Jesus Camp
I strive to be very tolerant of religious diversity and generally respect people who are spiritual, regardless of their particular religious practices. I must admit, though, that parts of the movie were "scary" for me. In particular, I really do not understand speaking in tongues and witnessing makes me rather uncomfortable, particularly when it's done by children. However, there were other parts of the movie that were admirable, even though they weren't presented that way, such as the desire of children to be close to God or teaching children basic good behaviors.
There were two things about this subculture of Christianity shown in the movie that I found particularly troublesome. The first was the blatant rejection of science. While I'm familiar with the debate over creationism, I didn't really appreciate the complete rejection of scientific findings and the mockery of science that was illustrated in this film. The casual dismissal of scientific evidenced regarding global warming was especially disturbing. The other thing that bothered me was the attack on Harry Potter. Now, aside from my personal affinity for Harry, it seemed strange to me that fiction or creativity had no place in the subculture portrayed in the movie. It was also troubling that the adults so easily dismissed the one book series that has gotten so many kids in America to enjoy reading again.
Overall this was a fascinating movie and I highly recommend it, especially for social scientists. Our next movie night is dedicated to Happy Feet, which I doubt will generate such a lengthy post.