I was once told that there are two things one should never talk about, politics and religion. That certainly sounds like good advice but the more I hear it the more I want to talk about politics and religion. What topic doesn't make any conversation livelier? I think the reason why I was given this advice is that the passion that surrounds such topics. If one were to peruse through twenty-four hour news channels, one would certainly see something on these two topics and their interplay. Depending on which talking head is talking, or which station is hosting them, one would be left with some understanding of an issue or event. But most likely having witness someone fighting for what is their cause with no remorse for who is in the way.
There is no doubt that the United States of America is a country that proudly boasts a large demographic of Christian believers. Throughout the country there are a spattering of churches big and small, protestant, catholic, non-denominational and whatever else. Most, if not all, of these churches in some way have a program for the children of the church. The sphere of debate over politics and religion may be cornered by adults but in the film Jesus Camp (Ewing and Grady, 2006), it is the children that are the focus.
Jesus Camp opens with a battle cry by a preacher to win the nations cultural war that is going on. The filmmakers overlay this with shots of rural America. An America intersected with highways, truck stops and those hints of down home patriotism. The filmmakers take us into a dimly lit radio station to hear the Ring of Fire talk radio show being broadcast. It is clear from the broadcast that the topic at hand is the role of conservative evangelicals in the political sphere. One caller feels that the message of Christianity is being lost do to those who want political power.
The filmmakers center on the evangelical ministry of Becky Fischer and her focus of reaching children for Jesus Christ. Becky stands before rows and rows of children, most likely between the ages of 6 to 13. Her message is one that challenges the students to take action and be change agents of their personal world and the greater world around them. The filmmakers focus on the young faces of these students as they fidget and listen to the message. When Becky rouses the children to pray and pray in "tongues" (a pray that relies on non-sylable utterances and unknown phrases). The children's participation in the prayer is disorienting but also terrifying. In one instance the children seem passive to the message but in a cut, in a moment, there are children crying, screaming, shaking on the floor and calling out for God.
The filmmakers don't just leave us with this moment but pull us out and have us see Becky viewing what we have just seen and describing what is happening. Her explanations of the events are compared to her knowledge of what radical Islam is doing with children in the middle east. Becky's rhetoric espouses a clear battle line between Christianity and the World. Becky does walk into the line that President George W. Bush is in a way leading America in the right direction based upon the presidents personal declaration as a christian. In one scene at the Jesus Camp a cardboard cutout of the President is prayed over and the President is described as being a President who has surrounded himself with Spirit filled people. Which may very well mean that he can do no wrong.
Throughout the film the filmmakers bring up various hot button issues. Whether it is global warming and creation vs. evolution in a home school scene. Or the issue of abortion when a guest speaker speaks to the children about life. The filmmakers show the children and their response to the messages that adults give them. It seems very clear that the filmmakers are showing the children to be indoctrinated with the messages of Christianity. There is a naivety in the children's actions but there certainly seems to be a genuine desire from the children to practice what they are being preached.
When the children go to the Jesus Camp it is there that they are fully immersed in the issues that face the world around them and they are told what to believe about those issues. At times it seems that the leaders are forcing the children into believing and pushing the children to repent of sins and make major decisions in a split second. There is a manipulative aspect to Becky's ministry and she explains that in one scene. She knows full well that in order to get the message across she has to use visual means to get to the children. Whether that's using balloons, stuffed animals, a brain mold or Power Point presentations.
For as much as we experience a world of extreme Christian faith, I cannot help feel that there is as much manipulation on the filmmakers end to create a film that shows the hypocrisy of ideology and a repressiveness that leads to extremism. In the scene where the children are praying in "tongues" the filmmakers add to the scene a soundtrack that only heightens the disorientation of the editing and the praying. Even in the homeschooling scene the filmmakers just focus on the message of global warming and evolution as problematic. There is much that is missing from the children that are focused on in the film. Levi is shown as a budding young preacher who is fully indoctrinated and completely sold to the words of the adults that surround him. Another child, Racheal, is highly opinionated and quit bold in her faith witnessing to those around her. It seems that the filmmakers are saying that all these children do is eat, sleep and breath Christianity.
Levi certainly seems to be a child version of an adult preacher. One can see his soaking in the message that adults preach to him. When Levi visits Ted Haggerd's church, he impressed by the message and one could see the desire to one day be in a similar position. Levi desires a better world, a better country that he believes can come through God, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. All we know about Levi is his views on faith. The rest of his life is a mystery as well are the other children.
Now that it is six years after the films release much has changed in the political landscape in America. Debates still rage and during election years matters of faith and evangelicals let their voice be known about who they want to lead the country. The film ends with Becky debating on the Ring of Fire radio show and news of a new Supreme Court Judge's nomination approved. The filmmakers may very well be saying that a change is coming and that one day these young children will be grown up. Their voices will enter the political atmosphere and may very well come to be the leaders of the country. If Jesus Camp is a film to instill fear in its viewers then the aesthetics and construction of the film succeeds in making a compelling argument for that.
What is interesting is that two years after the films release a new president came into office that many evangelicals would feel represents the opposite of their belief's. Levi is now older and his representation in the film is expressed differently, though Levi is still preaching the word and fighting the spiritual battle. (See hear Levi Update) Jesus Camp does still beg the question of genuine belief and how belief interacts in the political realm. The answers to those questions may never be known and all views will continue to be played out for sound bites and incendiary emotions leading to decisions that may very well do us more harm than good.
