“Christians in this country could learn something about energy and driving power from communists….You could learn something from labor organizers. They’ve got a driving, snappy, go-after-it!”

BJsr.’s radio voice is, I think, very unusual among fundamentalists because it’s so different from his full-lunged preaching style. That’s almost because it had to be. BJsr. came to prominence in a world without amplification, so the name of the evangelistic game was vocal projection to giant audiences. Then radio came along, and he immediately realized that radio broadcasting was a completely different animal. The consequence is that his radio messages have been continuously replayed since his death more than forty years ago while his extant recorded sermons border on the unlistenable.

As for Pelosi’s emphasis on the political rather than the spiritual, that’s easy. The unsaved person does not understand spiritual things, “they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised.” (1 Cor. 2.14) Right-wing politics is a bunch easier.

Dr. Bob Sr. and Dr. Bob III each have a several second audio clip during topical introductions. The one from Dr. Bob III makes some sense since he was involved in the political scene, but using Dr. Bob Sr doesn’t make much sense seeing as he has been dead for over 40 years and the documentary is meant to illustrate the Religious Right which arose in 1976. Still, my roomie Michael and I got all excited when we heard him speak because of all the good memories of early Saturday morning WMUU memorial sermons; Sr’s conversational tone during his radio addresses is really quite pleasant.

Two of the three figures featured in the film have charismatic connections (Joel Osteen and Ted Haggard). I wonder if there is any link between charismaticism and political activism or if the seeming correlation is just a coincidence.