Here’s today’s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.

Kevin James (Here Comes the Boom) talks about The Innocence of Muslims and Hollywood’s selective sensitivity regarding offending people of faith. From Big Hollywood: When Breitbart News asked him recently about his views on “The Innocence of Muslims,” the film the Obama administration blamed for much of the recent unrest in the Middle East, James took the matter seriously…George Clooney called it “unfortunate” that the First Amendment protected the filmmaker behind the project. Bette Midler suggested the filmmaker should be charged for murder. Meanwhile, exhibits like “Piss Christ” get to grace U.S.-based art museums without a critical word from celebrities about its potential to upset Catholics. “Unfortunately, welcome to Hollywood,” James says. “They don’t want to offend in some cases, but they don’t mind offending in others.”
Comment: The former star of The King of Queens nails it.  Hollywood elites suddenly seem fine with the government finding a pretext to throw a controversial filmmaker (who they personally disapprove of) in jail. Have they really thought through the implications?

Wouldn’t it be nice if all religious faiths were respected — and if that respect didn’t stem from a threat of violence but, instead, came from a place of genuine respect?

That said, I’m offended by an awful lot (emphasis on the word “awful”) of what passes for art and popular entertainment these days.  I don’t, however, see throwing the First Amendment under the bus as a remedy.  The true remedy, IMHO, is to shun the crap and create alternative media that doesn’t confuse offensiveness with creativity.

Toward that end, Here Comes the Boom actually looks pretty good:

BTW, Beliefnet has it’s own interview with Kevin James here.

Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11