Jesus Camp, directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, documents "Kids on Fire," a summer camp run by Evangelical pastor Becky Fischer to train children for the "army of God." In the film, radio show host Mike Papantonio criticizes Fischer for forcing militant religion onto children as young as six years old. To justify her actions, Fischer replies, "It's no wonder, with that kind of intense training and discipling, that those young people are ready to kill themselves for the cause of Islam. I wanna see young people who are as committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam. I wanna see them as radically laying down their lives for the Gospel as they are over in Pakistan and Israel and Palestine and all those different places, you know, because we have... excuse me, but we have the truth!" Although not argued by the filmmakers themselves, this claim is one of the main focuses of the film as it follows Fischer trying to make that dream a reality.
To begin, I'd first like to point out the fact that Fischer believes Israel is an Islamic nation. Such unintentional irony severely damages her ethos. In fact, it's almost funny, which is good since this is otherwise a distressing issue. Fischer doesn't even say she wants children to "be ready to lay down their lives," as if that's much better. According to this claim, Fischer wants to see young people "radically laying down their lives," implying that she believes there is currently a need for children to die in order to protect Christianity because it's "the truth," therefore justifying any form of violence used to "defend" it. I might be interested in exactly what plans she has for this hypothetical child army if it weren't such a terrifying, inhumane concept. Fischer reasons that Christians should be prepared to evenly match Muslim's actions, not even pausing to consider whether God would actually want adults to send children to die for Him. Children under twelve can't even be employed in the United States, let alone be sent into battle. In addition, the fact that Fischer associates Islam with evil and Middle Eastern nations with Islam reveals a generalizing, racist, dehumanizing view of those who live in the Middle East or are of Middle Eastern descent.
I am concerned that Fischer lectures for a living about a situation on which she is not competently educated. I am concerned that she sees Islam as the direct enemy of Christianity, and the Middle East as the breeding ground of Islam, and therefore of evil. I am concerned that she thinks Christians must militarize or let the Muslims win. I am concerned that she thinks there will soon come a time when her religion must be defended by force. I am concerned that she believes violence is God's intention for the human race.
I am deeply, genuinely concerned that a woman who works directly with children would like to see them die for her cause.
