As the cash from the first "Survivor" series rolled in, you could almost hear the screech of the studio wheels churning out what would become forst "Big Brother" and "The Bachellor," then "Joe Millionaire" and "Temptation Island" and all the lesser bandwagons that follow a Hollywood success.

So it's no surprise. The hands that milked Mel Gibson's Passion are reaching for fresh udders, and films about God and the godless abound this fall - from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Personally, I'm excited about Jesus Camp, a documentary from the makers of The Boys of Baraka about a Christian summer camp in North Dakota which debuted at the Tribeca film festival and won the Special Documentary Jury Prize. The filmmakers call their approach "balanced," and distribtors at Magnolia pictures are at pains to say the documentary about home-schooled Christian kids should appeal to people "on all sides of the issue." But the sight of kids speaking in tongues and a focus on activist politics - abortion in particular - should stir up a ruckus in the aisles.

Also coming soon is Darshan the Embrace, a doc about Amma, the "hugging saint" of India, the woman who has given over 25 million embraces, according to her press releases. Be warned, though, that advance word says that this is more of a love letter than an objective look.

It bears noting that the Hollywood bandwagon is filling up with more homespun California wisdom. Movies based on the New Age classics are coming faster than you can swat 'em, with The Celestine Prophecy, Conversations with God destined soon to fill the same two-week run just vacated by Peaceful Warrior - the last directed by Victor Salva, of Jeepers Creepers fame (is it a matter of time before we get the oeuvres of Carlos Castaneda and Richard Bach - directed by Wes Craven?).

And in the God and Mammon category - check out the Spiritual Film festival in Sun Valley, starting today. Yes, 32 films about spiritual poverty shown in one of the wealthiest zip codes in the nation. The idea was sparked last year by the visit of HH the Dalai Lama, who visit with local schoolkids is featured in one of the shorts ("Mommy, who will they be getting next year?"). Although the press packet for this event featured a journalist-friendly pie chart of the faiths represented - a 13% slice for Islam, a juicy 23% for Christianity, etc. - I somehow slipped up and missed an offer to attend.

There's always next year.