Matt Taibbi is an atheist who went undercover to participate in a religious boot camp for new converts of controversial pastor John Hagee. In this excerpt from his new book, posted on alternet.org, Taibbi describes a strange mixture of self-help and religious indoctrination that is chillingly reminiscent of classic cult techniques. As he comments, participants were brought to a place where they “left behind the mental processes that a person would need to form an independent opinion…”