Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 07/12/24
“The Bible is amazing but sometimes confusing and hard to read.” With that understatement of the millennia, so begins The Bible in 10 Minutes. As of this writing, the video has received 937,680 views on YouTube since dropping on Tuesday. The easy-to-understand highly-abridged brilliantly animated version The Greatest Story Ever Told is now the most viral video ever for Fr. Mike Schmitz, host of more in depth The Bible in a Year podcast. 358-thousand of those views were run up in the first 24 hours, more than doubling his previous record of 160-thousand view for his 2023 review of the hit movie The Sound of Freedom.
_____
Why can’t we just agree to agree once in a while? It’s one thing to say society has lost its ability to agree to disagree but now we can’t even agree to agree. The film Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot, which did very respectable business at the box office this past weekend, tells the inspiring true story of a small rural Texas church that committed itself to adopting 77 unwanted children. Letitia Wright, the actress who garnered worldwide fame in the blockbuster Black Panther movies and is one of Hope‘s executive producers , is reportedly distancing herself from the marketing of her own movie.
‘To be clear,’ Wright wrote, ‘after we completed production of this film, Angel Studios were brought on board to handle its distribution and they later partnered with The Daily Wire. That was not my decision, and I was not given an update or made aware of this decision.
‘I am in no way aligned or affiliated with The Daily Wire.
‘I do not condone using this beautiful film for divisive political purposes. That is not why I joined the project.’
Wright’s statement also came after The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh promoted the film on X, claiming in a July 4 post that ‘Leftists are trying to stop Christians from saving more children.’
The Daily Wire’s CEO Jeremy Boreing told DailyMail.com that ‘The Daily Wire is truly honored to partner with Angel Studios on such an important project.
‘But, such is the intolerance of the modern left that instead of celebrating this accomplishment and all it might mean, one of the film’s producers, Letitia Wright of Black Panther fame, used the occasion to condemn The Daily Wire’s involvement in sharing this message across the country.
‘Letitia and I probably don’t share the same politics, but I believe we share a Christian faith and, more importantly, the same goal of shining a light on something we can all agree on – a community banding together to help kids in need.
‘We hope people don’t allow this distraction to steal from the message from the film and the impact it can have. Everyone should see this movie and join the fight for kids.’
IMHO, no matter who started this war of of words, my question is why they’re fighting at all. Any story that can bring people from opposite sides of the political divide to deliver a hopeful, positive message should be considered a good thing. Let’s find things we can agree on and build up from there.
_____
The Gospel Music Association has announced that Tauren Wells will be returning as host and performer for the 55th Annual GMA Dove Awards for his second consecutive year. Wells is an eight-time GMA Dove Award winner.
John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.
Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Read Previous Post
