Jesus Camp - indoctrination is hardly a game

[Woodmonkey]

At this camp, indoctrination is hardly a game


Jesus Camp: Documentary. With Becky Fischer and Mike Papantonio. Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. 87 minutes. (PG-13. At Bay Area theaters).
Watching Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's disturbing documentary about children indoctrinated into evangelical Christianity will make you weep. The tears might be of joy or terror, depending on how you feel about divisions between church and state -- or child exploitation, for that matter. One thing is unequivocal, though. "Jesus Camp" should be required viewing for coastal urbanites perplexed by the heartland's shift to the right.

The film offers one answer to why the country's Evangelical minority packs such a political wallop, and it's frighteningly simple: They're efficient -- and ruthless.

Pastor Becky Fischer, effervescent and focused, recruits for Kids on Fire, a Pentecostal summer camp in Devils Lake, N.D. There campers pray to a cardboard standup of George W. Bush, weep and speak in tongues, writhe on the floor clutching little fetus dolls and perform Cultural Revolution-style musical numbers in camouflage face paint.

Think of it as boot camp for the future army of God. Fischer cheerfully admits to borrowing techniques used by other extreme religious factions (Islamic fundamentalism is a particular favorite) in her jihad against abortion, liberals and godless secularism. Counselors at Kids on Fire do not use war as a metaphor, but a sincere and formidable call to arms aimed at "taking America back for Christ."

Granted, the children in "Jesus Camp" aren't randomly plucked off the playground and set on a redemptive crusade. Most are born into religious households where they are home-schooled to reject everything from evolution and science to Harry Potter and non-religious dancing (heavy metal and hip-hop are fine, as long as Christ is in the heart and the lyric sheet).

Ewing and Grady ("The Boys of Baraka") aren't interested in the genesis of American evangelism, but in examining how the movement attracts young people at a time when church attendance is in a national slump, and the methods used by adults to sway the minds of children. They accomplish this by keeping larger cultural analysis to a minimum while concentrating on a microcosmic foursome: A trio of kids and Fischer, the adult who is either ruining or saving them (again, this is a matter of opinion). The three budding warriors for Christ are distinctive moppets, making their indoctrination into religious groupthink all the more unsettling. Mullet-haired Levi is a charismatic (in every sense) 12-year-old who emerges from his shell to deliver fire-and-brimstone sermons; Tory, 10, looks like a future cheerleader, but says she only wants use her body to exalt the Lord; and Rachael, who is articulate and earnest, and at 9 already a devoted street soldier accosting strangers to share the Word.

Mike Papantonio, a Christian Air America talk-show host, acts as the directors' onscreen mouthpiece by questioning evangelical tactics. A Midwesterner, he conveys a deeply personal despair at watching his country and religion co-opted. "Jesus Camp" tries to avoid overt political statements, striving instead for a disinterested empathy that informs without preaching. It succeeds, with a few hammer-to-head exceptions. The camera lingers too long on the hideous stretches of fast-food joints, religious signage and flag-bedecked suburbs that have become shorthand for "ignorant Midwest," for example. More irksome still is an interview with Levi's mother, a fundamentalist housewife whose quotes seem to have been edited into brief, fanatical sound bites.

At heart, all documentaries aim to be important films. Few actually pull it off. Minor flaws and all, "Jesus Camp" is among the year's most important films, if only because it forces us to learn about an America we seldom see and seldom want to see. It stares into the face of faith run amok, and for those willing to follow its gaze, it provides sad revelations.

-- Advisory: Frightening descriptions of abortions and emotional intensity and images of children writhing on the floor.

The Source


YouTube - Jesus Camp : Kids Worshipping to a George Bush Picture

[EdNigma]

Why does it always have to be 'religion'? I mean, I am a Christian, but that does not mean I will kill/hate others that are not. I've friends from ALL walks. atheists, wiccans, pegans, islam, jews, bloods, crips.. name it, I probably know somebody from it.

I wish the world lived buy the simple rules ALL religions speak of instead of the hate that the world of old knew.

1) Don't bone your buddies girl
2) Don't steal. Ask, a true bud will forgive an ask, but not theft.
3) Don't kill. It only causes 'revenge'
4) don't hate, but tolerate. 'see #3'
5) Don't judge people that do not have the same values as you
6) Don't force your values on others
7) Start a fist fight and lose? Take the loss, only wimps use guns. A 3 year old can shoot someone, a man buys his victor a beer.
8) Do onto others. The old 'golden' stands. Want to bone your wife in the butt? well, you should take a cucumber up yours. Fair play. Want to watch porn? Fine, imagine your daughter being lusted after on the screen. Hurt a kid? Then you shall be hurt by one. You get the idea here.
9) Do not impose your habits, or vices onto others. aka, turn DOWN the stereo, and smoke outside.
10) Be NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 10 commandments according to Ed. Let me know if I missed some. IMHO 100's of thousands of laws could be done away with if people just were nice to one another.

[tnkr111]

I saw that trailer a few weeks ago, it still creeps me out thinking about it. What disturbs me is that these people think they are the only "right" ones....I think Jesus would have some words of admonition for them if he were there in body with them. That is not what he taught....

[Woodmonkey]

Extremists are a scarey lot and responsible for a lot of evil in this world. I wonder what this lot of kids will grow up to be. Reminds me of the Westboro 'church' wackos.

[milmor_1]

Every religion has its extremists, once we realise that we should have a better understanding of all types of extremists and how to handle them.

It is the quiet extremists that are most dangerous, the sweet pius ones that need to be watched, they work on the subliminal level.

[Woodmonkey]

Originally Posted by milmor_1

Every religion has its extremists, once we realise that we should have a better understanding of all types of extremists and how to handle them.

It is the quiet extremists that are most dangerous, the sweet pius ones that need to be watched, they work on the subliminal level.

There's nothing sweet about this bunch and they are militantly pius.

[Caldric]

I went to the bible camps down south when I was a child. I hated them and it totally turned me against religion for myself. I do not bash Christians but there are as many colors of Christians as there are colors in a rainbow. I guess I was not easily led I don't know but I despised it. It was not bad until the preaching began at night when they would tell 5 to 13 year olds that they would burn in hell if they did not get saved, which is disgusting and I remember thinking if a God would burn children for not understanding something then I had little reason to have anything to do with such a God. Might as well worship Mars or Jupiter they only want a cow once in a while if you can afford one. Of course if I were to follow the faith they would have a hard time proving there is a hell to start with.

Of course thankfully I had a wise mother who allowed her children to grow and once I said it scared me and I hated it she never sent me again nor to the church. I have never gone since then except on rare occasions for my own children when they asked me to go with them. They enjoy going to their church with their mother, no hell fire and brimstone though, so I have no issues how they want to be spiritually. I disagree with forcing anything spiritual on anyone no matter the age, guess that was the legacy of my own mother.