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NPR looks at how Hollywood is getting religion wrong
National Public Radio's David D'Arcy reports on a spate of recent films with spiritual overtones, including Chocolat, Battlefield Earth, The Legend of Bagger Vance, and The Family Man (apparently spirituality isn't doing too well at the box office—none of these were blockbusters, and several are considered major flops). "Neither the youth audience these new films target nor the filmmakers themselves seem to know much about religious history or practice, or even about Hollywood's epic approach to the Bible," D'Arcy says. "Today's filmmakers are trying to give spirituality to today's icons." Loyola University film historian and Jesuit priest Gene Phillips agrees, saying the message of the films "is therapy rather than faith or spiritual enlightenment." Or, as Phillips says, "the brotherhood of man without the fatherhood of God." D'Arcy also talks to James Twitchell (who's very critical of religion) and Stanley Crouch (who's less concerned with charges of racism in Bagger Vance than he is with gangsta rap). (Listen at 14.4 or 28.8 kbps if you have the RealPlayer.)

Left Behind: The Movie

• At the movies: LeftBehind | "This is B-movie pap, a weak proselytizing device masquerading as a movie" (Associated Press)
• Faith can mount movies | Christian filmmakers Peter and Paul Lalonde are taking a page from Hollywood's bible — their $17.4-million picture Left Behind has explosions and gunplay, but also a strong religious message (National Post)
• Putting fear of God in film | Bring popcorn and leave the Bible at home, say the makers of Left Behind (New York Post)
• 'Rapture' believers back 'End Times' film | Friday's theater release of Left Behind: The Movie will be a second coming of sorts, although nothing like the Second Coming trumpeted in its plot. (Cincinnati Post)
• Christian filmmakers fill niche | Left Behind part of effort to broaden Christian films' themes and raise production values to reach a bigger audience (Associated Press)

Other Christian films:

• Christian comedy aimed at youth | "This isn't your father's Christian movie," says spokesman for Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's World Wide Pictures. "We've got motorcycle gangs and car chases and '72 Cadillacs flying through the air and muscle cars … there are things in here you wouldn't expect from Billy Graham." (Associated Press)
• Billy Graham backs comedy movie (Associated Press)
• Kid Vid: '3, 2, 1, Penguins' The creators of the "VeggieTales" series presents a new children's animated series full of fun, faith and flightless birds. (The Hartford Courant)

Christian music:

• Steven Curtis Chapman gets Christian music nods (Associated Press)
• Dove awards nominees (Official Dove Awards site)
• Monk rockers play on | Best-selling Greek Orthodox monks defy order to return to "monastic tradition" (The Guardian)
• Earlier: Church tells rocking monks to stop rolling (Kathimerini, Athens)
• Earlier: Church pulls plug on pop's monastic musicians (Associated Press)
• Still on rise, successful Christian band Clear calls it quits (Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minnesota)
• Pipe organs blend music with religion | Ohio company restores, builds church instruments (Associated Press/The [Baltimore] Sun)

Death-metal murder lawsuit:

• 'He asked if I'd be down for sacrificing a virgin. I said, whatever' | Their lyrics celebrate 'gleaming blades' and 'flowing blood' but no one could take the death-metal band Slayer seriously, could they? David and Lisanne Pahler do. They believe the group inspired three teenagers to kill their daughter. And they think they can prove it. (The Guardian, London)

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January (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45