I want to expand a little more on the movie, as it touches some points that I've been putting out in a verrrrry long religious debate (on another board, not bl). My point was that, if you truly do believe that this life is essentially your testing ground, and determines where you spend your eternity, then the hyper-obsession we see in these films makes more sense. I almost don't want to say this because I'm not sure if I'll phrase it right, but I have more respect for the christians in this movie than your regular christian. If you're a true christian, and believe fully in the bible, then isn't this earth just a brief, extremely brief, point in your being? This life is tiny, the afterlife is forever/infinity, and will be heaven or hell (or purgatory I guess, depending which flavor of christianity you choose). If you truly believe that, the way these people act actually reflects their beliefs. It's almost like that episode (two part episode actually) of southpark ("do the handicapped go to hell?" part 1, and "probably" part 2), where the kids are so hyper obsessed with heaven or hell, to the point where if they say 'damnit' or any curse word, they race to the church to repent, because if they die they need to do so with a clean slate.
It seems the kids in southpark, and the kids in this movie, truly do believe in what their religion is about, and your regular joe schmoe church goer who half asses it is the phony religious poser.
(a little off topic from what my point was, but about the movie itself, there's a 'main' little girl and boy, if you've seen it you know which ones I'm talking about, the ones we know will grow up the most twisted. Doesn't the boy (he has this half mullet / half rat tail thing going on) kind of remind you of rob coronado, the ELF guy who served time for firebombing/eco-terrorism?)