With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America, 1950-1994

The conservative Christian political movement is tracked from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Film Signature Image
Premiere Date
September 27, 1996
Length
360 minutes
Producer/Director - 2 Episodes

Cal Skaggs

Calvin Skaggs is president of the company he founded, Lumiere Productions. With more than two dozen films and television productions to his credit, Skaggs has spent 25 years creating both dramatic and documentary films. He made his producing debut on public television in 1975 with the award-winning series The American Short Story, then went on to create Show more productions for American Playhouse, including the feature Go Tell It on the Mountain, and for other PBS series such as American Masters and WonderWorks. Skaggs executive produced and directed the documentary series With God On Our Side: The Rise Of The Religious Right In America, 1950-1994 as well as the verité series Local News. Skaggs’s work has also included The Circus (HBO), Vanished: Inside the Witness Protection Program and Diamonds! for Discovery. Among his acclaimed theatrical features are Horton Foote’s On Valentine’s Day, Fly By Night (Best Dramatic Film at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival), and The Wash. Show less

Producer/Director - 2 Episodes

David Van Taylor

David Van Taylor is vice president of Lumiere Productions, where he completed Local News (PBS). He began in the company as series producer of With God On Our Side: The Rise Of The Religious Right In America, 1950-1994 (ITVS). Van Taylor's feature documentary A Perfect Candidate was nominated for an Emmy. Since 1986, Van Taylor has written, directed, and Show more edited for PBS, HBO (She's Having a Baby Brother), Discovery (Hollywood Talent Agents), MTV (I Want To Be A Millionaire), and TV Nation with Michael Moore. His first film, Dream Deceivers: The Story Behind James Vance vs. Judas Priest, won an International Documentary Association Distinguished Achievement Award. Show less

Producer/Director - 1 Episode

Jerret Engle

Producer/Director - 1 Episode

Bennett Singer

Bennett Singer has been making social-issue documentaries for more than 25 years. He co-produced and co-directed Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival; was broadcast nationally on PBS’ POV series and Logo; and won more than 20 international awards, including the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Show more Documentary and prizes at LGBTQ film festivals in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities. Singer was an associate producer on the Emmy- and Peabody-winning series Eyes on the Prize II; a producer/director on With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right In America; a consulting producer on Codebreaker; and co-director of Electoral Dysfunction, a feature-length documentary about voting in America that won the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award. The former Executive Editor of Time Magazine’s Education Program, Singer is the editor of 42 Up and the co-author, with his husband David Deschamps, of LGBTQ Stats, which Booklist described as “indispensable” and “astounding.” He is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Video, a Visiting Artist Residency at The American Academy in Rome, and the National Endowment for the Arts Residency for Collaborative Teams at Yaddo. Show less

Brad Lichtenstein Headshot
Associate Producer

Brad Lichtenstein

Brad Lichtenstein is a filmmaker, virtual reality storyteller, radio producer, and founder of 371 Productions. He has been nominated for two Emmys and won two DuPonts and a Peabody. Recent films include the PBS FRONTLINE documentary American Reckoning (with Yoruba Richen) and the Participant documentary Messwood (with Emily Kuester). When Claude Got Shot Show more is his third film for Independent Lens. Show less

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The Film

From the "Christian anti-Communism" of the '50s to the sophisticated politics of the Christian Coalition today, evangelical Christians have slowly but steadily re-shaped the context of mainstream American politics and culture. Using rare archival footage and candid interviews, With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America, 1950-1994 chronicles the conservative Christian political movement.

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