Jesus Camp, etc.

I just finished watching the documentary "Jesus Camp" and it left me feeling disturbed, disconsolate, and distrustful of extreme religiousness. Ironically, it also made me feel extremely jealous.

I'm amazed at how effectively evangelists have dominated the American political scene. With a highly-organized 10% of the population, they have elected (and re-elected) a sympathetic, although idiotic, president. Moreover, they have saturated general discourse and mass media with their ideologies. As Jesus Camp shows, they are indoctrinating the next generation of 'God's Army' with unshakable values, beliefs, and visions of the future. Too bad this particular vision includes the second coming of Christ and the end of civilization as we know it....

The Globalsalvation movement should adopt some of these successful strategies to launch our own invasion of consciousness. Imagine scores of children playing in forests and discovering nature at eco-camps! We can teach them that Gaia loves them and has given them life. We'll lecture them on the evils of Exxon and tell ghost stories about the haunted SUV that went around killing polar bears and flooding the Netherlands! We'll create our own squadron of 'Earth's Peacekeepers' to go around chanting "YES, AND!" at protests. We'll guilt children that they cannot be hypocrites, breathing air and drinking water, but failing to properly sort their garbage (OH, the horror! REPENT!) They will develop a reverence for the extraordinary coincidence of the evolution of consciousness, and will understand their role in ensuring a long tenure for humanity on this planet. Core values of Diversity, Interdependence, and Self-Sufficiency will be drilled into their minds using popular icons, funnels, and fancy fonts. We will mold them into eco-fascists that will CONQUER THE WORLD (only to implement fair and sustainable practices).

Okay, so maybe I've taken this joke a bit far, but it's still a funny thought. How come religious fanatics who honestly believe that a book is literally "the word of God" get more traction in the public spotlight than local heroes that endlessly work to improve the quality of social and environmental systems?? If people are so hungry for faith and belief, why do they look for it in something external, eternal, and unknowable while stomping all over the most beautiful, magical, gracious creation ever known? I guess the devil you know is better than the planet you live on...