Jesus Camp

This semester I'm taking a Sociology of Religion class. I love it. Today we watched a movie that kind of summed up a lot of what we've been talking about the past few weeks: things like ritual, symbols, and emotion.

Yep. Jesus Camp.

It's a documentary about an evangelical summer camp. You couldn't help but love those kids. Like 9-year-old Rachael, who approached a woman she didn't know in a bowling alley to remind her that God has a plan for her. Or 12-year-old Levi, who is so excited about the Gospel (as he understands it) and looks just like Tyler Hudrlik, but with a mullet. But everything else in the movie just gave off the same vibe as watching The Fourth Kind--something that is clearly not of God is going on there. It's just as terrifying to watch these kids--not one of them older than fifteen--crying, convulsing, confessing sins, speaking in tongues with fear and shame in their eyes as it is to watch a psychologist be abducted by aliens.

It made me think about my seven years at Girls Camp. (YES, seven. I went back as a cook last year and I might be a cabin mom this year.) And my one week at EFY two years ago. How different they felt! Yes, there were tears there, but they came from a very different emotion. There was no anger, no shouting. Just quiet testimonies and powerful hymns. An acquaintance of mine said that watching Jesus Camp fueled his already staunch atheism. He was just as angry as that lady preacher in the movie was when she told the radio host that more parents should indoctrinate their kids. Me, I'm just grateful that I'm lucky enough to have the fullness of the Gospel and the absolute peace it brings. Maybe one day those darling children will have it too.