“Can H’wood make friends with evangelicals?”

That’s the headline on this piece by Variety writer Brian Lowry, which begins thusly:

ALEXANDRA PELOSI’S latest HBO documentary, “Friends of God,” will doubtless garner some attention for her fortuitously timed interview with Pastor Ted Haggard, the disgraced head of the National Assn. of Evangelicals. Interviewed prior to allegations that he purchased illicit drugs and had sex with a male prostitute, Haggard boasts about evangelicals’ rollicking sex lives and ironically contemplates the harm done when their leaders experience moral lapses.

Yet another theme threaded throughout this hourlong production, which premieres Jan. 25, is of greater import to the entertainment industry — namely, whether Hollywood can befriend the sprawling evangelical movement or must accept it as a lost cause.

Further down, Lowry writes:

Nevertheless, there are tens of millions of evangelicals out there (Pelosi’s film estimates their numbers at 50 million to 80 million in the U.S.), possessing purchasing power stunningly demonstrated by “The Passion of the Christ.” From a practical standpoint, the Christian market thus appears too bountiful to ignore, which explains the furtive attempts to establish film labels catering to this niche.

Bridging the gap, however, will require a serious dialogue — one that hinges on separating those who specialize in the business of outrage from evangelicals who, despite misgivings, genuinely want to be part of the larger media culture.

Ah, but here’s the thing: In my experience, at least, the kind of evangelicals who want to be part of the larger media culture aren’t the kind of evangelicals who care to be treated like a “niche”. And they aren’t interested in “dialogue” if all it means is letting secular bigshots find new ways to exploit their “purchasing power”.

Then again, maybe I overstate the point; maybe our experience with, say, The Da Vinci Code suggests otherwise.

At any rate, kudos to Lowry for critiquing his fellow secular media types for their sometimes “thinly veiled condescension”.