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Without Mike Papantonio's straw man and ad hominem arguments misrepresenting evangelical Christianity, this film would be bad enough. But with Papantonio's bias paving the way, secular and liberal viewers are given permission to gasp in shock at what follows, to nod their heads in agreement with Papantonio's angry callers (one caller: "There's nothing gentle, and nothing compassionate—to me there's nothing Christian about 'em.")

A view from below: when did kids become spokespersons for grownups?

But if liberals don't get evangelicals, surely the portions of the film that focuses on children won't misrepresent anybody, right? Children reflect their culture in surprisingly honest ways—just ask any elementary school teacher: she can paint an accurate portrait of her students' family lives just by what the children unthinkingly and honestly reveal in class. Or can she?

Consider one example. Twelve minutes into the film, when Becky Fischer—a Pentecostal children's ministry leader who runs the camp—meets 12-year old Levi for the first time, she asks Levi how long he's been a Christian. His answer is stunning. He says he "got saved" at the age of five "because I just wanted more of life— 'cause there was just nothing that I thought was fun."

Fischer responds, "You thought at five years old there's nothing fun?" Levi, nodding, says, "Yeah."

Pentecostal children's minister Becky Fischer

Come on, it beggars my belief that any kid at five years of age is sufficiently world-weary and disengaged to believe that there was "just nothing fun" to do? And that this drove him to Christ? No, this is either the learned language of disillusioned, middle-aged, grown-ups, or it's a reflection of adolescent clinical depression. I have, in my household, a bona-fide copy of five-and-a-half year-old testosterone and exuberance in the form of a little boy on loan from God. In all my experience with my son and other five-year-olds of a similar make and model, I have never once heard the words sighed, "I just want more from life."

From his preschool disenchantment, to his preaching to the collected youth at camp, to his bold self-introduction to Ted Haggard as a fellow preacher (his favorite sermon topic is faith), there is no way the words "typical," "representative," or "average" can be applied to Levi.

These children's lives, and the bits including other kids at the camp, are not representative of the whole of Christianity, the whole of evangelical-dom, or even the whole of Pentecostalism. Their lives may prove interesting, entertaining, inspiring or sobering. But it's a category mistake to assume that the characteristics of the individuals or even a small group of individuals resembles in any significant way the whole. It's a category mistake to think that all, most, or even many of our kids are being trained to be fervent preachers, to eagerly anticipate martyrdom, encouraged to speak in tongues and prophesy, or to march in protest against abortion in Washington, D.C. The sample set is vanishingly small and its relevance for understanding evangelical pre-teen culture is nearly worthless. Entertaining and provocative, yes. But three kids do not make Jesus Camp a sociological study.

While Becky Fischer is a fourth-generation Pentecostal, her more immediate roots are in the Word of Faith movement, a subset of the wider Pentecostal and charismatic movement (her ministry started as a children's pastor at Word of Faith Church and Outreach Center in Bismarck, North Dakota). While there are many commonalities between Word of Faith doctrine and classical Pentecostalism (such as the A/G, Foursquare, Church of God [Cleveland, Tenn.], etc.), there is a difference in emphasis, and a difference in culture.

One way Fischer's camp culture doesn't reflect wider Pentecostal culture is the easy-going, public use of tongues while on the microphone. Classical Pentecostals point to 1 Corinthians 12-14 as Paul's guidelines for how charismata—spiritual gifts—ought to operate in the church. In particular, Paul says that tongues without an interpretation are to be kept private, just between "himself and God." Otherwise, Paul says, the listener will hear it and conclude the speaker is out of his mind.

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On Fire at Jesus Camp	Printer view
A new documentary depicts charismatic kids who are articulate and take faith seriously. But have they been "indoctrinated"? Is it a fair representation of evangelicals? Or too political? We asked the directors.