Catholic filmmaker finds suspicion about her faith among evangelicals

Published: 2006-10-11

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Heidi Ewing, the Catholic co-director of the new theatrical documentary "Jesus Camp," said she found some hostility about her religious faith during the making of the film from an unexpected source: a high-profile evangelical minister. "Jesus Camp" follows the lives of three children -- Levi, Rachael and Tory -- before and during a North Dakota summer camp led by youth minister Becky Fischer and aimed at deepening the youngsters' faith. "My one disturbing encounter was at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs (Colo.) with Pastor Ted Haggard," head of the National Association of Evangelicals, who is "the senior minister of the church," Ewing said. "I was in the service, and we had three cameras rolling, and there were 3,000 people in the church, and my cameraman was on the stage shooting him, and Pastor Ted started teasing the cameraman: 'Where are you from? England? Do you go to church?'" she recounted. When the cameraman told Rev. Haggard that he goes to church when he's in England, the minister said, "So you're in the Church of England." The cameraman replied, "No, I'm Catholic," according to Ewing. "Pastor Ted turned to the congregation -- and I have this on tape -- in a very mocking tone, he said, 'Oh, we l-o-o-o-ve the Catholics, don't we?' and people started laughing." In a statement on the group's Web site, Rev. Haggard said the movie "manipulates facts" and is "one more 'documentary' that seems to miss the point intentionally."

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