I have been silent on the outing of Ted Haggard, not because I have nothing to say, but I needed to know more of the story before writing anything. And I needed time for my heart to break.

Now that most of the relevant data are in, I will do my usual thorough job of reviewing most of what has been written and produced on the matter so I can serve up a concise lengthy treatise.

Stay tuned.

[tags]BlogRodent, ted-haggard, new-life-church, homosexuality, drugs, methamphetamine, charismatic, pentecostal, national-association-of-evangelicals, nae, colorado-springs, colorado, sexual-sin, sin, moral-failure[/tags]

Jesus Camp, what an experience. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's investigation into the hidden world of one Pentecostal kids' camp simultaneously delighted me, fascinated me, and embarrassed me. I love this film. I hate this film.

It angers me.

For those who haven't seen the trailer, by now, the premise is simple: follow three pre-teens from Missouri heading to a summer camp owned by the Assemblies of God in Devils Lake, North Dakota (Lakewood Park Bible Camp). Document their experiences there, and follow up on the aftermath. Simple enough.

But the devil, as they say, is in the details. Or, in this case, the future Evangelical Army of God is in the details. As Ewing and Grady have noted, their initial raw footage had no real drama: "There was absolutely no conflict. … it wasn't dynamic enough." So, toss in a conflicted profile of the "Kids on Fire" camp director, Becky Fischer; include a few oddball characters for color and commentary; stir up dissent using Air America radio host Mike Papantonio and his uninformed Greek chorus of callers. Then get a major Charismatic Evangelical to appear in the documentary to give your subtext some heft and legitimacy and tie it all together with a neat little bow called George Bush and the Supreme Court.

These are a few of the things I've recently found of interest, but don't have the time to properly blog on. I don't necessarily like or agree with the links here, I just think they're interesting. And just in case you do, too, enjoy.

(You can view past Del.icio.us links here or subscribe to my Del.icio.us feed here. )