c. 2007 Religion News Service

SAN FRANCISCO _ Alexandra Pelosi, the camera-toting daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, first gained notice for her 2002 documentary, “Journeys With George,” which followed then-candidate George W. Bush on the 2000 presidential campaign.

Her newest project, “Friends of God: A Road Trip With Alexandra Pelosi,” finds Pelosi, 36, criss-crossing the country with a hand-held camera, this time exploring the lives of evangelical Christians. It airs on HBO on Thursday (Jan. 25).

One of her tour guides was the Rev. Ted Haggard, the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, who resigned in November in the wake of a gay sex and drug abuse scandal. “When Ted Haggard fell, it broke my heart,” she said.

Pelosi talked about what she learned on her yearlong journey. Here are excerpts:

Q: Your previous documentaries have been about politics. Why did you focus on American evangelicals this time?

A: I was trying to explore this whole idea of red states versus blue states. … The pundits were saying after the 2004 presidential election that George Bush was helped by the Christian evangelicals. And there was all this talk that they were a formidable force in democracy. I wanted to go meet some of these evangelicals and get to know them and try and figure out who they are and what they are all about.

Q: Ted Haggard served as your tour guide into the evangelical world. Why did you choose him?

A: As a journalist, you dance with the one who brings you. Pastor Ted, from the beginning, had an open-door policy at his church. He let the media in. Not all churches are that media-friendly.

Q: How did Haggard’s subsequent fall from grace affect the film?

A: The movie was already done, so all we did was put in a slate, an opening card, that said what happened.

The people in his congregation were way ahead of the leaders of the movement because his church forgave him. But Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell didn’t because he committed the ultimate sin that you can commit: He brought bad publicity to evangelicals.

Q: Was it hard, as an outsider, to break into the evangelical community?

A: It wasn’t easy with the name HBO attached. Evangelicals don’t respect the kind of programming that HBO puts on television. … From looking at me, I just didn’t look like I belonged in the Bible Belt. But you know what? You talk to people for long enough and you can make friends wherever you go.

Q: You traveled to 16 states and Washington, D.C., and you call evangelicalism a big tent. Who did you find?

A: I met a lot of people who home-school their kids. But then I met a lot of people who think the people who home-school their kids are fringy.

It’s a very diverse group, and I’m not pretending this is the encyclopedia of all evangelicals. It’s just here’s a random sample of the ones I met.

Q: Do you share your mother’s Catholic faith?

A: My family is very Catholic, they’re very devout Catholics. I personally did not stay with the church. But now that I have a son, I’ve come back to the church … to raise him in a religion, in our religion, so that he has some faith growing up.

That was one thing we learned from talking to these people _ we may not have become born again from interviewing the evangelicals, but we did discover the value of religion and having it in your life. Having more than just, you know, capitalism.

Q: A lot of evangelicals talk a lot about the “culture wars.” Do you think this resonates with your average evangelical?

A: There is this problem with Hollywood making movies that don’t correspond with the values of the red states. And if I have to take a side in the culture wars, I would choose their side. As long as Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan are on the front page of the magazines, I would much rather my child be in church with Jesus than at a Britney Spears concert.

Q: Recently, evangelicals have become sharply divided over some issues, such as the environment. Is there an internal war brewing among evangelicals?

A: You have a lot of people who call themselves evangelicals who don’t believe that abortion and gay marriage are the only two things (that matter).

I think the leaders _ some of the leaders _ in the evangelical community are pushing a narrow agenda that is not in line with what all evangelicals believe. And I think that’s going to come to a head.

Don’t forget, who are the leaders of the evangelical movement? It used to be Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. They’re yesterday. It’s more Rick Warren today. It’s a question of who is going to speak for the movement.

This church may turn into something even I would want to join.

Q: You interview Mel White, the former ghostwriter for the Rev. Jerry Falwell who is now a gay Christian activist. Why didn’t you include more dissenting voices within evangelical Christianity?

A: Because I didn’t want to focus on the fight between the evangelicals and the rest of us.

Q: But White is an evangelical.

A: Yes, that’s true. And there are liberals. Jim Wallis is an example of one. I did go and interview him and I did go to Washington when he (got arrested) protesting the budget cuts. But I didn’t include it in the movie because I wasn’t trying to make a polemic. This wasn’t supposed to be really political. It was supposed to be about a whole cultural movement.

Q: How did being your mother’s daughter impact the making of your documentary?

A: Nobody knew who she was before November. … People know who she is now, but remember I started filming this two years ago. And besides, I never walked into the door of a church and introduced myself as Nancy Pelosi’s daughter. That’s not what I do.

Q: Even Jerry Falwell didn’t know?

A: Jerry Falwell did not know when I was talking to him. And then after the interview, his son told him who my mother is. … And then he said, “Your mom is very bright, very smart, but very wrong.”

Q: What did you say?

A: I just laughed. I thought it was funny. I thought it was nice, he was calling her very bright and very smart. I knew he thought she was very wrong. I mean, that’s not a secret!

KRE/PHEND CRABTREE

Editors: To obtain a photo of Alexandra Pelosi, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.