Before their offspring come to that stage, most mothers and fathers lay down some no-nonsense, no-argument essentials. They raise their sons and daughters according to their own beliefs. They try to instill specific moral values. They try to make them the person that they themselves would like to be.
Is that guidance? Or indoctrination?The question hovers over "Jesus Camp," a new documentary about an evangelical summer get-together that's dedicated to turning out "soldiers for Christ." Are the children being given tools to examine and express their faith, or merely being brainwashed into their family's? Are the scenes of 9-year-olds reduced to quivering, crying supplicants for divine forgiveness proof of the power of the spirit, or merely evidence of a form of child abuse?
Reasonable adults can disagree.
The children themselves, however, have no doubt. As hip-hop gospel tunes blast in the background ("You take him high/You take him low/You take J.C./Wherever you go!"), grade-schoolers talk about their urge to preach the Gospel, "take back" this country and save it from Satan.
"America's supposed to be God's nation," one baby preacher declares.
"But then it got twisted around."
"Use your cute-kid thing," one adult minister says, giving some preaching tips. "They're so usable," another adult says, looking admiringly out over the half-pint crowd.
Yet the wealth of the movie's snarky details -- the Christian musical-theater revues, the preacher's gift shop, the exorcism of the audio-visual equipment -- tend to make "Jesus Camp" more camp than Jesus.
