Thy Kingdom Come... Thy Will Be Done

Englishman Antony Thomas' documentary look at the new wave of right-wing religious evangelism offers a sobering introduction to the unholy alliance between God and politics in 1980s America. With as much detachment as he can muster, Thomas probes the double standards and glaring inconsistencies in the doctrine of those who preach humility while seeking political influence and power, showing how servants of God become slaves to commerce by slowly twisting the true meaning of the Gospels, offering instant hope and easy salvation to the lonely and the lost, the ignorant and confused.

Thomas makes no outright accusations, but his conclusions couldn't be more explicit: the new religious conservatives, in both Church and State, are confusing faith with patriotism and ignorance with bliss. Sophisticated viewers might see it as a joke, but the influence and persistence of the religious Far Right is no laughing matter, and their dogged beliefs give them immunity from criticism or common sense. You don't have to be a freethinker to be disturbed by the implications of this likely to be controversial film.

This is a documentary from British filmmaker Antony James, originally in two parts. The first half deals with the rise of evangelical Christianity, televangelists, and the church's entry into secular politics in the 1980's. Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker come in for the most damning scrutiny, and their extravagant construction of Christian theme park/shopping center/residential subdivision Heritage USA. The second half focuses in on the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. It was one of the first megachurches in the US, and an early proponent of so-called "prosperity theology" that teaches that material wealth is God's reward, and that the sick and poor are being righteously punished for moral transgressions. There's also a lot of uncomfortable racial issues addressed in the second half, with the purposeful segregation of churches, and some commentary from lead pastor W. A. Criswell that would get him quick public condemnation in today's world.

At times uncomfortably funny, at other times baffling, saddening, and enraging, this film is fair and impartial in its presentation, and any incendiary remarks come straight from the subject's mouths and not through selective editing. Of course, viewing will be colored by your own personal inclinations. It's amazing that so much of this film, though made thirty years ago - with the exceptions of the big hair and fashions - could be made today on the same subject with most of the same observations.

"Thy Kingdom Come...Thy Will Be Done" (1988) Director Antony James's solemn face confronts a pious yet pitiful collection of mostly poor southern followers of fundamentalist religion. Their stories of abuse and addiction lead to the rich televangelist excreta who the movie profiles as they lick their chops. Most disturbing are James's adventures into the parallel universe of Jim and Tammy Bakker, manufactured "communities" where residents can spend (lose) even more money buying religiously altered books of fairy tales and live in giant malls. The bogus House for Disabled Children that houses only one brainwashed 18 year old with no limbs is like a David Lynch nightmare that is, unfortunately, more real and painful than all the televangelist teardrops shed. Divided into two parts, more 1986 "Murder, She Wrote" fashions follow (massive shoulder pads, fake pearls, sweaters and permanents on the women, puffy, parted-in-the-middle bowl cuts and moustaches on the men) as here the movie focuses on one Dallas, Texas megachurch (empire) run by a smiling, racist despot W. A. Criswell. The massive property and its crusade against "secular humanists who support communism" is led by billionaires who openly ignore the bible's apostles and believe Jesus endorsed the wealthy class as being the only Born Agains worthy of Heaven. This means Mother Theresa isn't invited-as well as the "brown Mexicans" and hobos who show up in the empire's single soup kitchen-church. The movie comes alive in a few interviews. Both Criswell's, who appears as a pompous Coen Brothers character, and a fired theology expert on the New Testament who breaks down exactly how much of the bible is ignored in all the teachings at the First Baptist Church. A tea party with Texas billionaire's wives, complete with a musical performance, is so horrifying, most viewers will require a dose of GG Allin or at least AC/DC as an antidote.