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The Secret Life of Bees, which opened at No. 3 at the box office last weekend, is being marketed to Christian audiences with a "Bible study" decidedly lacking in evangelical content—or even any Scripture references.

The PG-13 film, which explores themes of love, hope, courage, forgiveness, and redemption, is certainly ripe for discussion from a biblical worldview. But three faith-based marketing companies have prepared resources and teaching materials for church leaders that have left the Bible out altogether.

Grace Hill Media, Liquid Soul Media, and Motive Entertainment are partnering with Fox Searchlight to pitch the movie to Christian audiences. Last week, they sent e-mails to hundreds of thousands of church leaders alerting them to a website, BeesResources.com, with various free materials—including clips from the film—for pastors and teachers.

The Bible study … but no Bible

But some pastors are saying they wouldn't use the resources, especially the 6-page study, because of its lack of spiritual content.

"I wouldn't use it," said Mark Nelson, student discipleship pastor at Wheaton (IL) Bible Church. "There is no biblical content. There isn't even enough spirituality in this for Oprah."

The Bible study, written by Craig Detweiler, PhD, of the Reel Spirituality Institute and Fuller Theological Seminary, includes images, quotes, and descriptions of scenes from the film, but no discussion questions, no Scripture references, and no exploration of the questionable theology explored in the movie—such as the Black Madonna and the "sacred feminine" spirituality of Sue Monk Kidd, who authored the best-selling book on which the film is based. (The "sacred feminine" was also part of the heretical theology in The Da Vinci Code.)

The study's concluding page includes a quote from director Gina Prince-Blythewood, saying The Secret Life of Bees is "about love and finding the mother within yourself."

In her review at CT Movies, Camerin Courtney noted the "odd religious image" of the Black Madonna, and described the main characters doing "church" in their home on a Sunday morning, where one character "retells the story of this mystical mother who protects and presides over them all. This odd spirituality may turn off some Christians. Instead of being based on Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, this belief system revolves around a mystical mother-love. Make no mistake, this isn't a Christian movie."

Lily (Dakota Fanning) and the Black Madonna

There's nothing at all like that observation in the resources being marketed to church leaders. Instead, the intro to those resources notes the "deep rooted spirituality" of the main characters, and even says, in reference to a 14-year-old girl, that "sometimes you have to leave home in order to find it."

An e-mail blast from Motive Entertainment to more than 100,000 church leaders includes a warning about the film's "occasional bad language," but nothing about the shaky theology. The e-mail did appropriately note that the film is for teens and adults, and not for young children.

Detweiler, who wrote the Bible study, would not talk on the record to CT Movies, but implied that his early draft did address some of those issues, and did include Scripture references. He wouldn't say who had the final decision over editing the study.

Ted Gartner of Grace Hill Media said the edits were a "collaborative process" between several parties; he wouldn't specify which ones, though CT Movies has learned that Grace Hill and Fox Searchlight were among them.

Gartner said that the resources were created specifically "for use by pastors and ministry professionals to develop programs best suited to their own individual ministries," adding that the materials are "not meant for the layman."

"We trust the wisdom of the hundreds of thousands of pastors, priests and youth group leaders in our databases to use these assets as they see fit," Gartner said. "Our aim isn't to reach the average churchgoer, but pastors. It's meant for [those with] MDivs."

Gartner also noted that Grace Hill's own e-mail blast to church leaders does not point them to BeesResources.com, but to CCLI and SermonSpice, websites specifically created for church leaders. Still, any layperson can access the materials at those sites.

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