The controversial documentary about an evangelical church camp outraged secular audiences, but its subjects have mixed memories. It makes me a faker, it makes me feel guilty and bad. Over the course of its celebrated and contested life, Jesus Camp has become a Rorschach test for audiences: some evangelicals see it as a fair representation of their culture, while secular, left-leaning audiences typically see an expose against a malicious force of right-wing indoctrination, often walking away with one angry phrase on their lips: child abuse.
His split from the evangelical world happening when his father came out as gay. He says he spent several years angry at the church, but has since discovered peace in eastern mysticism, quantum mechanics, and psychotropic drugs.
There is a lot of psychological damage that follows when people are trained not to trust themselves. For many viewers, Jesus Camp was their first exposure to a Pentecostal church service, where crying, screaming, dancing, speaking in tongues and convulsions are as ritualistic as incense at a Catholic ceremony.
Their home-school textbooks deny global-warming and teach creationism. They listen to Christian music and rightwing talk radio, watch Christian movies, and pledge allegiance to a Christian flag. Activities included proselytizing to strangers at a bowling alley, and protesting abortion outside the supreme court.
Liberal audiences were outraged by a scene featuring pastor Ted Haggard leader of the National Association of Evangelicals, and informal advisor to then president George W Bush , where he disparages homosexuality as a sin, then makes a joke about infidelity and blackmail into the camera. Serendipitously, Jesus Camp hit theaters at the exact time that Haggard was exposed as having a three-year relationship with a male prostitute, from whom he also purchased methamphetamine. Late-night political comedians like Jon Stewart and Bill Maher had a lot of fun with that clip, fueling the outrage and popularity of Jesus Camp among atheists.
