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So are Bibles.

Swartzwelder: That's a good point.

And so are any Christian books for that matter, and lots of churches have bookstores now.

Swartzwelder: Well, yeah. But I do think that whatever the purpose of the pulpit is primarily, I'm convinced it's not to be a conduit for anybody's marketing machine. And you can take that wherever you'd like to take it. But I'm sure there are lots of folks that would like to comment on the selling of books or videos or anything at church. My particular axe to grind, obviously, is film.

But you have to hear my heart: I'm scared to death. I had some friends tell me not to make this movie. I stand behind it and I hope it leads to discussion, but I'm not trying to point fingers or really throw stones at anybody. I'm trying to figure it out, and as a filmmaker that's what you do. You create. But I'm scared to death. You can quote me on that.

You've said you hope this film at least gets the discussion going. With that said, who do you want to see it?

Swartzwelder: We're sending about 500 screeners, divided up between key church leaders, the film festival circuit, and Hollywood. So it's three-prong. Plus we'll stream it online for 40 days, and when that's over, we will have DVDs available.

To buy at the website?

Swartzwelder: No, we're not going to sell them.

Why not?

Swartzwelder: You know, even my hypocrisy knows some bounds! I'm not opposed to selling film; obviously, The Least of These is for sale; I'll sell it out of the back of my car. But this particular film is unique.

For more information on The McPassion, go to the official website.

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