Looking for a TV series to dig into this summer? Check out the five seasons of THE WIRE on DVD. Several of my friends have been blow away by the depth of characters and compassion generated by this riveting series. I write about it in a new book, SMALL SCREEN, BIG PICTURE, edited by Diane Winston. It chronicles how religious impulses are lived out on shows like The Sopranos, Lost, Deadwood, and Battlestar Galactica. I deal with David Simon’s acclaimed series, The Wire. Here is a small excerpt from my chapter:

Once upon a time, I cared about the inner city. Back in the 1980s, I started an urban Young Life program in my hometown, Charlotte, North Carolina. Our team of volunteer leaders joined the efforts of Progressive Baptist Church. Each afternoon, Reverend Charles Mack opened his church’s doors to the teenagers from Dalton Village, the public housing project across the street. We offered tutoring, games, and occasional field trips. The teens wore out the carpet and broke a few chairs, but Reverend Mack considered that a small price to pay for offering a safe haven from the street corners.

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Two years. Two Student Academy Awards. For aspiring filmmakers wondering how to get noticed, how about noticing the suffering of others? Friends of mine have won the gold medal at the Student Academy Awards by focusing their camera upon the plight of those on the margins of society. Their compelling films are not a calculated stunt to win prizes but a heartfelt conviction that we must care for the poor, the hungry, and the hurting.

American University student Laura Waters Hinson won best documentary in 2008 for AS WE FORGIVE, a moving portrait of reconciliation in Rwanda. It highlights both the harrowing genocide and the profound healing that has come to a fractured country. To commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Rwandan horrors, As We Forgive will be screening on PBS stations around the country, including PBS WORLD on July 15th. Check the PBS schedule for stations and times near you.  In the meantime, you can join the Living Bricks campaign, designed to rebuild houses for the victims’ families. Murderers and survivors live alongside each other in a stirring example of forgiveness in action.

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How should we respond to the bullets currently flying in the culture war? Each week has brought another loaded headline–from President Obama’s appearance at Notre Dame to the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. The murder of George Tiller while he was serving as an usher at Reformation Lutheran Church made him the latest casualty in culture war. He becomes another means to raise money for both sides of the fight. The same week, a Muslim convert shot two army recruiters, killing Pvt. William Long from Conway, Arkansas (hometown of new American Idol, Kris Allen).   Now, comes another salvo, shotgun blasts inside the Holocaust Museum.  A security guard died at the hands of an 88-year-old  white supremacist.  That is a lot of hate spewing across our nation.   Lebanon is holding peaceful elections, while we continue to fire on each other. Somehow, these latest culture war casualties haven’t inspired renewed calls for gun control.   At the very least, we can pause long enough to grieve over what we are doing to each other.

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Craig Detweiler: Summer 2009 Movies from CJ Casciotta on Vimeo.

I took twenty students in my Theology and Film class to see Angels & Demons. Not because I necessarily expected to see a great movie. But because I knew it would be loaded with theological provocation. From cheap shots at the Catholic Church to enduring questions of science vs. religion, Angels and Demons preys upon our ignorance of history to craft a riveting thriller. The creative team from The DaVinci Code (director Ron Howard, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, and star Tom Hanks) reunites for a much more satisfying movie (and much better hair for Hanks!).

I encourage those who disagree with Dan Brown’s vision (whether scientists or clerics) to see Angels and Demons in order to respond with intelligence and insight. However, as with The DaVinci Code, the film ultimately proves to be so slight that any protest will prove to be much ado about nothing.  While American audiences have responded with mostly indifference, overseas attendance and interest has continued to grow.   Perhaps a thoroughly post-Christendom culture like Europe revels in the opportunity to feed their skepticism toward the institutionalized church. 

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Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times has a brilliant article about tonite’s American Idol finale. She points out the cultural divide between Adam Lambert’s seemingly unambiguous homosexuality and Kris Allen’s worship leading ways. “Glambert” hails from San Diego, while Kris Allen’s trumpets his downhome Arkansas roots. Adam likes to rawk, while Kris turns rap songs into sensitive ballads. These Idol finalists should be engaged in a pitched battle, representing their divergent constituencies. But as roommates beyond the show, they seem to have a genuine appreciation of each others gifts and talents. Powers points out how a painted fingernail has become an unlikely sign of solidarity, a bridge between Christians and the gay community.

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Stan Jantz's post about LeBron vs. Tiger, vertical vs. horizontal media couldn't be more timely.   Why?  Because my favorite magazine is in danger of disappearing.  Amidst the free fall of car companies, what happens to the small business owners who are serving people in significant ways? I haven’t heard about bailouts for those who depend upon advertising revenue to thrive. And now, PASTE magazine is in trouble.

PASTE has been such a refreshing alternative to Rolling Stone and Spin. It consistently delivers insightful interviews and previews of upcoming releases. Each issue also arrives with a CD loaded with intriguing tracks from people like Iron & Wine and The National. But as a champion of independent artists, they’ve taken a big hit in the economic downturn. Frankly, the rise of illegal downloading (and the shrinking budget of record companies) has zapped all music publications. So now, it is our turn, as readers and fans to keep Paste afloat.

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How do we carve out a democratic future in these highly uncertain times? My partner on the Purple State project wrote a brilliant analysis of where we are now. As we’ve traveled the country screening our little movie that could, we’ve found audiences are desperate for some viable ways to work together across our political/religious/cultural divides. With television’s talking heads continuing to turn up the volume (Tea parties! Swine flu!, etc.), where can we find both sanity and creativity?

 A bright student of mine, John Lui, sent me this practical suggestion: try Pecha Kucha—an onomonopoetic Japanese word for good old fashioned “chit chat.”

Have you ever suffered through a PowerPoint presentation that felt as if it would never end? Maybe even in one of my classes?! Two Tokyo-based architects came up with a refreshing alternative. They offered a microphone and a projector to creative types with particular restraints. Presenters were allowed to show 20 powerpoint slides for 20 seconds each—just six minutes and forty seconds to make your point, state your case, and dazzle your audience. But this is more than an accommodation to audiences with shorter attention spans.  It is a dynamic way to pack lots of ideas into a compact space and place.   Topics range from “Social Change through Creation with Prison Inmate” to “Kafkanistan.” It may include fashion designers, filmmakers or skateboarders.  But the event is low-fi throwback to the days of magic lanterns and putting on a slide show.

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Time magazine famously announced that “God is Dead” on April 8, 1966. While their cover story captured the zeitgeist percolating through university classrooms and philosophical debates, Time failed to anticipate how grassroots the religious impulse remains. Mainline denominations caught in the theological currents of the sixties (Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians), did experience significant decline. But the evangelicals who stuck to their core convictions during a time of great upheaval saw profound growth over the following forty years. God joined Mark Twain in suggesting that “The tales of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

Now, during another Holy Week and Passover observation, a national newsweekly has announced “The Decline and Fall of Christian America.” Jon Meacham’s argument in Newsweek doesn’t put God or Christianity on trial. He wrote an additional piece to clarify his intentions (beyond a brilliantly timed strategy to drive sales and light up the blogosphere during Holy Week). Instead, Meacham points to the rising tide of individuals claiming no religious affiliation in the 2009 American Religious Identification Survey. Those who consider themselves outside of faith have doubled since the 1990 survey, from roughly 8% to 15% (with another 5% refusing to even answer the question). Dispute that rising tide, America remains comprised of a remarkable number of Christians. But those Christians must figure out how to navigate a world in which their morality may no longer be a majority.

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