A flood of faith films led many to dub 2014 “The Year of the Bible,” but it was also a year of the status quo in Hollywood. The movie industry has a long history of casting white actors to play African and Middle Eastern Bible characters, so seeing the Welshman Christian Bale play Moses or Australian Russell Crowe play Noah or even a Portuguese actor play Jesus in “Son of God” felt to many like the opposite of racial progress. But religious audiences can witness a stark departure from this troubling trend when “War Room” hits theaters on August 28.

The fifth feature film produced by successful Christian moviemakers by Alex and Stephen Kendrick tells a story about the power of prayer. But it does so with an almost entirely African-American cast, including New York Times bestselling Christian author, Priscilla Shirer, in her movie debut.

“There is an element to the way we tell this story that has power and desperation that would be different if we tried to tell it any other way,” Alex Kendrick said of his decision to opt for a black cast. He says when executives from their distributor (Sony’s Affirm Films) viewed it for the first time, they responded, “If this had been told with a different race, it would be a different movie.”

CONTINUE READING…

The only thing worse than a false story is a partial one.

That was the real lesson behind an article published on a conservative Christian website last week claiming that the Hillsong Church was allowing an “openly homosexual couple” to lead worship. The article, about the New York City campus of the Australia-based super-church where tens of thousands worship weekly, drew from a seven-month-old article about two Survivor contestants and Broadway actors, Josh Canfield and Reed Kelly from Playbill.com.

The post triggered statements from Hillsong’s senior pastor, Brian Houston, reaffirming the church’s belief that “marriage is between a man and a woman,” and stating that neither man is serving in a leadership role any longer. But Houston also said that Hillsong wants gay couples like them to feel welcome.

Like many conservative churches, Hillsong holds a traditional view of sexuality, but wants to welcome and include all people. Josh and Reed, like many gay couples, disagree with the church’s view of homosexuality. But unlike some others, they say they want to stay with the church they love and work for change.

Their story — a story echoed by so many LGBT Christians — is one that needs to be told.

CONTINUE READING…

Imagine for a moment a powerful, but fresh-faced, religious leader of a large conservative Christian body whose behavior and statements excite, infuriate, and confuse both conservatives and progressives by turns. You have just envisioned Pope Francis. You have also just imagined Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Both men assumed their posts atop America’s leading Christian denominations in 2013 at a time when their respective organizations were attempting to overcome tarnished public images. Southern Baptists—America’s largest Protestant group—had been long criticized for their political alignment with the Republican Party and predominately white membership. Their message had grown stale, if not desperate in tone, and they were beginning to decline in numbers. Roman Catholics—America’s largest religious group of any kind—were suffering from clergy sex abuse scandals and their failure to deal swiftly with offenders, as well as the lavish lifestyles of many of their priests and bishops.

The election of each leader brought a promising shift in tone and the hope of revitalization. The Pope sought to exert a more winsome witness on homosexuality in 2013. When asked about LGBT people in the church, the Pope avoided condemning them as “disordered” like previous Popes and instead asked, “Who am I to judge?” Moore has also been more careful in dealing with sexuality issues by denouncing ex-gay therapy and urging Christian parents not to disown their LGBT children.

Both men have also poked another sacred cow for conservatives: environmentalism. Pope Francis chose creation care as the subject of his recent encyclical, calling Christians to take responsibility for caring for the earth and mitigating human-caused climate change. Moore also believes humans are partly responsible for climate change and argued that the BP oil spill and other environmental problems were moral issues and the result of human sin.

CONTINUE READING…