandyze, proselytize and they have a political agenda. The documentary Jesus Camp has all the ingredients to confirm this opinion: they are pro Bush, pro life/anti abortion, teach their children creationism in stead of evolution, they are anti gay and battle in the culture war for political power and influence all the way to and in the white house.

A new strategy in this battle is to include children, by training them at a young age to be warriors for God. They are the ‘key generation’, according to the childrens pastor Becky Fisher who is portrayed in the film. At a Christian summer camp, the kids learn to pray for the nation, to repent for the sins of the nation but most of all, they learn how to be engaged in the battle between God and Satan to overcome evil in the world. During the camp we see the kids with green and black painted faces, symbolically enacting a war dance: with agressive movements they jump up and down and sway their stick yelling ‘this means war!’. It sure makes you wonder what effect this will have on the minds of these children. Issues like child abuse and kids rights came to my mind when I left the theater. But at the same time, I was left with a number of questions. What do the parents think of this camp afterwards. Do they all agree with the camp program as is shown? And what about the kids? They are not all ‘brainwashed’ it seems since one boy tells that when he is with his dad, he does get to watch Harry Potter although it is preached against. They somehow have to negotiate between the different worlds they live in and it would be very interesting if some of these contradictions would have been adressed. Not only those of the childen but also of the parents and Becky Fisher herself.

Another question that I was left with was how representative this picture is for Pentecostals and their children’s ministry? This definitely does not look like mainstream Pentecostalism to me. And what about the radioman? It was not clear from what position he commented on the ‘culture war’ of evangelicals taking over the nation. It only added to the unnuanced picture of evangelicals as portrayed.

Still, Jesus Camp is very interesting documentary to watch as an example of an excessive form of Pentecostalism. Since the subject touches upon children and indoctrination, one cannot watch it without remaining indifferent.

This review is written by Miranda Klaver, a new member of religionresearch.org. Visit her weblog, entitled It’s all about you.