Pete discovers a dangerous side to the Bible Belt when he gets too close to the serpent handlers in the Appalachian mountains, before taking his seat at a table-tipping seance. He continues to challenge his own faith when he comes face to face with a miracle-working evangelist and a boy preacher, before witnessing gay rites in California. In Utah, he visits the holy city of Mormonism and ventures into the wilderness to seek out religious outlaws who take many wives. Pete goes native in a traditional Navajo sweat lodge and visits a sect where mummification is alive and well. His journey across the most religiously diverse country in the world reaches an explosive climax in Nevada when he joins 50 thousand revellers to witness the ceremonial burning of a man.

Peter Owen-Jones

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