Posted by Hemant Mehta in A documentary by Nancy Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra, is set to debut at 9pm/8c tonight on HBO.
Friends of God: A Road Trip With Alexandra Pelosi features the filmmaker talking with prominent evangelical leaders including Joel Osteen. Pelosi also talks to “visitors at religion-themed parks, a Christian comic, creationist educators, Liberty University students and activists in Washington, D.C.”
(Did you know there was a Christian Wrestling Federation? According to the New York Times, Pelosi talks to the founder of the CWF.)
There are even some less prominent evangelical leaders.
Ted Haggard gets quite a bit of screen time as the “tour guide” through the Christian world. And as the footage was shot before his downfall, you can be sure there will be some unintentional, hilarious foreshadowing.
Newsweek interviewed Pelosi and brought up one of these moments:
Early on in the film, Haggard tells you, “Surveys say that evangelicals have the best sex life of any other group.” He then asks a pair of married, young male parishioners standing nearby how often they have sex with their wives. One of them responds, “Every day. Twice a day.” Then Haggard asks the man how frequently she climaxes. “Every time,” the man says. Leaving all the subtext aside for a moment, I’m wondering if this exchange was in the very first cut of the film, even before the revelations about Haggard came to light?
Yes, it was just a pure, weird coincidence.
Incidentally, a few years back, Pelosi had followed George W. Bush as he ran against Al Gore in the 2000 elections in her film Journeys With George. That film won an Emmy (albeit a meaningless editing one). Her other film, Diary of a Political Tourist, followed seven Democrats running in the 2004 presidential elections.
[tags]Nancy Pelosi, Alexandra Pelosi, HBO, Friends of God: A Road Trip With Alexandra Pelosi, Joel Osteen, Christian, Christianity, atheist, atheism, creationist, Liberty University, Washington D.C., Ted Haggard, Newsweek, sex, George W. Bush, Al Gore, Journeys With George, Emmy, Diary of a Political Tourist, Democrat[/tags]
The bible is the history of the universe …
Hemant I know things are going good because of that offer, but lets quit these lives and because wrestlers for the CWF.
Another sex addict plays his hand in public- what a sick guy
Any one seen it yet? Is it good?
[...] Hemant posted this article about another movie featuring more of Ted Haggards (not so hidden) addiction to sex. [...]
I tried to watch, I really did. Husband left the room after 10 minutes. I lasted another 5, once the evolution talk started, I just couldn’t take it. So sad, so desperate, so STUPID. And so proud of it. And I’m sure all those godly wives are just having (not faked) orgasm after orgasm. Just like I’m sure I’m 6 ft. tall & blonde.
Then Haggard asks the man how frequently she climaxes. “Every time,” the man says.
why didn’t he ask the woman? afraid she’d tell the truth?
EEekkkk. Ignorant and proud of it – that’s such a depressing combination, I agree. I don’t blame you for being unable to watch. I don’t have HBO, and I was kind of glad in this instance.
Snort. Yarite.
I read a NY Times article about Andrea Pelosi a few weeks ago. They asked her what she thought of evangelicals after having spent so much time with them. Her response left me reeling:
What the hell?! Since when does Paris *&)#@* Hilton represent the best that secular culture has to offer!? Weird.
If you give me the choice between child-abusing priests and Carl Sagan, I’ll pick Carl Sagan every time.
Thanks for telling me this. Now I don’t feel bad about turning it off. Nitwit.
I just finished watching this. Yep, I made it all the way through. What really scared me:
- How many of these evangelical organizations focus on children. They are openly targetting children and young people, teaching them that creationism is the ‘truth’ and that evolution is evil. Plus, a whole slew of rock concerts, summer camps, wrestling organizations (!) and other things targetting teens. It made my skin crawl.
- These guys are not stupid. They know how to market themselves, how to sell themselves and it’s why they have the following they do. It’s like going up against Coke!
But after I went off on a 10-minute tirade about how we’re all doomed and this country is going to hell, my husband pointed out that this documentary really watches sort of like a steady stream of freakshows. Sort of like how most people watched “Trekkies.” Not me, of course, I totally related to that dude who had the Starfleet-themed dental office – that was COOL… but I digress.
I guess as depressed as I was by this documentary, I have to believe that it’s a lot worse for me, living in the South (I knew every one of those billboards!) and that saner minds will prevail…
Won’t they?