''Article VI: Faith. Politics. America'' is a 2008 documentary film about religion and politics.

Synopsis

The story follows filmmaker Bryan Hall's experience as a

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

during the 2008 Presidential race. While following the debates, Hall becomes increasingly aware of the escalating attacks against a particular candidate over his religion:

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...

, who happens to also be a Mormon. Hall decides to investigate this issue and comes to realize that the issue of religious

bigotry Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

in politics goes far beyond his own faith. It has been the subject of intense argument from the earliest days of the

American colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centur ...

. In the end, Hall makes the case for the need for

religious tolerance Religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, mistaken, or harmful". ...

in America; not just for his religion, but for all religions.

Production

In July 2007, Director Bryan Hall and his film crew began traveling the country in an RV, investigating this issue. The film was shot on location in over 30 states across the U.S. The majority of filming was completed by September 2007. Over the course of those 3 months, they gathered close to 150 hours of footage, from interviews, to news clips and political propaganda. Key interviews include

Richard Land Richard D. Land (born 1946) is the president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, a post he has held since July 2013. Formerly he served as president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), the public polic ...

, Pastor Robert Jeffress,

Hugh Hewitt Hugh Hewitt (born February 22, 1956) is an American radio talk show host with the Salem Radio Network and an attorney, academic, and author. A conservative, he writes about law, society, politics, and media bias in the United States. Hewitt is ...

Bill Keller Bill Keller (born January 18, 1949) is an American journalist. He was the founding editor-in-chief of ''The Marshall Project'', a nonprofit that reports on criminal justice in the United States. Previously, he was a columnist for ''The New Yor ...

Randall Balmer Randall Herbert Balmer (born October 22, 1954) is an American historian of American religion. He taught at Barnard College and Columbia University for twenty-seven years before moving to Dartmouth College in 2012, where he was named the Mandel Fami ...

Edwin Meese Edwin Meese III (born December 2, 1931) is an American attorney, law professor, author and member of the Republican Party who served in official capacities within the Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial administration (1967–1974), the Reagan pres ...

, David French, Judge Roy Moore,

Flip Benham Philip "Flip" Benham (born April 16, 1948) is an Evangelical Christian minister and the national leader of Concord, North Carolina-based Operation Save America, an anti-abortion group that evolved from Operation Rescue. Recent activities Benham ...

, Charles Cohen and Pastor George Evans.

References

External links

* * 2008 films 2008 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about American politics Documentary films about religion in the United States 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language documentary films {{reli-documentary-film-stub