the christian army

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So I recently watched the documentary Jesus camp directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady and I must say I was completely disturbed. The documentary shows scenes of children at bible camp for religious extremists. It's so shocking to see the children basically crying through the entire film while they are essentially told that they're are terrible "sinners" and that they should ask God for forgiveness. [IMG]http://i10.tinypic.com/87m0abm.jpg[/IMG]
This is seen throughout the film and it basically seems like a working device of manipulation. Sure Christianity has been around for a long time and people regularly take their kids to church but there is a difference between showing your child what you believe and hoping that they will feel similarly and inherently conditioning your children so that they not only believe but inflict your beliefs on others. The leaders in these churches literally use techniques that borderline on abuse it seems that they take a child and lower their self-esteem and make them feel that the only way that they'll be worth anything is through the church. This is a common technique used by abusive spouses the similarities are uncanny.
What's more is the fact that not only are they being manipulated into a religion they are also being manipulated into political ideals. In the film they bring in a cutout of president Bush for the children and talk about him like a god as well as engineering all their ideals toward a very conservative outlook and I'm sure they're getting tax exempt status (just another little pet peave) They indisputably claim to be building an army, and with very mature reasoning (I hope you got the sarcasm) say "that's what the muslims are doing." Maybe I'm being dramatic but by that reasoning, why don't we have our children fighting in Iraq then, that's what the warlords in North Africa are doing. I personally fear for the kids who are being subjected to this it seems likely that they have been condemned by their parents to a future of mental trouble.
I don't mean this as an attack on christianity, quite honestly I know real christians aren't at all like this I mean it goes against all their principles and makes them look bad. I say real christians because I think any group that is so extreme by comparison to the majority is basically another religion altogether (I feel similarly about muslim extremists).
I personally feel that in an ideal world children would b exposed to every religion so they have a choice as to what fits their beliefs and not necessarily their parents. Like I said before I'm fine with people passing religion on to their children it's a part of life and culture but this aggressive way of doing it needs to stop, at least for the kids sake.

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