Alexandra Pelosi, director of the Emmy-winning Bush campaign documentary Journeys With George (and House Speaker Nancy’s daughter), goes on a “religious road trip” in this informative and entertaining HBO production. The subject is the evangelical movement in the southern U.S., and thus the program is rather evenly split between lighthearted examples of Christian kitsch (a Biblical theme park, a Christian mini-golf course) and a serious account of the efforts of evangelical preachers to politically mobilize their congregations. Pelosi, who is a rather strident off-camera presence, gets interviews with central movers and shakers, including the late Jerry Falwell. Her major catch, however, is Ted Haggard, who was caught in a gay-hustler scandal that cost him his post heading the National Assn. of Evangelicals. Here, Haggard goes off on a wonderful tangent about how evangelicals “have the best sex of any other group.”

Shelf Talk: The program, which appeared in rotation on HBO, attempts to provide a balanced study of its subject, so it has potential appeal to both true believers and secular viewers. The latter might be more inclined to give it a look, though, as Pelosi’s interviews of her subjects do include repeated mentions of her being from New York City, where “we never see anything like this.…”