Last year, I watched the documentary Jesus Camp. I did not say a whole lot the last time around. This week, I watched the documentary again, also checking the audio commentary out.

Director’s Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady found quite the picture of religion in America with their following around Becky Fischer and her children’s ministry. The movie starts off with kids dressed in fake military garb and face paint. They are singing along with a military themed Christian song in a performance for Becky’s Church (she is not the pastor, she specifically runs the children’s ministry). When Becky preaches, she tells the kids about how she knows some of them are not living right, that they are different with their friends at school than at church. She starts calling for kids to confess their sins. Young children are sobbing into the microphone about their sin like a seasoned veteran sinner.

Fischer speaks of Muslims training their kids and wanting these kids to be as radical and willing to die as a suicide bomber, since her kids have “The Truth”. I worry when suicide bombers are being held up as a positive example. What’s really interesting to see in the film is the kids.

There is the ever intense Levi. He rarely smiles, and has the demeanor of a preacher. He’s home schooled (all the kids featured are). Watching his mother teach questionable science to him does not really do any favors to home schooling. It would be one thing if she taught him skepticism of aspects of global warming…but their proof that global warming is not happening. The increase in heat has been just a few degrees. So clearly, it is not much of a threat.

There is Tory, who stands out for shamefully admitting that sometimes instead of dancing for Jesus…she dances for the “flesh”. This is also known as “Dancing because she enjoys dancing.” There is a constant feeling on the film that allowing a child to be as a child is dishonoring to God. Levi and Tory both come across as kids who were forced to put childish things away long before they grew up. At one point, the boys are in their cabin at camp telling ghosts stories…and are roundly chastised for it by one of the adults.

The other child the film follows is Rachel. Rachel’s ideas of what constitutes a living church suggest she is being taught some…interesting thing. If you are not dancing and screaming out during church, yours is a dead church. She tries very hard to win converts, though her approach is offputting. Honestly, if she was an adult, someone probably would have told her off, rather than shrug and say thanks, before looking at friends with a “What was that?!” expression.

Becky denounces things like Harry Potter and evolution. She speaks very militantly. A lot of Christians were critical of the film because they kept saying, “Well, my church isn’t like that!” But you know what? I have met people like this at every Church I have been a part of. Becky and the children aren’t that far from lots of Christians I have known who portray themselves as radicals for Jesus.

What is rather telling is a visit to Ted Haggard’s church. He arrogantly taunts the camera man. He suggests he knows where the camera person was the night before (he insinuates a gay tryst) and then promises to keep it a secret-for a thousand dollars. His congregation is laughing hysterically. He turns to the camera and says, “If you use any of this-I’ll sue you.” His audience laughs even harder. Never mind that his tone sounds pretty serious. His audience doesn’t care. It really paints a picture of a rather arrogant man. When young Levi talks with him, he doesn’t get better. He asks Eli if he thinks people like Levi’s sermons because Levi is a kid or for his content. Levi seems thrown by the question and simply says he doesn’t know. Haggard tells Levi to milk the cute kid thing as long as possible-and then when he is thirty, he will “have good content.”

Haggard aggressively condemned this film shortly before it came out. How ironic that the scandal that blew up shortly after really seems to back up the picture the movie gives.

The film shoehorns in footage from this Christian radio host named Mike Papantonio. Mike is a bit less extreme, more of a moderate to Becky’s radical. It’s done to give an alternate perspective, but it feels kind of lonely. The conversation he has with Becky on his show does tie the film together.

The audio commentary with the directors started off slow. There were large gaps of “no talking”. But once they get talking, Ewing and Grady reveal a lot of sympathy and (shock!) respect for their subjects. They speak quite highly of Becky, and seem genuinely glad to have met her. They speak highly of the children as well. In fact, the only person they speak poorly of is Ted Haggard. It’s not all that surprising as Haggard’s own behavior suggests a most unpleasant man. They also make a point to explain scenes that audiences misunderstood. A prime example is the scene popular believed to be a scene where the kids “pray to George Bush.” It is extremely clear in the film they are not praying to Bush, rather they are praying for him. This is a large difference, and really, how anyone who saw the movie understood it differently is beyond me (and the directors).

I consider Jesus Camp a well made cautionary tale of “radical” faith. It does not mock it’s subjects, though it allows them the chance to hang themselves with their own rope. While it may seem like just another film to make Christians look bad, I think to judge it as so is to misjudge the film.