Jesus Camp
The feverish spectacle of a summer camp for evangelical Christian kids is the focus of Jesus Camp, a fascinating if sometimes alarming documentary. (Shortly after its release, the movie gained a new notoriety when Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, who appears near the end of the film, resigned his post amid a male prostitute's allegations of drug use and sexual misconduct.)
For most of the film, we follow a charismatic teacher, Becky Fischer, as she trains young soldiers in "God's Army" at a camp in North Dakota. Some of the kids emerge as likable and bright, and eager to continue their work as pint-sized preachers; elsewhere, the visions of children speaking in tongues and falling to the floor in ecstasy are more troubling. Even more arresting is the vision of a generation of children home-schooled to believe that the Bible is science, or Fischer's certainty that America's flawed system of democracy will someday be replaced by a theocracy. (In one scene, a cardboard cut-out of George W. Bush is presented to the children, who react by laying their hands on the figure as though in a religious procession.)
Filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady maintain neutrality about all this, maybe too much so (they throw in some interviews with radio host Mike Papantonio to provide a liberal-Christian viewpoint) and one would like to know more about the grown-ups presented here. Power broker Haggard is the creepiest person in the film, an insincere smooth talker whose advice to one of the young would-be campgoers comes across as entirely cynical. Time will tell whether the film's Christian soldiers will be marching onward.
Josiah is an id**t.
5 min in and I think Im gonna be sick. I was raised in evangelical church in Canada, and this is NOT true Christianity... it is fundamentalist nonsense, control and exploitation.
I was raised catholic and personally find this film extremely sad. And I wasn't even looking at it from an athiest or agnostic view. It was disturbing that they all kept using the word "training" as opposed to learning or growing because soldiers don't think for themselves, they just follow orders. I grew up surrounded by religion, but it was never forced on to me. At my church, in my 18 years of going there every Sunday, never has the priest mentioned homosexuality nor preached hatred for any group of people.
I also found it pretty disturbing that the girl thought that you had to be jumping around screaming at God in order for him to hear you. There are so many ways to pray, and not everyone connects to God in the same way. I prefer the quiet and I often can't focus when there's too much going on around me. That girl has no understanding of other religions or denominations, and you could probably guarantee that she's never been to another church but her own. The fact that she thought she knew who had faith and who didn't based on their method of prayer was pretty frickin sad.
It also blew my mind when that mother was saying that science wasn't important nor even made sense. These people must not understand that not every part of the bible should be taken literally. Evolution is pretty much a solid fact by now, and ignoring science is wild to me. Also, when did the word "radical" garner a positive connotation?
I love how they request "let the electricity no go out in jesus' name" like dude, why not say "let's help the starving" but hey what do you get when people follow this dumbass fable? you get republicans, tea party members, and not to mention criminal psychopaths who use "because the lord said so" as an excuse
As an Atheist, I have no problems with Christianity. There's nothing wrong with believing in what you would like to believe in, it is a humanitarian right to have a belief. However, being an insecure, middle-aged, brainwashing, fear inducing, blind, and weak woman that manipulates the very core foundation of the children is more than wrong, it is taking away just about every chance of functioning normally within society from them, and mar their personality and actions, day by day. The cult they represent is almost as ugly as the putrid living disgrace they call a "woman". I rarely, if ever, do feel pity for anyone, though, these children will never have an opportunity to live a normal life, or even have the opportunity of deciding for themselves how to integrate religion into their lives, as it is binding to their beliefs that anything but what they believe is "evil". I place ultimate putrefaction on this "woman".
Interesting.
I'm christian and I think this is messed up, very. I was glad to hear this camp was shut down soon after this doc aired. A lot of these posts hate on christians but I really hope you don't think we are all like this.. otaku *COUGH*
BTW I came here because I heard this is were Levi from Shingeki no Kyojin got his name, Anyone know if that's true?
I'm christian and I think this is messed up. Very. I hope a lot of you people watching this don't think all of us are like this... I'm an Otaku xD Its like what that guy on the radio show is saying, these people have their own messed up, distorted views.
BTW I got here because I heard this is where Levi from Shingeki no Kyojin got his name.
I lost my respect for christianity when I was a small child. It began with the song "Onward Christian Soldiers Marching as to War." I'm not down with that. The real history of this religion is so full of hate and killing that it's laughable anyone would treat it seriously as a means to peace. Sorry to the faithful. I mean you no harm. I am after all an atheist. We don't preach celestial vengeance.
I lost my respect for christianity when I was a small child. It began with the song "Onward Christian Soldiers Marching as to War." I'm not down with that. The real history of this religion is so full of hate and killing that it's laughable anyone would treat it seriously as a means to peace. Sorry to the faithful. I mean you no harm. I am after all an atheist. We don't preach celestial vengeance.
This woman could use a fast or two... just sayin'. Maybe she should celebrate Ramadan as well. Couldn't hurt. Oh, by the way, this is the 666th post! Go figure...
Truly terrifying how indoctrination and brainwashing can truly ruin an innocent child by feeding lies to encourage not questioning or thinking otherwise.
A bible camp in Devil's Lake. That's irony if I've ever seen it.
It would be GREAT if they followed up with these kids, like the 7-Up Series. It's a little sad. They're all so smart and enthusiastic. I'd like to know what they're like at 20 or if they're still anti -science. To see that little girl punish herself for joyful DANCING OF THE FLESH - sign. I want he to go to broadway and knock em dead.
She's really espousing terrorism on anyone who isn't Christian. No different than suicide bombers. They think they're RIGHT, too.
I think a lot of these people just dig the spotlight. Particularly the mullet kid. He's got the fame bug. We'll see what happens. I see absolutely no difference in JESUS CAMP than Chairman Mao. The point is to push theocracy and that IS just disgusting.
lol the hypocrisy. Obese woman talking about fasting! Wow...
This video is shocking even after watching it several times. I love that the guy on the radio talk show in the beginning said that he was a Christian and even he was shocked by these people. This is a fear based society that breeds fear. Child services should be called in on some of these parents.
Watched again for the 100th time. This doc Always lifts me up and reminds me of the most important thing in my life - God.
I was raised this way. This camp is no different than those I went to as a child. At the time, I felt like a pretty normal kid. My parents were just stricter than most. Looking back, and watching this video, I do feel it is extreme. These children are a bit too young to form opinions of their own and ask important questions. However, parents that truly
believe in something, religious or not, will try and raise their children to believe the same thing. Can't really blame them. Unfortunately, majority of people are not open minded and perhaps our bipartisan country is to blame. Most Americans are expected to conform to one party or the other. Two parties. That's it. And yet we wonder why people are so extreme. Anyway, I turned out okay. Relatively. Haha. But I wouldn't blame the church. It did teach discipline and compassion. I'm an educated 30 year old woman and I do believe
in God. I may not attend these kinds of churches anymore, but I do have a faith. I don't think I have contributed ignorance or bigotry to this country because I was "indoctrinated." To the contrary, I have always given back to my country, volunteered in my communities, served the underprivileged and facilitated conversations on tolerance. This is what the church taught me. Lastly, these kids seem pretty content, happy and at peace. Granted, ignorance is bliss, but they'll grow up and learn. Hopefully they will carry a peace with
them throughout life and not end up medicated for depression and anxiety like so many of our youth, including those not raised in a "Jesus Camp"
This was extremely disturbing... Should be considered a form of child abuse. Those poor children :(
The absence of evidence that God does exist is not evidence that God is absent :P
kids should never ever be subjected to religion of any kind, its too easy to brainwash a kid
34:00 Nestle brand holy water?
Training camp for 'Children of the Corn'
Bring back the lions!
While this documentary is disturbing, and while I'm certainly no fan of indoctrinating children, some of the responses of atheists are just as scary. Absolutely, there have been horrific things done in the name of religion, and no, there's no way to prove there's a god. The scientific method AND just plain native intelligence requires that people keep an open mind about things they don't have an answer for. One could easily make the argument that relativity, say, was false until recently, because there was no proof of its existence. Admittedly, the odds of the existence of God being proved are very slight. The odds of disproving the existence of God are far worse, however. For me, agnosticism seems a reasonable stance, while atheism is just another blind faith.
Jesus camp....located at Devils Lake??....Just saying.