Teach Your Children

As I was sitting at home today, I turned on the IFC channel and this movie called "Jesus Camp" was playing. I decided to watch it, as I remember it being nominated for an oscar a couple years back and by recommendations from friends who watched it for their junior themes last year.
It's about an Evangelical Reverend (Becky) in Missouri who takes children under 15 and their families to a camp in North Dakota to "spread the word of Christ" and create some sort of "God's Army".
That movie scared me in many ways. The documentary basically filmed reverend Becky's sermons to the children, as well as her encounters with many of them. The way that the 5 or 6 children the movie followed acted while in church or conversing about their religion puzzled me. It's hard for me to understand the impact that religion or god has on you, as I was brought up completely heathen by my parents. I never went to church or temple on weekends, nor did I attend holiday services. It never was a part of my life, and to see these kids completely consumed by it; reciting verses to strangers, wearing bible paraphernalia 24/7, and being politically active in issues such as abortion and gay marriage (I mean, I didn't even understand the meaning of abortion when I was in elementary school, so how are they supposed to understand the context and choices that one has when they get pregnant at such an early age?)
In Reverend Becky's words, she was creating an army of children. It was scary to see her speak and try to convince these kids that president bush is their hero because he supports the evangelicals and appoints them to the supreme court, or that the devil uses children as targets so they must never do anything that the bible prohibits, or using popular music and energy during sermons to attract the attention of the young so they're not at a "dead church" in which ordinary people just sit around and listen to a sermon.
It was just freaky in general to watch all of these kids eat up everything she said and live by it to the core.
I guess now I know why this class is teaching us to think critically about what people are saying to us; who knows, without that, I might have joined god's army...