Untitled Document
If you’re not afraid of the political influence
of the Christian right wing, you probably will be after watching Jesus Camp, a fly-on-the-wall
account of the annual Lakewood Park Bible Camp, a gathering for children as
young as 5, hosted by evangelical children’s minister Becky Fischer
in Devil’s Lake, N.D. Filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
don’t editorialize much, but they set the events of the documentary
against the nomination and confirmation of junior Justice Samuel Alito to
the U.S. Supreme Court — a battle won in what Fischer calls the
“culture wars” between God-fearing, “spirit-filled
people” and secular liberals, who are represented in the film by Air
America jock and practicing Methodist Mike Papantonio. Papantonio calls the
campers “children soldiers for the Republican Party,” and
it’s hard to disagree.
The film follows two children specifically:
Twelve-year-old Levi is a bright born leader whose homeschool lessons teach
that evolution is an “idea” and global warming
“isn’t really that bad”; shy Rachael loves to witness and
hopes to be a Christian manicurist when she’s older. (A third girl,
10-year-old Tory, is introduced, but her storyline is not sustained.) At
camp, multimedia sermons and hands-on activities teach the evils of
abortion, profanity, and witchcraft. (“Had it been in the Old
Testament, Harry Potter would have been put to death,” Fischer
explains.) But that’s not all: The kids also salute a cardboard
standee of President George W. Bush, whom Fischer says has “brought
some real credibility” to Christian government. You’ll also
meet the now-disgraced Rev. Ted Haggard, who at the time headed the 30
million-member National Association of Evangelicals. Despite its pithy name, Jesus
Camp doesn’t trivialize or exploit its
child subjects or their spirituality; for the most part, the film maintains
a patient, unobtrusive outlook from the D.A. Pennebaker school. It makes
clear that evangelicalism is legitimately attractive to children, even
without go-karts and hiking: The kids bond, belong, and feel spiritually
nourished. What has secular humanism done for them lately anyway? The film
also evinces a trust between its makers and Fischer, who is its primary
subject; it’s not a freak show (think Hell
House) or an exposé. It’s a call
to arms, a call to pick sides in the deepening cultural, political, and
spiritual schism between the two Americas of the 21st century. The film was
released in major markets months before the election: The results of Nov. 7
suggest that evangelicals still have a lot of work ahead of them.
This article appears in Jan 4-10, 2007.
