Jesus Camp Dirs. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady

Jesus Camp documents the story of an evangelical woman, Becky Fischer, as she prepares a summer camp for midwestern Christian youth. The camp, named Kids on Fire School of Ministry, uses radical and controversial methods to teach children to not only believe in, but also to fight for, God. The documentary provides up close and personal details of how Fischer designs her summer camp activities to have the strongest impact on impressionable children. She uses fear as a tactic to motivate children to believe in God and to be fearful of the consequences if they don’t. The mission of Kids on Fire is not to provide comfort, peace, and reflection in the presence of God. Instead, the camp’s mission is to “reclaim America for Christ,” a goal that involves teaching children to reject modern scientific theories such as evolution. Fischer preaches that the country is divided between believers and nonbelievers and that a war is imminent.

The documentary opens on a familiar desolate landscape that often serves as a visual shorthand for the Midwest: miles and miles of open freeway surrounded by flat, open fields and dotted with a few small towns. As a radio show starts playing over shots of tattered buildings with American flags, an announcer explains that the evangelical movement is dividing the country by brainwashing America’s youth. The camera cuts to a scene of children wearing camouflage military paint on their faces, using sticks as props to make crosses, and dancing to an eerie hard rock song about being a soldier of God. This scene was performed in front of an entire congregation and received a standing ovation. As Jesus Camp reveals, such behavior isn’t isolated to one congregation—it’s widespread. There are many evangelical Christian children that attend the Kids on Fire camp and leave with the idea that they may have to fight and die for God when the time comes. The documentary follows how the children take these ideas back to their midwestern homes, schools, and friends and spread the movement further.

It’s clear that the Kids on Fire camp classifies Americans as either believers or nonbelievers. By strongly influencing the youthful camp attendees with the fear of God, Fischer creates a distinctly conservative counterculture with specific ideals and guidelines that must be followed. The film’s directors, Grady and Ewing, provide interviews with Fischer, the children, and the parents in order to provide insight into why these radical beliefs and methods will allow evangelical Christians to enter heaven while everyone else “burns in hell.” Jesus Camp follows these children as they prepare for their Kids on Fire experience, go through camp, and return home to spread knowledge of what they learned.

The “God fearing” image of the Midwest is embodied by Fischer and her strict teachings. Fischer’s strong and dominating influence on children means she can determine what kind of books they read, what movies and television shows they’re allowed to watch, and who they may vote for in the future. These children are usually homeschooled, which means their parents can use Fischer’s teachings in a direct, uninhibited form to convince children that Harry Potter is the devil and the earth is only six thousand years old. Fischer has influenced a vast number of children, and the camp continues to operate in the Midwest every year. As its attendance grows so will the number of evangelical youth willing to give their lives as a soldier of God. The ideas and interpretations of one woman and her relationship to God teach thousands of children to become radical followers.

What is most alarming about Jesus Camp is the future that the documentary predicts. The camp attendees presumably will grow up under the influence of Fischer’s teachings, enabling her evangelical values to spread out of the Midwest and expand around the world. When the former campers reach adulthood and continue to perpetuate the radical ideas they were taught as children, Fischer will ultimately get what she wants—an evangelical army of God born from the Midwest.