# I just finished "Jesus Camp"... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 19, 2007, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765 "2007-02-19T02:08:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/21 "2010-06-21T17:13:22Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Never understood the whole “speaking in tongues in the twentieth century (which was when I witnessed people participating)” thing. I mean, is the Holy Spirit _stupid_ or something? It’s been nineteen hundred and some-odd years, sure, but he’s supposed to be GOD, fer Chrissake! He can’t remember why He bestows the gift of tongues on the faithful? Lke to spread the gospel to all nations, so the users of every language will be able to hear and understand the Good News? > > And yet the gift gets bestowed, and all of the testifying that comes out is in languages that are no longer extant? Does He _want_ us to all not hear the gospel so we can die without Christ’s grace, and go to hell? > > What an asshole. Just because the gift of tongues was first given for that purpose does not mean it is the only purpose for that gift. There are other places in scripture where tongues is mentioned that are not about translating the gospel. It would be a better world, if people did not resort to name calling over small theological disagreements. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/22 "2010-06-22T01:21:48Z")
I went to Acquire the Fire. There was no political anything. There was some Creationist stuff, and lots of calls to proselytism, but no politics anywhere. And speaking in tongues is enjoyable to its practitioners, and harmless to everyone else. Why worry about it? The only people I can see having a legitimate beef are Christians who think it makes them look silly. (Well, them, and those who think it comes from the Devil…) ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/23 "2010-06-22T07:23:05Z")
> [@](#): > > and loses touch with the real world and get too god-crazy to function in the real world and HAVE to work within the church. it’s sad really. i used to know home-schooled evangelicals and those kids just never had a chance at being properly socialized. Oh GOD yes! Overall a lot of homeschoolers are pretty decent. Even a lot of the ones who are schooled b/c of religion have parents who will expose them to both secular and religious stuff. But there is a subtype that TOTALLY and completely shelters and emotionally stunts kids. The good news is that something like 85% of kids will fall away from their religion. I really wanted to see this movie…fascinates me totally ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/24 "2010-06-22T08:05:21Z")
Fucking Penacostals. Worst of the worst when it comes to hard core literalist fundies. Wanna argue? see you in the pit. I’m a non-theist and my girlfriend is Pentacostal. go figure. Anyhoo, last time I spoke in tounges was when I hit my thumb with a hammer. ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/25 "2010-06-22T08:32:39Z")
> [@B.Serum](#): > > I’m assuming that if you just watched it, you are watching the DVD. I suggest you listen to the director’s commentary. I think it’s highly commendable that even though the filmmakers don’t agree with Pastor Becky and their ilk, that they treat their subjects with respect and have very positive things to say about them. I think this is an excellent example of what a documentary should be. > > You may be interested to know that Pastor Becky had to [discontinue the camp](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003365311_jesuscamp08.html) due to outcry that followed in the wake of the movie. From your link: > [@](#): > > “Right now we’re just not a safe ministry,” Becky Fischer, the fiery Pentecostal pastor featured in “Jesus Camp,” said Tuesday. It’s always puzzled me that all belief in the ability of God to protect and guide his followers goes out the window for these supposed believers whenever a real threat comes along. So what if it’s not “safe?” For a bunch of people who believe in an afterlife of paradise and glory, they sure don’t seem to be eager to get there. ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/26 "2010-06-22T08:38:45Z")
Heather asked me to post this link to [Glossolalia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossolalia) FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/27 "2010-06-22T12:02:44Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > Fucking Penacostals. Worst of the worst when it comes to hard core literalist fundies. Wanna argue? see you in the pit. I’m a non-theist and my girlfriend is Pentacostal. go figure. Anyhoo, last time I spoke in tounges was when I hit my thumb with a hammer. Feel better after your tantrum? ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/28 "2010-06-22T13:27:19Z")
I thought it was a really interesting movie. It didn’t occur to me to watch the commentary–maybe I can get it again, it was from the library. It was too long ago for me to remember a lot of the details, though. Just that–woah, those folks are intense and obsessed. I was very disturbed by a lot of it. Since I homeschool myself, but I’m ‘the other kind,’ I guess I always get interested in these things. Most of the evangelical homeschoolers I know are lovely people who I’m happy to hang out with, but a few have some ideas that don’t make me happy. I think that since I live in California, that Bible Belt fundamentalism is not all that common here (though it happens–the tragic Schatz case was just up the ridge). What I’ve been learning about for the past few months is Quiverfull and Patriarchalist philosophy, which seems to be spreading. They make Pentecostals look great. You think Aquire the Fire is scary, check out Vision Forum or No Greater Joy sometime. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/29 "2010-06-22T15:03:50Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > [hijack] > I used to speak in tongues, when I was about 11-13 years of age, while I was attending a Pentecostal church. You know what’s really freaked up? If I think back on those times long and hard enough, or hear someone else doing it, _I can still do it._ I’m an ATHEIST. I am apparently not alone–I read that lots of folks, regardless of their current beliefs, still have access to this ability. I don’t understand what you mean when you say you “can still do it.” Can’t anybody? What more is there to it than streaming random syllables? ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/30 "2010-06-22T15:11:13Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > “Acquire the Fire,” eh? When I went to church camp as a teen, it was called Victory Circle and held at the end of the week. But basically it’s similar to what you described. > > (sorry for the 'jack) Heh, I did “Acquire the Fire” as a kid. My pastor took the kids at my church to some three day long event. But the pastor was really nervous about the whole thing. He was afraid that it was all a plot by the devil to get the kids focussed on rock and roll and other secular concerns. Indeed, at one point during one of the “worship” services, the Acquire the Fire logo popped up in the back of the stage–and the pastor asked me whether I’d ever seen that symbol anywhere else, like in graffitti or in any of my studies of gnosticism or cults. (He knew I was interested in that stuff… for purely evangelical purposes of course! Of course!) ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/31 "2010-06-22T15:18:03Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I don’t understand what you mean when you say you “can still do it.” Can’t anybody? What more is there to it than streaming random syllables? I was wondering that, too. Can’t anyone just speak gibberish? That’s all it sounded like to me. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/32 "2010-06-22T16:32:28Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I was wondering that, too. Can’t anyone just speak gibberish? That’s all it sounded like to me. Even Borat can do it: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrTWJo7a9l0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrTWJo7a9l0) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/33 "2010-06-22T16:50:02Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > . . . the pastor was really nervous about the whole thing. He was afraid that it was all a plot by the devil to get the kids focussed on rock and roll and other secular concerns. God is exactly like the IRS (and for all the same reasons, IMHO): there’s a series of complex, unknown and unknowable rules, all of which you’re expected to be entirely responsible for, on penalty of utter ruination, and you’re told that you aren’t permitted to opt out of a game whose only winning move is not to play. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/34 "2010-06-22T22:47:10Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > …the tragic Schatz case was just up the ridge). I haven’t seen the movie. What is the tragic Schatz case? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/35 "2010-06-22T23:08:57Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > Even Borat can do it: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrTWJo7a9l0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrTWJo7a9l0) But can Bruno? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/36 "2010-06-22T23:16:50Z")
I don’t know why, but every time someone tells me they watched this documentary there’s another one I suggest to them, so I’m going to suggest it to you (the OP) as well. [The Eyes of Tammy Faye](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0233687/) ---
**Author:** ![Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@Nicolas\_Bourbaki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicolas_Bourbaki)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/37 "2010-06-23T00:21:46Z")
> [@Darkhold](#): > > I was shocked by not being shocked by it. _This_. I was raised in a church that considered speaking in tongues too suspicious too allow and made a respectable effort to keep quiet about politics, but the ‘you’re either with us or against us’ attitude and keeping one’s private thoughts pure and focused was very familiar. First time I saw it, I wondered what the big deal was, what with the short haired woman in charge of everything and all. I second time I saw it, it was at my apartment in college, with a Jewish guy from LA, and his jaw was slack pretty much the entire movie. After the scene with the homeschooled kids watching the creationist video, he was fully convinced that the documentary was an elaborate hoax, since nothing that over-the-top actually existed in real life. Do they really believe they’re speaking an actual language with actual syntax and grammar? From what I remember of the film, she was just making rhyming noises like ‘Ho-ochichicho-o shamana-lamana-ramana . . .’ ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/38 "2010-06-23T01:09:30Z")
If you liked it, I’d also recommend [Hell House](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_House_(film)). Not as good (or, ironically enough, as scary), but an interesting look at teen zealots putting together a Christian-themed haunted house. Like so many fundies they seem to get pretty turned on by delving into sins and sinners. They love gory details. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/39 "2010-06-23T05:30:02Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I haven’t seen the movie. What is the tragic Schatz case? The Schatzes had nothing to do with the movie. They are some flavor of Quiverfull/Patriarchal, etc (it’s quite fluid apparently)–had 6 children and then adopted 3 sisters from Liberia. They followed some folks called the Pearls who run No Greater Joy ministry, who wrote a book called “To Train up a Child.” The book promises instant, joyful obedience from your children if you train them correctly, which involves corporal punishment from infancy. They also claim that if you don’t follow their method, your child will rebel and go to hell. (See the [first review on this page](http://www.amazon.com/Train-Up-Child-Michael-Pearl/product-reviews/1892112000/ref=cm_cr_dp_hist_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar) for a sample of their advice.) The middle adopted sister, Lydia, was 7 years old and died [just this last February](http://crime.suite101.com/article.cfm/child-beat-to-death-on-february-6-2010) after prolonged beating with the Pearl-recommended 1/4" plumber’s pipe. Her older sister ended up in intensive care. The Schatzes are currently in jail and awaiting trial. ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765/40 "2010-06-23T08:07:43Z")
dangermom, I know you frequent homeschool circles…do you think that most even evalingcial families balance their kids exposure to the secular world? I do think that the Jesus Camp types are seen as “whacko” even within conservative homeschool communities. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-jesus-camp/392765.md?page=3)