This is the first Public Relations release about the film at Dallas Morning News
TEXAS FAITH: What’s the best religious movie ever?
By Wayne Slater
Summer is the season of blockbusters (and not-so-blockbusters) on the big
screen, so this week, let’s go to the movies. Nobody can doubt Hollywood’s love
of money, and some recent faith-based films have attracted big audiences — Son
of God, Heaven Is for Real and God’s Not Dead.
Religious movies have come in various forms, big and small. The old Cecil
B. DeMille extravaganzas were clearly mainstream, as was Mel Gibson’s Passion of
the Christ. Darren Aronofsky’s Noah starring Russell Crowe in the title role was
controversial, but big-budget fare.
A little movie like Jesus of Montreal in which a theater group puts on an
unorthodox, but acclaimed Passion Play sparking opposition from the Catholic
church, has a devoted following.
And religious films don’t have to be “religious.” No doubt many movies
without an explicit religious subject express faith-based themes: community,
morality, values and purpose.
So in the spirit of summer, we’re asked our Texas Faith panel of experts
this question: What’s your favorite – or most memorable – religious movie? And
why?
The answers were as varied as our panel of theologians, clergy, scholars
and faith-based leaders. FromTen Commandments to the Shawshack Redemption to
Places in the Heart to the 1928 classic The Passion of Joan of Arc (my personal
favorite) to The Incredible Shrinking Man. And more. Break out the popcorn,
here are the picks of our Texas Faith panel.
MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism and speaker on interfaith
matters, Dallas
Any movie that depicts the ideals and teachings of a religion, tells a
story about historic religious personalities, God or its prophets can broadly be
classified as a religious movie.
The following are my favorite religious movies; The Ten Commandments,
Ben-Hur, Passion of the Christ, The Bible, Son of God, Mahabharat, Leap of
faith, Water, and Muhammad, the legacy of a prophet.
Last year, when Pastor Jones announced that he was going to burn 2998
copies of Quran, one for each American killed. I said no to that, that is not
the way to honor our martyrs, and instead we took Dallas’10th annual Unity day
program to Mulberry, Florida, to pray for them, as well as pray for Pastor
Jones.
Indeed, it was a unifying event that brought people of many faiths together
to offer prayers and rededicate our pledge for the safety, security and
prosperity of America. Special Muslim prayers were added for the victims and
donated blood at the event to save lives.
Cecil B. DeMille, Griffith, Gibson and others have made great classics like
Quo Vadis, The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, Godspell, Intolerance and Passion of
the Christ, and Americans Together will convert that rich experience into the
film, “Flames of Passion” (www.FlamesofPassion.net ). It will be
shot in Dallas, Texas, Mulberry, Florida, Washington DC, Saudi Arabia, Egypt,
Iran and possibly Indonesia for a world wide release in March 2015.
The Film is based on a successful real life event about ordinary people of
Dallas and Mulberry bringing extraordinary changes. It is a story about
skillfully managing conflicting issues of safety of Americans overseas,
upholding freedom of speech, improving perceptions about Islam and preserving
sanctity of religions.
The film is woven around human emotions generated by such events with fear,
apprehension; thrill seeking, suspense, drama, romance, disappointment and the
role of justice during the attempted Quran burning event.
It is an epitome of nonviolent conflict mitigation and goodwill nurturance
based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Hopefully
the world will see a new paradigm in making; what Muslims ought to be, and how
they will respond to future incidents of Quran Burning, criticism of Islam, and
cartoons of the Prophet. It will be good for Muslims and good for the world.
Indeed, blessed are the peacemakers.
To see the views of 10 other panelists, go to Dallas Morning News
athttp://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/07/texas-faith-whats-the-best-religious-movie-ever.html/
Thank you
mike
Mike Ghouse
(214) 325-1916 text/talk
mike
Mike Ghouse
(214) 325-1916 text/talk
