Jesus Camps

The documentary Jesus Camp was playing at a nearby theater last year when my husband and I were in Seattle. While we wanted to see it at the time, we decided to wait until it came to DVD. Fortunately, in the last week or so, the Arts and Entertainment Network decided to show it. The film features a group of Pentecostal leaders and children who attend a church camp each year in North Dakota. It raises the question of indoctrination of young people through the methods being used. I hardly think from my own church camp experiences in the past that the idea is a new one.

Fundamentalists and evangelicals, it seems, have a distinct view of the Bible. They believe in original sin from the Garden of Eden and God's condemnation of sin thereafter. It is only through confession and true repentance that redemption through Christ can come. Often they take the biblical command very seriously to "raise up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it."

I remember attending several Christian camps as a child. Of course, there were the usual outdoor experiences of swimming, games, and crafts; but the true experience centered itself around the idea that children must be brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus while they are young and open to the idea--before their hearts harden if you will. Therefore, it was with reluctance that most of us attended the evening service, although it was always required unless there was illness. We obediently heard the preaching, participated in the singing of many songs, and then spent what seemed like an hour listening to pleas to "come forward." Coming forward typically meant two things: either accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior or, having already been "saved," coming forward to confess the latest sins and rededicating one's life to Jesus. Either way the pressure was great from the leaders and from our peers to do one or the other.

In the Jesus Camp documentary, however, I see one additional component that was absent when I was a child--the emphasis on social issues. These children received tiny doll babies representing abortions throughout the country, the children had their mouths covered with tape (I am not sure I understand why), and the leaders encouraged the children to participate in public protests. The only sense of balance in the film came from one lone radio talk show host who raised questions about the methods of this group of fervent believers. He considered the group to be a threat to society essentially.

I guess time will determine if the new emphasis on social issues, in addition to responsibility for one's own soul, will raise up a generation of right-wing, rabid fundamentalists as the talk show host seemed to believe. I just know that Jesus camps have not changed a lot since I was a child some fifty-three years ago.