Portrait Of An American Zealot

Dubbing himself a religious-political activist, Ed McAteer resigned from a successful corporate career to devote his marketing expertise to promoting conservative Christianity. As president of the Religious Roundtable, McAteer is seen meeting with black and white religious leaders of different faiths to mobilize their efforts in the service of God and the country. Through snatches of his conversations with U.S. senators, viewers hear McAteer lobbying against abortion; his opinions on school busing, ERA, sex education, and eternal life surface when he addresses public groups, converses with Jerry Falwell and other associates in the movement, prays with his family, or privately reflects in voice-over. Controversy over the conservative right's stance on poverty and on nuclear proliferation is alluded to by one unaligned minister, while the movement's purported embrace of Jews and Israel is laid open to skepticism by Reverend Bailey Smith's contentious remarks.