Jesus Camp

Camp leader Becky Fischer makes sure there are no misconceptions: Harry Potter is an enemy of God who would have been sentenced to death in Old Testament times. Levi (12), Rachael (9), Tory (10) and the other children attending Kids on Fire, Fischer's summer camp in Devil's Lake, North Dakota, listen attentively to what she has to say and are moved by what they hear. With the help of balloons, stuffed animals and Barbie dolls, Becky makes her message about the role God gave to the Evangelicals visually exciting. In directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady show how children are raised within a political movement, one which according to its leader, Ted Haggard, is a decisive factor in determining US elections. In addition to footage of children at camp (in one scene a guest speaker asks the children if they would be willing to die for Jesus Christ) the film touches upon the appointment of a conservative judge to the United States Supreme Court. The voice of dissent arrives in the form of radio host Mike Papantonio, a Christian who disagrees with the politicization of American Christianity. In a confrontation between him and Fischer, she confirms that she is indeed suspicious of a democratic society, because "in a democracy we have to give everyone equal say, and eventually that is going to destroy us."