[ecomcon]

So when are these two brave filmmakers going to take their cameras into the madrassas of Waziristan, where children are praying for the beheading of George W. Bush and the destruction of the USA?

Never gonna happen because, like you said, they're basically cowards. It's much easier and great fun to attack and hollow out traditional American cultural and religious themes. They score points with their liberal friends, provide themselves with proof of the christian boogeyman, (never mind the straw sticking out of his sleeves) and best of all, there is absolutely no risk involved.

[jude24]

See, I think this provides a service to us. It may have been intended to accomplish the malevolent goals you suggest (to make traditional American Christianity look bad), but I think this is an opportunity for us to re-evaluate and ask if we go too far in the hard sell to our kids? Do we actually brain-wash them in an attempt to make sure they are converted? Or do we rather asssist them with a relational discipleship model, coming alongside of them and helping them think through the intersection of their faith and their life?

If the film is accurate - and at this time, there is no evidence to suggest it is not - then, as a conservative Christian I must say they provided a service: they identified a dangerous element within our own ranks. The pastor on that trailer sounded mentally unhinged, and assuming no editing shenanigans went on, she could quite easily become a Christian fundamentalist terrorist. It's time to police our own.

[split]

have you seen this film? i did and i thought it was pretty fair. i have not seen the trailer, but i'm sure that was put together by the marketing team for the film company that is distributing it, and might be more sensationalistic than the actual film. i grew up in a small town in the south and was raised in an environment similar to what was captured in the film. i thought the filmmakers did a good job of presenting the material without presenting a particular, personal viewpoint. i saw this at a film festival, and the filmmakers were given every opportunity during the "q and a" that followed the screening, to rail on the subject and subject matter, or give some titillating details to make the material seem nefarious--they never did...I they just wanted to present the material, because i think that it was not something that they were familiar with from their upbringings (catholic and jewish, raised in maryland)...if they had been raised in the south, around more assemblies of god and other pentecostal churches, then they might not have found the material as interesting (not that it is not, but the documentarians might not have found it to be fascinating as "unknown" and "curious"--just as i would find a documentary about judaism or catholicism to be fascinating). i would urge you to see this film. the "devil's lake" location of the film is ironically, where the camp is located, and was not chosen by the filmmakers. after i saw this film, i researched all i could about the subject, becky, because i found her so interesting.