Jesus Camp Analysis

Jesus Camp is an unusual documentary that looks into Christianity through the eyes of children. The film introduces Pastor Becky Fischer, who hosts and runs a summer camp called Kids on Fire for evangelical children in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota. Many Christian families brought their children to participate in daily activities such as murmuring another language during prayers, violently smashing coffee mugs with the word “government” on it and learning that they are part of a religious political army of soldiers. From the beginning, Christian parents homeschooled their children instead of sending them to school for eight hours a day. Children were taught that science is pointless because it does not prove anything and creationism is the only

Ever since children has followed in their parent’s footsteps in learning about Christianity, this has caused their perception of reality to become twisted. For example, Tory, a 10 years old girl shared her desire to dance all she want with Christian heavy metal rock and roll music. The way she presents herself in the interview shows that she only wants to focus on God only. She explains that she cares less for singers like Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan because their songs are mainly based on boys and girls relationships, which is irrelevant to God. Since she is a Christian, she makes sure the way she dances is not like “dancing for the flesh” because that is not what she is supposed to do. This is a sign of brainwashing. In her mind, she rejects anything that is not connected to Christianity. Religion has perpetuate upon the young and innocent children which makes their lives deformed. According to Culture (n.d), “Culture includes shared norms, values, symbols, mental maps of reality, and material objects as well as structures of power… our understanding of the world is shaped, reinforced, and challenged” (Guest, pg.5). Culture has a major impact on religion. As we know, culture determines how a person would act and behave towards life. In the case of Jesus Camp, culture has influence the way a person learns about religion. For example, Rachel,

According to Secularism (n.d), “A minority group can come to feel (a) that there way of seeing things is different from that of the majority, (b) that this is generally not understood or recognized by the majority, (c) that consequently the majority is not willing to alter the terms of the debate to accommodate this difference, and therefore (d) that the minority is being systematically unheard” (Taylor, pg.9). Becky Fischer has run several conferences discussing about Christianity and this inspired others to discriminate against other cultures in society. Educating people about Christianity may seem like a positive influence, but it only promotes hatred. Evangelical children and adults should learn to accept the world’s diversity and not just crush the spirits of people outside their religion. Taylor further explains “It will require a change of our mindset, away from the highly charged moralism which will only settle for the single right answer generated from the unchallenged foundational principles…” (pg.13). Jesus Camp shows that Christians are using God to accomplish goals such as ending abortion. Abuse of power only proves that they are corrupted in society, which creates a path to