Emmy-award-winning filmmaker Dan Merchant got so fed up with the culture war that he donned a white jumpsuit, plastered religious and anti-religious bumper stickers all over it and traveled across America, interviewing prominent and not-so-prominent Americans about the culture war that has raged for decades between religious conservatives and their more secular counterparts. The result is Lord Save Us From Your Followers: Why The Gospel of Love Is Dividing America, a film that has been described by one publication as a cross between a Michael Moore and Monty Python film. The movie opens nationwide on September 25th and the filmmakers have set up a unique distribution system that allows individual groups to request that the film be brought to their local theater.

In the tradition of entertaining documentaries like Super Size Me, Bowling for Columbine and What the Bleep Do We Know?, Lord, Save Us From Your Followers employs the language of pop culture to create a provocative, amusing and redemptive film-going experience.  With the successful use of man-on-the-street encounters with Merchant the “Bumpersticker Man,” a “Culture Wars” game show, a moving “Confession Booth” at a gay pride festival (where Merchant himself actually does the confessing) Lord, Save Us From Your Followers delves into all of the hot button issues with candor, humor and balance, bringing everyone into the conversation.  

Merchant began his career selling sketch comedy to the Seattle late night institution Almost Live!, before settling in at CBS affiliate KOIN-TV in Portland, Oregon where he won an IRIS award for We’re Makin’ Movies, three Northwest Region Emmys for writing/producing both The Dr. Wilderness Show and the original Bill Nye the Science Guy pilot. But for Lord Save Us, he decided to take his work to the next level by traveling across the country and conducting a grand social experiment to see whether a truce in the culture war was even possible.

In an effort to jump start the conversation Merchant interviewed anyone who would say "yes" to him, from cultural lightning rods like Senator Al Franken and former Senator Rick Santorum, liberal Christian leader Tony Campolo, best-selling author William Paul Young (The Shack), former talk show host Michael Reagan, religious TV host Matthew Crouch and many more. The film also features segments and news clips with Bono, Bill Maher, Bill O’Reilly, Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, George Clooney, Pastor Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life), James Dobson, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, to name a few.

Lord, Save Us From Your Followers was chosen as Best Documentary by the multi-faith site, Beliefnet.com and as the Official Selection of the Heartland Film Festival, the Sedona Film Festival, the Faith on Film Festival in Sydney, Australia and Best of Show at The Attic Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

"Everyone has a dog in this fight.  Everyone has an opinion on God, on why we’re here, on what we are supposed to be doing," said Merchant. "The surprise is that we all are secretly yearning for the yelling to stop and for the conversation to begin. We know what we think and we often think that’s good enough, but if you don’t understand anybody else, how can you have a real conversation?"