Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory Analysis

Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory explores different evangelical communities across the United States in hopes to discover both the varying and underlying themes of evangelicalism. Viewers can see first-hand how different communities practice the same central religion. This documentary is important work, by looking at all the different sides of one religion, it is much easier to understand the religion as a whole. Randall Balmer, host of the documentary and former conservative Christian himself, focused on popular evangelicalism throughout his travels and interviews. Balmer visited the Christian Bookseller’s Convention, KWKY radio station in Iowa, Black and Hispanic parishes, among others. Each community had it’s own traditions, values, and stories; however, they all seemed to be in agreement on the literal truth of the Bible and the imminent second coming of Christ. From this movie I have learned that how one congregation practices their faith does not
The way Balmer presented his findings was comprehensible, effective, and purposeful. He did not persuade his audience to believe one thing or another about the church, but after being presented with all this information, I feel negatively towards the Evangelical religion. Although own religion, Episcopalianism, and Evangelicalism both trace back to the Protestant Reformation, I see them as dissimilar and before watching this documentary, I saw them as equals. I see my religion as mild-mannered, accepting, and diverse, while Evangelicals seem to be determined, opinionated, and perhaps even cynical. The beliefs of, for example KWKY radio station, have strong feelings towards abortion, materialism, and creationism. My congregation believes in the free choice of a woman, sexual liberation, and evolution. However, I am from a very liberal town, Asheville, North Carolina, so perhaps this is just my congregation and not Episcopalianism as a