OK, so I’m way late on this one, but here’s my review of Jesus Camp, which is every bit as awesome (awesomely scary, rather) as you’d expect. In my defense, we’ve had the DVD for awhile, but every time I suggested we watch it, Shane passed, reasoning that it’d get me too worked up and why don’t we just watch a comedy instead? See, I have a awful habit of abusing the pause button in order to rant about this-or-that when whatever it is on the teevee pisses me off a great deal. I confess, I can be downright insufferable. So I finally decided to watch Jesus Camp solo, and I can honestly say that I wouldn’t have hit pause a single time had I watched it with someone else. It’s like a car wreck, there’s just no looking away, if even to discuss the horror you’re witnessing with the rest of your carpool.

In sum, it is so awesome that it managed to shut even my overactive yapper.

Oh, and the icing? The three families profiled are all from the Kansas City area. I live in the Kansas City area.

*Shudder*

YOU DON’T MAKE HEROES OUT OF WARLOCKS!!!1!

Although Magnolia Pictures purchased JESUS CAMP from A&E Indie Films in 2006 and subsequently attempted to pull it from Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival because, according to Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles, “I don’t want the perception out in the public that this is an agenda-laden film,” JESUS CAMP is indeed laden with agendas. Filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady have produced a blood-curling documentary that reveals all too clearly the dangers that fundamental Christianity poses to our secular American democracy.

JESUS CAMP follows three Kansas City area families as they travel to Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, to attend Kids On Fire School of Ministry – the summer “Jesus Camp” of the movie’s title. Brothers Levi and Luke live in St. Robert, Missouri, and attend Rock of Ages Church. Levi sports a rocking mullet and enjoys preaching. Rachael attends the same church, and is quite the precocious proselytizer. Rounding out the group is Tory (short for Victoria) of Lee’s Summit, Missouri; she’s a member of the children’s praise dance team at Christ Triumphant Church. While she tries to dance for the Lord, she admits to sometimes succumbing to sin and dancing for the wrong reasons: “dancing for the flesh”. She’s ten.

Kids on Fire was founded and is run by Becky Fischer and her ministry, Kids in Ministry International. Fischer plays like a funny-yet-frightening fundie stereotype, what with her Harry Potter rants (“WARLOCKS ARE ENEMIES OF GOD!!!1!!”), obsession with sin and fits of hysteria. Much of the film focuses on the summer camp itself, and these scenes are the most chilling. Imagine, if you will, an auditorium filled with children and teens – kids speaking in tongues, rolling on the floor, convulsing as if from epileptic seizures, tears rolling from their Precious Moments eyes, faces red with exertion. At times, some of the children seem almost delusional or in trance-like states. Scary stuff.

More frightening still is all the militarized, warmongering imagery invoked by adults and children alike: “God’s warriors.” “God’s Army.” “This means war.” “Foot soldiers.” “Will you sacrifice your life for Jesus?” Fischer justifies her army-building – the younger the soldiers, the better! – by comparing American Christians to Middle Eastern radical Muslims: the children of Islam learn to become martyrs at an early age, to fight and lay down their lives for their religion. Rather than recognizing the abusive nature of such indoctrination, Fischer reasons that Christians must do the same. After all, this is war, is it not? (To up the ante, the DVD has a deleted scene in which Tory’s father says of his pending deployment to Iraq, “I see this as an all-expenses paid missionary trip.” No wonder we never got those flowers dubya promised us.)

At Jesus Camp, the children also receive political instruction: there’s an eerie pro-life lecture, complete with plastic feti and strips of tape reading “life” to cover the children’s little mouths for a moment of silence; a speech about “godly” judges; and much talk about those supposed core values shared by this Judeo-Christian country. All is presided over by a cardboard cutout of George W. Bush, for whom there is much prayer. The rituals resemble miniaturized, child-sized versions of those in Margaret Atwood’s THE HANDMAID’S TALE: indoctrination at the Red Center; the Birth Ceremony; and Prayvaganzas, Salvagings and Particicutions. It’s at once terrifying and hilarious.

The children all inspired a mix of pity and revulsion in this atheist’s cockles, but doe-eyed Rachael really stole the spotlight. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to call Child Protective Services or throttle her, shake some sense into her arrogant Christian self. Rachael spends much of the movie trying to “save” others: a stranger in the bowling alley, other children, her neighbors, random African American men on the street (“I think they’re Muslim”). Her parents, of course, think her proselytizing is just peachy; there’s no consideration as to whether others, Christians and non-Christians alike, might find this insulting or offensive. Not that this is surprising, when her parents are off doing more of the same. In a deleted scene, Rachael admits to “working on” her young neighbor while her parents simultaneously “work on” the girl’s parents, trying to lure the family into their church (“cult” is really a more appropriate term). Another deleted scene shows Rachael bragging about all the gifts God has given her: discerning of spirits, prophecy, speaking in tongues and hearing, talking to and understanding THE LORD.

In short, Rachael’s parents are successfully molding her into an insufferable little snot.

In addition to the Jesus Camp footage, there’s also some film of the families at home before the summer trip (for example, we see Levi being homeschooled by his mother, who “teaches” that creationism is the only means of explaining the mysteries of life and that “global warming” is a lie) and afterwards, during vacations to Colorado Springs (here, Ted Haggard makes a brief but glorious cameo) and Washington, DC (for a small but disquieting anti-choice protest). This is all set against the backdrop of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s resignation and Samuel Alito’s nomination and confirmation. Radio talk show host Mike Papantonio (of Air America Radio’s Ring of Fire) provides the sole voice of reason, and p0wns Fischer in a one-on-one interview – in which she freely admits to “indoctrinating” children, and claims that she loves democracy but says that “democracy is going to destroy us.” Make no mistake – this is war, and fundamentalists of any and all stripes won’t rest until they’ve remade the world in their image.

Watching the horror that is Jesus Camp, I was reminded of two pertinent quotes:

“I want to get down on my knees and start pleasing Jesus. I want to feel his salvation all over my face.” – Eric Cartman

“Such labelling of children with their parents’ religion is child abuse.” – Richard Dawkins

And there you have it – JESUS CAMP in three sentences.

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Bonus Jesus Camp YouTubery!

Rachael’s Bowling Ministry:

THIS MEANS WARZ!!!1!!!!1:

And a glorious “Brain Washing” montage:

Nine minutes might seem long, but given that the entire movie documents xian fundie indoctrination, boiling it down to nine short minutes is more difficult than you’d think.

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hey! yous! i iz also on



kthnxbai.

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Tagged: review movie documentary movie review jesus camp godbags bible camp lolz child abuse indoctrination theocracy youtube videos Becky Fischer Kids in Ministry International Kids on Fire religion politics conservative fundies george w. bush war on terra

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 9:50 am and is filed under godbags & infidels, reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.