jesus camp

I've been having a hard time shaking this movie, jesus camp. for the first half hour i sat back, smug as a cocktail party know-it-all. it's so easy to judge these people: overweight moms wearing jorts, lady pastors preaching against harry potter and his warlocks, saying prayers to protect powerpoint presentations "in jesus' name." but as this film went on i started falling in love with these kids. it is so shocking to see children caring about anything these days, let alone be moved, really moved. clearly the level of manipulation is freakishly cultish, and i had jim jones flashbacks, but these are good and smart kids who want nothing more than to spread the teachings of christ which, of course, they don't understand. it brought back memories of "right to life" posters i made in grade school and how taken i was with the movement as a 10 year old.
it is the parents that are the real horrors. one home-schooling session involved the merits of creationism and why global warming is a hoax...out of an actual textbook. and talk about smug. the level of self-righteousness is blinding.
i am continually amazed by the intractability of people- conservatives, liberals, evangelicals, atheists, you name it. i've seen brilliantly worded arguments fall on deaf ears so many times, people who simply talk over each other. i suppose that's why i've stopped watching sunday news shows. it's just so fucking depressing.
by the end of this movie i was truly sad, terrified and moved at the same time.
here is the bump:
young rachel: "it's like we're being trained as warriors, but more fun."