"Jesus Camp" Film Shocks Both Christians and Non-Christians

The new documentary "Jesus Camp" is causing a controversy already among people of all faiths. The film, which follows a group of children attending a Pentecostal summer camp in North Dakota, was created by filmmaker Heidi Ewing.

Ewing said that she and her co-director, Rachel Grady, are able to present a neutral view of the camp because they come from two different backgrounds different from the Pentecostal camp depicted in the documentary. Ewing was raised a Catholic and Gray is Jewish. The camp, called "Kids on Fire," is directed by Pastor Becky Fischer. Grady said that Fischer welcomed them into her world to make the documentary because she hopes that it will lead people to become saved.

The film tells the stories of three children who attended the Bible camp last year in Devils Lake, North Dakota. According to the Los Angeles Times, the children are referred to in the film as Rachael, now 10, Levi, now 13, and Tory, now 11. The film shows groups of children sobbing, holding their hands aloft, and crying out to God. Assemblies of children in the film cheer whenever they are asked if they would be willing to give up their lives for Jesus. They pray over a cardboard cutout of President George W. Bush, and they sob as they plead for an end to abortion.

Ewing said that the children are weeping because they believe God’s heart is broken because of the world being lost and consumed with sin. But she explained that the children don’t seem unhappy, they just are more intensely focused than most children in America. Co-director Grady told the paper that almost all of the children at the camp plan to become missionaries. The two filmmakers told the Times that their goal in making the film is to "make a broad statement about how politics and faith have become inexorably intertwined in America."

The images shown in the film certainly underscore the point they are trying to make. "This is war!" Fischer shouts at the children during the film. "Are you part of it or not?" Some critics say that the film is a startling depiction of brainwashing and child abuse. But Fischer proudly compares her camp and teachings to the way extremist Muslims indoctrinate their young. She said that Muslims in other countries take their children to camps just like Americans take their kids to camps, only the Muslims are teaching their kids how to put on bomb belts and use machine guns.

"If you look at the world’s population, one third of that 6.7 billion people are children under the age of 15," Fischer said. "Where should we be putting our efforts? Where should we be putting our focus? I’ll tell you where our enemies are putting it. They’re putting it on the kids. They’re going into the schools." Fischer’s agreeing with the documentary about her camp fits well with her overall agenda. "I want to see young people who are as committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam," she said. "I want to see them as radically laying down their lives for the gospel as they are over in Pakistan and in Israel and Palestine and all those different places. Because we have, excuse me, but we have the truth."

The "About Film" section of the movie’s website gives this brief synopsis of the movie:

"A growing number of Evangelical Christians believe there is a revival underway in America that requires Christian youth to assume leadership roles in advocating the causes of their religious movement. Jesus Camp follows a group of young children to Pastor Becky Fischer's "Kids on Fire Summer Camp", where kids are taught to become dedicated Christian soldiers in God's army and are schooled in how to take back America for Christ. The film is a first-ever look into an intense training ground that recruits born-again Christian children to become an active part of America's political future."

The movie has already opened in New York, and it is scheduled for release in 20 more cities across the United States beginning on October 6.