phone, one after another, rows of them. Using the telephone and television to make money and converts was an organized effort intended to influence people’s thinking and, ultimately, their actions.(18)

The idea of “image” became an important thread through most of the photographs: the image of the ideal person, the image made by the camera, and the connection of these images to actual events or people. One implication of image (as in the common expression “self-image”) that interested me was that people are molded or shaped to fit one, or, more important, that they mold or shape themselves to fit. In this way, they are controlled by those who created the image they are conforming to. This idea is reflected in several of the photographs, especially those of children and those that involve the ideal image to which women in this society are expected to conform. This ideal came to be embodied for me in the symbol of the white dress.

The day after Mary Witt’s memorial service I called the Christian Faith Center, whose pastor, Casey Treat, broadcast a thirty-minute local television program every week. I originally contacted the group because of my interest in how religious organizations use the media. When I visited the center, however, I found it had a Christian elementary school, a Sunday school, and an elaborate nursery school system to watch children while their parents were in Sunday worship.

The Sunday school (figs. 41 and 42), for fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-graders, was called Children’s Church and lasted for two hours. The children’s pastor, Orvel Kester (who had several adult helpers), was hip and funny and the kids liked him a lot.

Every week Children’s Church held a scripture jigsaw puzzle contest, the boys against the girls. The kids had been given a Bible verse to memorize the week before. On

Shaping Children