Thus the text of my interview with Texe Marrs on December 17, 1997. Conducted by phone, the interview lasted about an hour and forty-five minutes. The interview turned out pretty well, especially considering my near-complete lack of experience in this area. However, there are a number of things I would do differently if I were to interview Mr. Marrs again.

For one, I would be a little more active in directing the conversation. I was pretty content with sitting back and letting him ramble; he's quite comfortable talking, and I was nervous that I might run out of questions. However, the result was a lot of digressions that, while interesting to me, didn't help the article a lot. The transcript is about thirteen thousand words long, and it took a lot of painful editing to get it down to five hundred -- all the room I had been allotted for publication .

For two, I would call him on his apparent anti-Semitism. I can only describe my failure to do so as a gross oversight.

Lastly, I didn't lay the groundwork for this article very well in my interview questions. I've read a fair amount from both the American right and Christian fundamentalism, and while I'm certainly no expert there is a lot of background that I'm familiar with. Thus, I skipped over a lot of questions that other people might have had, such as, "Why do you think there is a conspiracy to take over the United States?" and, "How do your religious beliefs fit in with your politics?" I think a lot of the conversation was for my interest rather than for the purpose of geting a good introductory or explanatory article. In any case, five hundred words is not nearly enough to do justice to either this strain of political and religious belief or Mr. Marrs, even in a cursory fashion.

Ideally, I think, I would take the conversation I had with Mr. Marrs as, perhaps, a sort of pre-interview for something longer and more formal -- and as a way of obtaining some measure of the experience and skills necessary. There were a lot of questions I didn't ask, such as his stand on King-James Onlyism (though I'm not sure how wide an interest that would have anyway), and the sources of many of his allegations. A much longer article, or perhaps a book -- emerging from a more firmly-directed interview -- would be an ideal setting to discuss these things. As well, it would be a great excuse to delve further into a subject that fascinates me, one that Mr. Marrs is right in the centre of: the peculiarly American mixture of Christian fundamentalism and right-wing politics.

Next: Why you should laugh

King James Isaiah feet of clay blah blah blah.