Idealization In Jesus Camp

Jesus Camp is a powerful, mind-altering documentary that follows the journey of selected children as they spend a summer in the Kids on Fire summer camp run by Becky Fischer. In this camp strict practices of idealization and object-hunger are intensively practiced. Throughout lessons it has been learnt that the experience of religious idealization can be either healthy or unhealthy according to Jones as both differentiate in growth and maturity, the ability to transmute internalizations and whether the object of devotion is seen as fallible or not (Lesson 5, Online Notes, 2015). When taken into respect the film Jesus Camp and Jones’s concepts of idealization, it can be referred to as showcasing it in a negative way. Taking into account the
Jones emphasizes that an unhealthy experience of religious idealization revolves around an object that is seen as flawless while providing “little or no room for its shortcomings to be acknowledged” (Lesson 5, Online Notes, 2015). This form of idealization is believed by some psychoanalysts to be a key feature of any religion. Specifically in Jesus Camp, Jones would describe that the unhealthy idealization resembles some key features used to decide and conclude that the experience of religious idealization in the film is unhealthy. “Whenever I run into a non-Christian, you know, there's always something that doesn't feel right, something that makes my spirit feel yucky” (Jesus Camp, Film) is a powerful quote spoken from Levi who is one of the children attending Fischer’s charismatic summer camp. The division of two people, Christians and non-Christians is emphasized through Levi’s words also declaring which of the two divisions is seen as ideal and
Furthermore, and in conclusion, the props Fischer uses for comparison towards her method of teaching would suggest for Jones that she is reassuring the relationship where students are in a submissive position to her and her devotion to God who is perceived as flawless and possessing truth (Lesson 5, Online Notes, 2015). Fischer successfully achieves this by using Barbie dolls for the resemblance of Adam and Eve, blood streaks in the font of “forbidden” words in her presentation and labeling Harry Potter as an enemy of God (Jesus Camp, Film). Fischer uses common references from the children’s current society and diminishes their value labeling them “unworthy” in God’s view, implying that they are to remain unworthy in theirs as well. Jones would describe this as eliminating opportunity for consideration of other beliefs and a constant devotion to theirs being perceived as pure and true resulting in a possibility of submission for the children. In the perspective of Jones, the idealization depicted in Jesus Camp reinsures that the children remain vulnerable and weak to Fischer who states that Christianity is powerful too. The over idealization evident in the film turns Fischer and her methods of religious practice into a more holy and conscious state