{"id":3333,"date":"2016-07-07T16:18:22","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T15:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/?p=3333"},"modified":"2016-07-07T16:18:22","modified_gmt":"2016-07-07T15:18:22","slug":"jesus-camp-where-are-they-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/2016\/07\/07\/jesus-camp-where-are-they-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus Camp: Where are they now?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

My review of\u00a0Jesus Camp<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(a documentary about a Pentecostal<\/a> youth retreat)\u00a0gets a steady stream of hits from people searching for \u201cJesus Camp where are they now\u201d. Well, wonder no more, because the Guardian has dug up<\/a> two of the film\u2019s\u00a0most memorable characters\u00a0to celebrate its tenth anniversary. I loved the film, even though I hardly needed to watch it having lived through much the same thing, so I was curious about this myself.<\/p>\n

The first\u00a0interviewee is Andrew Sommerkamp, the boy whose story affected me the most: he was the small blond boy seen crying because, apparently alone among the dozens of children having close experiences of Jesus, he struggled to believe in God. The second is Levi O\u2019Brien, the fiery preacher kid.<\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/a>
Andrew Sommerkamp. Screenshot from Jesus Camp<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Both of them have turned out more or less exactly how you\u2019d expect. O\u2019Brien is a conservative Christian who, speaking about his upbringing, tells the Grauniad \u201cLet\u2019s look at the outcome: I have peace in my mind, I have drive and purpose and character.\u201d Just his use of the word \u2018character\u2019 is telling here, because few\u00a0people\u00a0outside of that subculture use \u2018character\u2019 to mean \u2018moral substance\u2019. It\u2019s a word so loaded with Christian right baggage that it creeps me out every time I hear someone use it.<\/p>\n

Sommerkamp, also unsurprisingly, is no longer a Christian. He refers to Jesus Camp organiser Becky<\/p>\n

\"Levi<\/a>
Levi O\u2019Brien. Screenshot from Jesus Camp<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fischer as\u00a0\u201ca terrible fucking person who is fueled by the spiritual suffering of other people\u201d, which makes me think Sommerkamp is someone with whom I could share an enjoyable evening in a pub. But Sommerkamp\u2019s story is not an entirely happy ending. The article tells us he has now \u201cdiscovered peace in eastern mysticism, quantum mechanics, and psychotropic drugs\u201d.<\/p>\n

Judging from the rest of the sentence, I take it that by \u201cquantum mechanics\u201d he means \u201cDeepak Chopra horseshit\u201d rather than \u201can academic career in science\u201d. And this is where a\u00a0Jesus Camp<\/em>-style upbringing can do a second level of harm. Sommerkamp has swapped one load\u00a0of bullshit for another. This second lot of bullshit is arguably less malign than the former, and I\u2019m glad it\u2019s working for him and he\u2019s happy. Importantly, it\u2019s a load of bullshit that he\u00a0chose<\/em> rather than one that he had thrust upon him. I will always support everyone\u2019s right to pursue the life they find fulfilling. But if he\u2019d\u00a0had a solid upbringing in critical thinking and a strong understanding of science, what are the chances he\u2019d have fallen into this nonsense?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not pretending that all, or even most, Deepak Chopra converts are former fundies, but an education that teaches people to accept irrational forms of argument as valid leaves them vulnerable to pseudoscience. I got mixed up in homeopathy and other woo for several years after leaving church. It\u00a0felt\u00a0<\/em>like I was thinking critically, because I was trying forms of alternative medicine that my church believed were evil, but really I didn\u2019t know how to assess evidence. As Valerie Tarico tells the Guardian:<\/p>\n

One of the problems with faith-based teaching is it teaches children not to trust their own reason and intuition, undermining their ability to have confidence in their own knowledge and ability to process information. There is a lot of psychological damage that follows when people are trained not to trust themselves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To which I\u2019d add \u201cand scientific consensus\u201d.<\/p>\n

Read The Kids of Jesus Camp 10 Years Later<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two of Jesus Camp’s most famous alumni share their current views.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2124,"featured_media":3334,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[961,82,174,340,363,962,601],"class_list":["post-3333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-andrew-sommerkamp","tag-becky-fischer","tag-critical-thinking","tag-indoctrination","tag-jesus-camp","tag-levi-obrien","tag-skepticism"],"yoast_head":"\nJesus Camp: Where are they now?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two of Jesus Camp's most famous alumni share their current views.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/2016\/07\/07\/jesus-camp-where-are-they-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jesus Camp: Where are they now?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two of Jesus Camp's most famous alumni share their current views.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/2016\/07\/07\/jesus-camp-where-are-they-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leaving Fundamentalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-07T15:18:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/501\/2016\/07\/andrew-sommerkamp-e1467904401643.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"643\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jonny Scaramanga\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jonny Scaramanga\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/2016\/07\/07\/jesus-camp-where-are-they-now\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/2016\/07\/07\/jesus-camp-where-are-they-now\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Camp: Where are they now?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-07T15:18:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-07T15:18:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/#\/schema\/person\/49284ea8147bd8304e50e66798c43a1e\"},\"description\":\"Two of Jesus Camp's most famous alumni share their current views.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/2016\/07\/07\/jesus-camp-where-are-they-now\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/2016\/07\/07\/jesus-camp-where-are-they-now\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/2016\/07\/07\/jesus-camp-where-are-they-now\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Jesus Camp: Where are they now?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/\",\"name\":\"Leaving Fundamentalism\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/#\/schema\/person\/49284ea8147bd8304e50e66798c43a1e\",\"name\":\"Jonny Scaramanga\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a6201268e5be421079f9aa32aaa4828?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a6201268e5be421079f9aa32aaa4828?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jonny Scaramanga\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/author\/jscaramanga\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jesus Camp: Where are they now?","description":"Two of Jesus Camp's most famous alumni share their current views.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/2016\/07\/07\/jesus-camp-where-are-they-now\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jesus Camp: Where are they now?","og_description":"Two of Jesus Camp's most famous alumni share their current views.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/2016\/07\/07\/jesus-camp-where-are-they-now\/","og_site_name":"Leaving Fundamentalism","article_published_time":"2016-07-07T15:18:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":643,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/501\/2016\/07\/andrew-sommerkamp-e1467904401643.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jonny Scaramanga","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jonny Scaramanga","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/2016\/07\/07\/jesus-camp-where-are-they-now\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/2016\/07\/07\/jesus-camp-where-are-they-now\/","name":"Jesus Camp: Where are they now?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-07-07T15:18:22+00:00","dateModified":"2016-07-07T15:18:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/#\/schema\/person\/49284ea8147bd8304e50e66798c43a1e"},"description":"Two of Jesus Camp's most famous alumni share their current views.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/2016\/07\/07\/jesus-camp-where-are-they-now\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/2016\/07\/07\/jesus-camp-where-are-they-now\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/2016\/07\/07\/jesus-camp-where-are-they-now\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jesus Camp: Where are they now?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/","name":"Leaving Fundamentalism","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/#\/schema\/person\/49284ea8147bd8304e50e66798c43a1e","name":"Jonny Scaramanga","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a6201268e5be421079f9aa32aaa4828?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a6201268e5be421079f9aa32aaa4828?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jonny Scaramanga"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/author\/jscaramanga\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leavingfundamentalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}