The Luxury of Atheism

Author and atheist, Christopher Hitchens
Author and atheist, Christopher Hitchens

 

While researching the life of the nineteenth century itinerant preacher and abolitionist Sojourner Truth, for an upcoming blog, it became extremely clear that   many of the giants of the abolitionist movement in the United States had a strong Christ-centered faith.  Sojourner Truth was a lay preacher. The famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman—the Moses of her people—both had a strong faith in Jesus Christ. The relationship between the Black Church and the fight for freedom continued into the 20th century, where the church and the Civil Rights Movement remained practically inseparable.

How is it then that those for whom life has been so extraordinarily difficult and unfair, by any stretch of the imagination, could have had such an unwavering belief in God—in Jesus Christ, specifically? Simultaneously, the loudest voices advocating atheism—of a belief in no God–tend to come from men and women of privilege, particularly from academia? The search for an answer to this question precipitated this post. Continue reading The Luxury of Atheism

For A Higher Power: From Hacksaw Ridge to Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali arrives at federal court in Houston for his trial on a charge of refusing to be inducted into the Army.
Muhammad Ali arrives at federal court in Houston for his trial on a charge of refusing to be inducted into the Army.

What does it take for someone to stand for what they believe in? What does it take for someone to sacrifice for what they believe in? What does it take for someone to literally sacrifice their liberty, their very life for their faith?  In the film, Hacksaw Ridge, Desmond Doss enlists in the army and is faced with these questions right from the get-go. Muhammad Ali is faced with these questions in the prime of his fighting career, and thousands of others have faced these questions for centuries.

When I think of the term ‘conscientious objector’, Vietnam and the young men who refused to join the conflict immediately crowd the imagination.  Images of long haired hippies, in tie-die tee-shirts, ‘turning on, tuning in, and dropping out’ [1] in the streets of San Francisco and New York City in the late ‘60s, holding peace signs an decrying the evils of the War, are synonymous with the term.

Hacksaw Ridge

The 2016 Academy Award Winning feature film, Hacksaw Ridge, portrays the life of a conscientious objector that could not be farther from that image. Desmond Doss was working at a shipyard in Newport News, Virginia, [2]. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour in December of 1941 he was determined to serve in the military, yet would not compromise his faith as a Seventh-day Adventist.  This meant adhering to two commandments that would cause him great difficulty. He would not kill, and he would observe the Sabbath. Consequently he refused to carry a weapon, let alone fire one, and requested a pass to attend church on Saturday. Continue reading For A Higher Power: From Hacksaw Ridge to Muhammad Ali

To Heaven and Back II: Miracles from Heaven

The Beam family and filmmakers, 2016
Miracles from Heaven. The Beam family and filmmakers, 2016

 

The movie Miracles from Heaven is based on the true story of a young girl, Annabel Beam, who suffered for years with two digestive disorders.  One day while climbing with her sisters, she fell headfirst into the hollow trunk of a tree. While the events that ensued may raise the suspicions of the skeptic, they are just as likely to reaffirm the faith of many–particularly of the film’s intended audience–and perhaps speak to a few of those skeptics as well.  Continue reading To Heaven and Back II: Miracles from Heaven

Reflections on C. S. Lewis’ A Grief Observed

Writer and Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis (1898 - 1963)
Writer and Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis (1898 – 1963)

Clive Staples Lewis is one of the giants of twentieth century Christian apologetics.  His reasoned and erudite defence of the Christian faith in books, essays, lectures and letters have persuaded and inspired many for decades. However it was the illness and death of his wife, Helen Joy Davidman, that severely tested his faith, that forced an intensely personal introspection that blasted through layers of intellectual reasoning, and exposed a vulnerability and helplessness uncharacteristic in his writings. A Grief Observed is Lewis’ account of that grief, of his struggle to cope with the heart-wrenching agony that mere reason and intellectualism were so ill-equipped to explain.

‘H.’

Continue reading Reflections on C. S. Lewis’ A Grief Observed

Handel: Messiah

Mezzotint Engraving of George Frideric Handel

Every Christmas the music of the Hallelujah Chorus fills our churches and concert halls, is streamed over the radio, television, and on Social Media.  Originally intended as an Easter work, the oratorio from which it is taken, George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, has become synonymous with Christmas around the world for over two and a half centuries.

Continue reading Handel: Messiah

John Newton, Amazing Grace

circa 1775: John Newton (1725-1807), English clergyman and religious poet,
circa 1775: John Newton (1725-1807), English clergyman, hymn-writer and abolitionist.

As a young sailor John Newton was prone to drunkenness, profanity, and myriad forms of irresponsible behavior. He converted to Christianity in his mid-twenties yet accepted a position as captain of a slave ship, sometimes conducting Bible studies onboard. After leaving the slave trade he became a pre-eminent figure in the Anglican Church, well known for his sermons, letters, and over two hundred hymns, including the venerable ‘Amazing Grace.’ In later years he became a prominent figure in the British abolitionist movement and a powerful weapon in the fight that would end the slave trade and, ultimately, slavery itself in the British Empire.

 ‘Infidel’

Continue reading John Newton, Amazing Grace

Jesus Christ, Timeless Music Star

Crucifixion scene from 'Jesus Christ Superstar'
Crucifixion scene from ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’

 

Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell are two of the most iconic theatre and film productions of the past fifty years that are based on the life and death of Jesus Christ. They portray a Christ that resonated with the culture at the time, and exposed two very different views of the Messiah, views that are as relevant today as they were when first produced.
Continue reading Jesus Christ, Timeless Music Star

Spiritual Foundations of Non-violent Resistance

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. sits in a cell at the Jefferson County Jail in Alabama.
Civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., sits in a cell at the Jefferson County Jail in Alabama.

After the killings of   two black men at the hands of white police officers in July, and the subsequent murders of several law enforcement officers, there has been much discussion about the social injustices many African Americans and others have experienced in the United States for decades, if not centuries.  Continue reading Spiritual Foundations of Non-violent Resistance

Ben-Hur et al

Actor Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur, 1959

Movies based on Biblical stories and characters have been extremely successful in the past. However the 2016 motion picture treatment of Ben-Hur—a retelling of a best-selling novel, a long-running play, and one of the highest grossing movies in history—has met with poor box office receipts at its North American release this month. Why? In the 1950s, Biblical epics were among the most profitable movies released up to that time. And among these films are at least three in which Christianity is viewed through a positive lens. Has the appetite for ‘Jesus-friendly’ epics changed?  I’ll argue that the audience for Christian-based films today is fundamentally different from sixty years ago, and this difference may be an example of a growing divergence between the secular and the religious in today’s society, especially when compared to the middle of the twentieth century.

In this piece I’ll take a look at three films, extremely successful in the past, and sympathetic to the Christian faith. They are Ben-Hur, The Robe and Quo Vadis.

Ben-Hur (1959 and 2016)

Continue reading Ben-Hur et al

Ayana’s Ride Parts II and III

 

Ayana's Ride
Ayana’s Ride

II

 I’ve got to get to the bottom of this. How could he have gotten that score? As I approach the car, the engine automatically starts and the right side door, the one closest to me, pops open. As soon as I sit in the cheap cloth seats the seatbelt automatically wraps around me.  Even though it’s thirty degrees in the car-waiting area, it’s cool in the vehicle, the natural temperature in the car’s ergonomics program.

‘Where to?” Siri asks.

“Home.”

We glide out of the waiting area to the main street. Sometimes I wish Siri would speed up a bit. Can’t she tell that I’m in a hurry?  I have to talk to somebody about this, or this is going to drive me crazy.

Madison? My mother, his only daughter?  She would be the obvious person to handle this. I’ve got to tell her about this. Somebody’s gone and screwed with her own father.

“Call Madison,” I practically yell at the centre console. I pull a bottle of   water with a twist of lemon out of my bag and take a long gulp.

The call goes through, but the voicemail returns. “Leave a message.” My mother was never one for words. “Yeah, Madison, it’s me. Listen, I…”  I don’t know what it is but something inside, that small annoying voice in my head—I don’t know where it comes from—tells me to hold on. Why, I don’t know. Just think about this for a while, before you bring her into this. After all, she’s been acting kinda strange lately, ever since you started visiting him more frequently.

“Yeah, Madison. Just saw Pops. He says to tell you hi. Talk later. End call.”

Don’t know what’s gotten into her. She’s fifty-five years old, looks twenty-five, but sometimes acts like a five-year old. I take another swig of the lemon water. The scenery zips by outside the windows and the lower glass door panels. Inside the cabin is as quiet as can be. At times like this I’m glad for the silence.

Another five minutes and the silence is unbearable. I’ve got to talk to somebody.

Continue reading Ayana’s Ride Parts II and III