TruthBook Religious News Blog

'Amazing Grace' Winner!

Two views: The Case For

For this year's Best Spiritual Film contest, the Beliefnet community chose "Amazing Grace". It wasn't the best known of the nominees or the highest grossing at the box office, but our panelists and community members agreed: "Amazing Grace" is the best spiritual film of the year. And it wasn't even close, winning both votes by a comfortable margin.

"Amazing Grace" is one of those films about the past that resonates so much with the present that, take away the costumes, it could be set today. It's about what happens to a man when his faith and his spirituality go from being expedient lip-service to being uncomfortable daggers that drive him to make a wildly unpopular stand.

The man was British parliamentarian William Wilberforce, and the issue was the human slave trade--which was seen by most politicians as an economic issue, not a moral or spiritual one. (Heard that one lately?)

There are two extraordinarily wonderful things about this film. First that it was made as a mainstream film by talented filmmakers who may or may not have shared Wilberforce's Christian faith. This allowed it to be a universal exploration of what happens to a person when his or her faith refuses to be compartmentalized and instead becomes the motivating force in his life. The direction, the script, and the acting are outstanding . And while Wilberforce's faith is fully explored, the film doesn't proselytize a specific faith as much as it rouses viewers to do what they know to be right, no matter what their faith, no matter what the consequences.

The second thing I loved about this film is that it isn't a "quick fix" story. Wilberforce's battle to outlaw slavery in Britain cost him years, money, friends, and his health, and required the spiritual values of humility, tenacity, and selflessness, as well as a commitment to justice. He was driven by the idea that not one more human being should die an agonizing death in the hold of a slave ship or be "owned" by another.

We've all become so inured to politicians using their faith as a campaign tool that it seems impossible to believe that a politician might actually put his or her conscience above political expediency. "Amazing Grace" reminds each of us that the same goad that shoved Wilberforce out of his comfort zone is the one that is likely prodding us even now.
--Sharon Linnéa

The Case Against

"Amazing Grace" should be called a good spiritual film of 2007, rather than the best. The William Wilberforce biopic is a circular blend of the 19th century abolitionist's force in ending the British slave trade and his religious conversion to evangelicalism. The film embodied spirituality through Ioan Gruffudd's portrayal of Wilberforce--as well as those of supporting cast members like Albert Finney as John Newton, the writer of the eponymous hymn.

The film doesn't lack spirituality, but it does lack a hold on a wide audience. For one, it came out in February to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the end of the British slave trade, which was a good move in providing a message of relevancy at that time. However, as the film audience looks back at the year of films, it is difficult to recall "Amazing Grace" in the relative consciousness.

That is partly because other films with strong spiritual messages, such as "Juno" and "The Kite Runner" had much more recent releases and wider appeal. The Wilberforce message doesn't have boundaries, really, as it was to make the world a better place, through action and example rather than lecturing.

But "Amazing Grace" separates itself from some American filmgoers with its historical biopic realm set in Britain over 200 years ago, making it difficult to connect. Wilberforce might be a household name in the U.K., yet it wasn't in the U.S. at the time of the film's release and still isn't. That lack of a bond is reason enough not to be considered best spiritual film of 2007.
-- Sara Shereen Bakhshian

Labels: Amazing Grace, movies, Sara Shereen Bakhshian, slavery, spirituality, William Wilberforce

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Saturday, January 19, 2008

The spiritual legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

January 19, 2008

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, mandated by federal law to fall on the third Monday in January, is the least celebrated federal holiday.

The King holiday was born in controversy and took 15 years to become law; it faced stiff opposition from national leaders. President Reagan opposed the measure and finally relented and signed the bill creating the holiday in 1986 after perceiving that his veto would be overridden.

One of the leaders of the opposition, Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, continued to express outrage over the bill, declaring that King had been a racial agitator and Communist sympathizer.

The opposition to the holiday usually today is put in terms of cost, about 8 billion dollars in lost revenues.

But nonunionized businesses generally do not observe the holiday, and as commentator Earl Hutchinson has put the matter, the biggest reason for nonobservance of the holiday is ''the still widespread public perception that the King holiday is a holiday exclusively of, by, and for blacks.''

The King holiday provides us with a moment to reflect on the spiritual state of our nation, to recall the terrible legacy of slavery and racism, and to reflect on King's call for peace and justice.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister with a Boston University Ph.D. in systematic theology, is remembered as the undisputed leader of the American civil rights movement.

He pushed hard at the forces in American life that were oppressing the poor and marginalized -- racial discrimination, economic injustice and war.

Inspired by Thoreau, Gandhi and Jesus, he became an inspirational leader known for oratorical wizardry, and his commitment to nonviolence earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

But King was mired in controversy and opposition all the time. Not only did he receive daily death threats for his civil rights work -- he was stabbed in Harlem at a book signing in 1958 -- but even fellow civil rights leaders objected to his outspoken opposition to what he called America's ''imperialist war'' in Vietnam. Many of King's supporters saw this opposition as a betrayal of Lyndon Johnson and his administration, which had done more for African Americans than any administration before or since.

I was recently in Atlanta and wanted very much to take some time to visit the King Center near the old Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King had preached, and where King's mother, some years after King's death, had been shot and killed while playing the organ one Sunday morning. A museum with continuous film loops and mementos of King's life are there, a souvenir-bookstore shop, and the tombs of King and his wife, Coretta Scott King.

As I contemplate the life and legacy of King this January, I recall that visit. I am remembering that at my hotel, when I asked how to get to the King Center, I was told, ''You don't want to walk in that neighborhood. Take a cab.'' When I went east on Auburn Avenue I noted that a huge highway overpass cut right through the center of the community there, something that reminded me of similar dislocations of communities I had seen in the old District 6 in Cape Town, and have even heard about in Allentown, where the Martin Luther King Drive is today.

Those who study environmental racism often make note of public works projects that cut through neighborhoods where people lack the power to oppose them. The office of the Southern Christian Leadership Office is on Auburn Avenue, but nearby are low-income housing projects and small businesses looking a bit run down.

Metal protection screens were on some windows. The reputation of this part of town I had received from my hotel concierge, and I am realizing how close this part of town was to the upscale hotel where I had been attending a Christian ethics conference -- a 20 minute walk.

King would have been 79 on Jan. 15. Were King alive today, I suspect he would be working on the same issues even in his old neighborhood. The problems of racism and discrimination are still with us.

Although the Voting Rights Act brought a major shift in American political and social life, and King worked for it tirelessly, he would no doubt be commenting on the million African American males in jails and prisons today, many of whom lose their voting privileges by conviction.

Would King be talking about the subtle disenfranchisement of blacks today, noting that the civil rights movement never got into our prisons? And would he be focusing attention on America's public schools, where the divide between rich and poor, black and white, is as pronounced today as it was in his lifetime?

And war? There is no question that King would stand in opposition to the Iraq war, having foreseen the tragic loss of life and a waste of treasure that cripples opportunity for many.

It is surprising that America chose to honor so critical a spiritual leader with a national holiday. That it did so, however, provides all of us with an occasion to reflect about who we are and what we value. For we do what we value; and among the painful things we must confront is our tendency to resort to violence to solve problems.

America today uses war as an instrument of foreign policy; incarceration and execution are responses to crime; and meantime we do not provide health coverage to 45 million citizens, and 36 million Americans live below the poverty line.

The true legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. is that he would not let us forget that what we value we do, and we have need to be reflective about the meaning of what we are doing.

The King holiday, born in controversy, should continue to be controversial if we are to do honor to the man it remembers. May this King holiday be a time for us to connect ourselves to King's call for racial, social and economic justice.

May we remember his life as it stands before all of us as a challenge to do better than we are doing.

Lloyd Steffen is university chaplain and professor of religion studies at Lehigh University.

Labels: African-Americans, contoversy, justice, legacy, Lloyd Steffen, Martin Luther King Jr., racism, slavery