‘Jesus Camp’ covers children’s ministry

MANDAN, N.D. — The Rev. Becky Fischer runs a children’s summer camp that isn’t about making crafts, roasting marshmallows or telling scary stories around the campfire.

At the Kids on Fire summer camp in Devils Lake, it’s about “taking back America for Christ.”

Children as young as 5 speak in tongues, sob for salvation and dance with their faces painted in camouflage as part of “God’s army.”

Miss Fischer is convinced the children in her ministry will help fix this “sick ol’ world” — so sure that she allowed filmmakers an inside look at her work, the result of which is the documentary “Jesus Camp,” released last month.

Since then, the film has received generally good reviews, and Miss Fischer, a charismatic Christian, said she thinks it’s a fair if not entirely accurate portrayal of her ministry. But the movie also has exposed her to attacks from both the right and the left, she said in an interview at her F.I.R.E. (Families Ignited for Revival & Evangelism) Center in downtown Mandan, just outside Bismarck.

“It’s not just wackos ripping me for child abuse — I’m taking hits from the Christian community,” Miss Fischer said, calling Christian conservatives who dislike the film “knuckleheads.”

“The one thing that people are really tripping over is the emotion they see in those kids,” she said. “It’s unbelievable for someone who doesn’t know Jesus.”

The 55-year-old former art teacher and sign business operator is an animated, outspoken woman who acts as a drill instructor for her religious recruits at the summer camp. She uses stern lectures, and props such as globs of goo to show what impure thoughts do to a child’s brain.

“Harry Potter would have been put to death,” she tells the children at one point. “Warlocks are the enemy of God.”

In one scene, teary-eyed children pray before a life-size cutout of President Bush and ask God to place “righteous judges” on the U.S. Supreme Court. In another, children are shown at a pro-life rally in Washington, D.C., their lips sealed with red tape.

“I want to see young people who are as committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam,” Miss Fischer said in an interview.

New York-based filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady shot the documentary over one year starting in April 2005. The summer camp part of the film was shot during a weeklong session in Devils Lake, in northeast North Dakota.

“We were looking for a film that would let us explore faith and religion through the eyes of children,” said Miss Grady, who is Jewish.

The Kids on Fire camp has averaged about 150 campers a year.

Samantha Riel, 16, and her sister, Jessica, 8, sold Pizza Hut coupons to pay for the $185, four-day camp, which accepts campers ranging from 5-year-olds to adults. The girls live on a dairy farm in Raleigh, in southwest North Dakota.

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