Like millions of other American kids, Alex Kendrick couldn’t believe his eyes the first time he saw “Star Wars.” “I remember sitting in that theater, looking up at that big screen and thinking, ‘I want to do that. I have to do that. If it’s the last thing I ever do, I’m going to make movies,’ ” said Kendrick, the writer, director and actor whose low-budget “Facing the Giants” football flick has made headlines. The evangelistic indie movie cost $100,000... Read more
The helicopters kept making circles in the air so that the cameramen could keep showing the dairy farms and country roads, the bonnets and wide-brimmed straw hats, the horse-drawn buggies and the one-room schoolhouse framed in yellow police tape. Soon the facts started going in circles as police recited a litany about 600 rounds of ammunition, a shotgun, a semiautomatic pistol, a stun gun, explosives and, later, the killer’s sick collection of chains, clamps, hardware and sexual aids. Witnesses said... Read more
They are the campus rebels, the young women who refuse to play by the rules laid down by a male-dominated culture. They wish that more young men would focus on their minds and souls, instead of their bodies. They are tired of crude social games that serve the desires of men rather than the dreams of young women. They are rebels, the religious women who struggle with the frat-boy patriarchy that rules the modern university campus on nights and weekends.... Read more
If you were a television executive, which program do you think would offend the most viewers across America? The first is a children’s show featuring digital vegetables that sing and dance and tell silly parables. Each episode ends with a Bible verse and a witty tomato’s reminder that “God made you special and he loves you very much!” The second is a prime-time special in which Madonna sings her enigmatic ballad “Live to Tell” while hanging on a disco-mirror crucifix... Read more
Father Jonathan Tobias knows exactly what he will do when J.K. Rowling releases the final volume of the Harry Potter series. The family tradition is that he reads the entire book out loud to his wife and two daughters. Then, when the final page has been turned, they start debating what will happen next. Things will be different this time. However, the Eastern Orthodox priest knows how he hopes the last act plays out. Unlike many other ministers, Tobias doesn’t... Read more
Seconds after American Airlines Flight 11 passed overhead, another Franciscan brother ran to Father Mychal Judge’s room in the friary to let him know the World Trade Center was on fire. The veteran chaplain quickly changed out of his simple brown habit and into his fire-department uniform — pausing only to comb and spray his hair. Judge was heading into danger, but he was also ready to face the cameras. Soon, a photographer captured unforgettable images of firefighters carrying the... Read more
David French knew what he was getting into when he signed up to study on a Churches of Christ campus in Nashville. “When I went to David Lipscomb College, we all knew there was no drinking and there was no sex until you were married. We knew about the daily Bible studies and the required chapel services,” said French, a Harvard Law School graduate who leads the Alliance Defense Fund’s Center for Academic Freedom. “There’s nothing wrong with a private... Read more
Broadcaster Dick Staub thinks the gridiron drama “Facing the Giants” will be a hit in Middle America, in theaters far from the bright lights and nasty movie critics of New York City and Los Angeles. As a veteran observer of Christians and entertainment, he’s sure that born-again moviegoers will have tears in their eyes as the movie’s salt-of-the-earth heroes conquer their fears, honor their parents, get saved, get healed and witness miracles on and off the football field. And since... Read more
Talk to Democrats at church and you will usually find citizens who yearn to find middle ground on America’s most painful social issue, to find ways to restrict or even ban most abortions. Talk to Democrats as they exit voting booths and you will almost always find voters who pulled levers to elect candidates who oppose these compromises. The vast majority of Democrats want change on abortion. That’s one of messages in a new study on politics, faith and social... Read more
Police-beat reporters — even in Hollywood — rarely get to quote the Babylonian Talmud. However, there is a passage in this Jewish text that is relevant right now. The crucial Hebrew words are in tractate Eruvin, page 65b, and they are “be’kiso, be’koso, u’ve’kaso.” This rabbinical text says a person’s true essence is found in “his cup,” “his pocket” and “his anger.” Witness the rich and powerful Mel Gibson and his roadside rant about the “blanking” Jews who are “responsible... Read more
Terry Mattingly
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