February 10, 2006--Fanaticisms XXI--Brokeback Bible
“That would be like Madonna playing the Virgin Mary.”
Thus spake the Reverend Jason Janz, assistant pastor of the Red Rocks Baptist Church in Denver, about a gay actor, Chad Allen, who played a slain American missionary in the film, “End of the Spear,” which was produced by Every Tribe Entertainment, an evangelical film company (see NY Times story below).
Executives at Every Tribe responded, “If we make films according to what the Bible says is true, it’s incumbent for us to live that way.”
To that Janz retorted, “We must realize that the Christian message and the messenger are intricately related.”
To this, Jim Hanon, the director, said, “If we start measuring the sin of everyone in a movie, we would never be able to make a picture because none of would be left.”
And to this the assistant pastor asserted, “If young people get exposed to Allen’s views on homosexuality, that would cause some of them to question Biblical views of homosexuality and every other sin” (emphasis added).
Then things really began to heat up. Evangelical websites lit up with more than words; they included calls to action. Actions such as encouragement to firebomb the houses of the filmmakers and the gay actor. When asked about this version of an eye for a . . . just what I cannot say, Kevin Bauder, president of the Central Baptist Seminary in Minneapolis, took a deep breath and thoughtfully opined, “Granted we must not overreact [so far so good]; and it probably would be an overreaction to firebomb these men’s houses [probably?], but . . . .” He then trailed off into further musing, promising to get back to us after he figured out what an appropriate reaction might be.
Let’s get back to this idea of Madonna playing the Virgin Mary. Isn’t she the one who wrote and performed, “Life a Virgin”? That’s a good start. And didn’t she get to open last night’s Grammy show, besting Mariah Carey who protested bitterly, not at all willing to turn her cheek (the one on her face) as the Christian thing to do? And hasn’t Madonna managed to resurrect her career countless times and still manages to get onto the charts even as she approaches sixty? I think she is thus still bankable.
So if Every Tribe has a script for “Like the Real Virgin,” I know Madonna’s agent and he’ll be sure to run it by her.
Thus spake the Reverend Jason Janz, assistant pastor of the Red Rocks Baptist Church in Denver, about a gay actor, Chad Allen, who played a slain American missionary in the film, “End of the Spear,” which was produced by Every Tribe Entertainment, an evangelical film company (see NY Times story below).
Executives at Every Tribe responded, “If we make films according to what the Bible says is true, it’s incumbent for us to live that way.”
To that Janz retorted, “We must realize that the Christian message and the messenger are intricately related.”
To this, Jim Hanon, the director, said, “If we start measuring the sin of everyone in a movie, we would never be able to make a picture because none of would be left.”
And to this the assistant pastor asserted, “If young people get exposed to Allen’s views on homosexuality, that would cause some of them to question Biblical views of homosexuality and every other sin” (emphasis added).
Then things really began to heat up. Evangelical websites lit up with more than words; they included calls to action. Actions such as encouragement to firebomb the houses of the filmmakers and the gay actor. When asked about this version of an eye for a . . . just what I cannot say, Kevin Bauder, president of the Central Baptist Seminary in Minneapolis, took a deep breath and thoughtfully opined, “Granted we must not overreact [so far so good]; and it probably would be an overreaction to firebomb these men’s houses [probably?], but . . . .” He then trailed off into further musing, promising to get back to us after he figured out what an appropriate reaction might be.
Let’s get back to this idea of Madonna playing the Virgin Mary. Isn’t she the one who wrote and performed, “Life a Virgin”? That’s a good start. And didn’t she get to open last night’s Grammy show, besting Mariah Carey who protested bitterly, not at all willing to turn her cheek (the one on her face) as the Christian thing to do? And hasn’t Madonna managed to resurrect her career countless times and still manages to get onto the charts even as she approaches sixty? I think she is thus still bankable.
So if Every Tribe has a script for “Like the Real Virgin,” I know Madonna’s agent and he’ll be sure to run it by her.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
11:47 AM
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