"Jesus Camp"

Shelina recently had a post that was titled, "Can we talk about religion?" I wonder if she was reading my mind!
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On Saturday, Joe and I watched a documentary film called "Jesus Camp." I can't get it out of my mind.
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It featured a youth pastor from the religious right and most of the film was set in a camp she runs in the summer time. It was about brainwashing. It was about mistreating children -- these kids had the "message" drilled into them, playing with their emotions and their minds, until some of them were reduced to sobbing, to writhing on the floor. And when this happened -- was there mercy? Were there hugs? Was there support? No.
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This is a religious movement that I have a hunch would be the first to decry our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers for "praying to statues," but they had at one point a bigger-than-life-size cardboard cut-out of George W. Bush, and were asking these children to talk to it, to pledge their support, to issue their supplications. It was horrifying.
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There were also scenes of homeschooling, which apparently is encouraged by this movement. Kids were taught not only that creationism is right and evolution is wrong, but also that global warming isn't a problem -- continuing the way we are will bring about the rapture!
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I kept thinking of Jim Jones. And Kool Aid.