Jesus Camp

I thought this movie would be funny. It was truly disturbing. [OK, the scene where the still-closeted meth-snorting, hooker-blowing Rev. Haggard tells the cameraperson to "Repent!" was funny and not the least bit disturbing–but only because it does not involve any innocent children.] Were I The Dictator, or even the District Attorney, I would arrest or prosecute most of the adults in this movie for child mental and spiritual abuse.

The documentary follows several preteen children from their home towns to a parachristian extremist summer camp where they are taught that their elders' particular set of peculiar superstitious beliefs and worldview are the only correct ones and that it is their duty to indoctrinate the rest of us into them. One girl reminded me of Mary Catharine Gallagher, but only the pathetic parts of the character, not the funny ones. It was hard to laugh during this movie because I felt so sorry for the actual kids who were its primary subjects. It was so obvious that they were parroting dogma that they clearly didn't understand to win the approval and love of the [very warped] adults in their lives.