The Jesus Camp documentary may have been made to expose some insight into the evengelical church environment, but it looks like it may have spurned more than just an interesting look.
Christian Post reports:
A woman whose summer camp for children near Devil’s Lake, N.D., was featured in a documentary called “Jesus Camp,” says all the attention led to her decision not to continue camps there.
“I have a responsibility to keep the children safe,” the Rev. Becky Fischer said.
Fischer said the camp, which is owned by the Assemblies of God and rents to a number of groups, was vandalized after the release of the movie about her Kids on Fire camp. The Assemblies of God church also was vandalized, she said.
The camp’s windows were broken and it had about $1,500 worth of damage. Police figure the church was vandalized the same night, said the Rev. Winston Titus, the camp administrator.
We talked about the documentary Jesus Camp here on TMB. The documentary depicts a scary extreme “teachings” that is being called brainwashing. I found it a bit disturbing when the boy admits he accepted Christ at the age of 5 because he wanted a “fullness of life”. That doesnt sound like the words of a 5 year old. But that is not the issue here.
This documentary seems to have ruffled more feathers and has actually hurt some of these camps and organizations. Im all for teaching kids to live in a positive lifestyle, be kind to one another and to respect each other. Like John originally posted, these camps for the most part are fun positive events that promote these things. But when it gets to the point that they are being harassed and attacked for running a Bible Camp because of this documentary.
I am not saying Bible Camps are bad. I have attended Camps and Conventions in my time that have been much like you see on this trailer. I have left these events feeling uplifted and positive. I wasnt waging a physical war on anyone. I honestly don’t see this as the bad part of this story. The bad part is that people are taking to acts of vandalism, threats, and harassment to try and prevent this camp from running.
I would have thought this extreme depiction would cause people to be more cautious about where they send their kids for Bible Camp (making sure they are not serving the “special koolade”)
I wonder how many other camps are being affected by the publicity of this documentary.
