Reel Spirituality 2005 conference

I just got this in my email and thought I would pass it on to you:

Hello Friends of Reel Spirituality,

Early Bird Registration for our 2005 conference, REALITY: FACT OR FICTION?, is now available at www.reelspirituality.org! Space is limited, so register before August 15 and save!

We've also confirmed the conference date and location...

When: Friday, October 21, 2005
Where: Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles

This year's conference will consider the rise of film documentaries, docudramas, bio-pics, and the cultural obsession with "reality-based" television programming. Does desire for these films/shows stem from a deep need for some sense of grounding in our culture? The day will be an exploration into the nature of reality, how we ground ourselves in contemporary culture, and how faith and film relate to shifting attitudes towards reality.

For the latest updates on conference speakers, schedule, session topics, and registration, log on to www.reelspirituality.org.

Hope to see you in October!

Justin Bell
Assistant Director-Reel Spirituality
Fuller Theological Seminary
(626) 396-6085
reelspirituality@fuller.edu

3 generations baptized together in a public swimming pool serendipitously!

What a family reunion!

So here I am on a family reunion in Depoe Bay along the incredibly beautiful Oregon coastline. Seagulls, pounding waves, and even whales are all visible from our condo townhouse.

86 year old Grandma Imogene, who has been a devout member of the Christian Science church all of her adult life, asks me if I would baptize her. I was stunned. As we talked and I discovered that she has been listening to Evangelical Christian radio shows and had come to learn of her need to let Jesus be the leader of her life, and be baptized. I, of course, said I would be happy to do it. I guess she has been reflecting on her life and wanted to be sure she was ready for the afterlife.

So yesterday, at the family dinner last night, I made an announcement to everyone that Grandma Imogene was going to be baptized in the public swimming pool here at the condo complex at 9am in the morning and everyone was invited.

Now, you got to know about this family: They love drinking wine, beer, rum –you name it. And they enjoy gambling. So in the midst of the beer cans and poker chips I am making this announcement of a baptism. It felt like this was something Jesus would do –he loved being among the “wine-bibbers� and sinners (which we all are) –he loved doing unexpected spiritual things among common everyday folks.

Additionally, it also felt so good not to be attached to any denominational constraints –Jesus was not connected to any institutional religious denomination either. I could simply move ahead with the baptism without any of the various institutionally mandated confirmations, forms, and rituals –and do it just like it was done in the Bible –immediately. I love the idea of being an independent Jesus follower.

And so this morning came, and we all went down to the swimming pool. Grandmother Imogene got into the pool. It was an incredible experience and very public way. Her family members were all gathered around the pool with camcorders and digital cameras. I asked her if she believed in Jesus as the Christ, and followed him as the leader of her life. She said “Yes� and so I immersed her in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. She came up out of the water with the happiest smile I have ever seen.

(Just a note: I do the total immersion under water thing because 99% of all Christian denominations accept it as a valid form and it is the pattern most generally found in scripture. Besides, it seems some how more substantial than just a few drops of water on the forehead)

As the 88 year old grandmother came up out of the water, her 58 year old daughter, Paula, yelled out “I want to be baptized too.� I said “Great, jump in.� I asked her the same questions as I had her mom, she responded affirmatively and I baptized her.

As she was coming out of the water Paula’s 33 year old daughter, Christy yells out that she wants to be baptized as well. I could hardly believe it. 3 generations being baptized together in a public swimming pool serendipitously!

It made my day.

How Many Doctors Believe in God?

Dr. Farr Curlin, and his team of doctors at the University of Chicago's MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, surveyed 1,125 U.S. physicians to determine their believe in God, an afterlife and the influence that one's religious beliefs has on how they practice medicine.

Here is what the survey found:

--76 percent of U.S. doctors say they believe in God.
--About 60 percent believe in some kind of afterlife.

--90 percent attend religious services at least sometimes.

--55 percent said their religious beliefs influence how they practice medicine, including treating patients who are facing death and end-of-life care, as well as sexual and reproductive health.

The survey used a 12-page questionnaire mailed to a random sample of 2,000 U.S. practicing physicians. The study findings have been published in the July 2005 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Interestingly, physicians are more likely to describe themselves as "spiritual" instead of "religious." They tend to view “spiritual� as different from “religious.� People generally see little difference between the two terms. For the medical profession “spiritual� seems to be a more inclusive and tolerant term than what “religious� might imply.

"The conventional wisdom is that doctors are much less religious than their patients," Curlin said. "I was surprised that the doctors were not more different (from) the general population than we found them to be."

Spirituality and Healing Go Hand-in-Hand, and so does Science.

Dr. Curlin said in reaction to their findings:

We have paid a good deal of attention to the religious beliefs of patients and how their faith influences medical decisions, but until now no one has looked in the same way at physicians, the other half of every doctor-patient relationship.

These findings lead us to further wonder how doctors' faiths shape their clinical encounters.

We were surprised to find that physicians were as religious as they apparently are.

There is certainly a deep-seated cultural idea that science and religion are at odds.

We suspect that people who combine an aptitude for science with an interest in religion and an affinity for public service are particularly attracted to medicine.

The responsibility to care for those who are suffering, and the rewards of helping those in need, resonate throughout most religious traditions.

As I read their findings, it seemed to me that this revival of faith within the Medical Profession is reflective of the increase in spirituality in all areas of our culture. I was talking to a Viet Nam Vet a couple of days ago; he told me that his son is a US soldier in Iraq. He proudly stated that his son reports to him that there are large numbers of Christian prayer and fellowship groups among the military there. The Viet Nam Vet reflected that back on his Viet Nam days and said, “There was nothing spiritual going on there, just drugs and things like that. Boy, things have sure changed.� Indeed so, we are in the midst of a spiritual renewal within our culture.

HOWEVER, this spiritual renewal is not being reflected in increased church attendance. In fact, church attendance continues its historic decline in the US, Canada, UK and throughout Europe. I will have more thoughts on this later.

My other thought concerning this report centered on the compatibility of Science and Faith. Yes, yes I know Christian fundamentalist friends will not agree with me here, and that’s okay. But, science and faith are not incompatible. In deed, when scientists and doctors are expressing an increasing belief in God and admit to being spiritual –something is going on.

In Recent years, both Hollywood movies and Comix have been presenting stories that demonstrate this compatibility. The one prime example that comes to mind is Jody Foster’s movie Contact, in which a scientist and a theologian walk hand in hand as the movie ends.

And so it is. Something powerful is afoot in the culture. A spiritual revolution is under way.

Both Movie Attendance and DVDs are Slipping!

The attendance at movies theaters is failing and DVDs at home are viewed as the reason. It does makes sense, consider this: The Christian Science Monitor reports: “The number of households with at least one DVD player is rising and projected to be 80 percent by year's end. Revenue from DVD sales and rentals, which is $21.2 billion per year according to the Digital Entertainment Group, has now surpassed box-office receipts, which stands at a little more than $9 billion a year.� http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0519/p12s02-almo.html

However, even though DVDs are indeed part of the reason, surprisingly even DVD player purchases are beginning to slip, as are the purchases of major movies on DVD. Check these reports out:

1. DVD Player sales dip. Global DVD player revenues will fall for the first time ever in 2005, according to research from the Strategy Analytics Connected Home service: “Retail revenues in 2005 will fall by 1 percent to $19.8 billion, after peaking at $20.1 billion in 2004. Higher value DVD recorders are beginning to replace players, but this trend will not prevent a continued fall in overall revenues.�

2. DVDs sales are down. Money/CNN’s Krysten Crawford reports, “First DreamWorks, now Pixar. Are DVDs sales losing their sizzle just when Hollywood needs them most? …Pixar announced Thursday that sales of its ‘The Incredibles’ DVD will fall short of expectations. DreamWorks dropped a bombshell in May when it told investors that DVD sales of ‘Shrek 2’ are softer than expected. DreamWorks shares have since tumbled 32 percent. Do two missteps make a trend?�

So, what is happening? Ticket sales are down. DVD player purchases are down and finally “DVDs are losing sizzle� with 5 million unsold copies of "Shrek 2" still in DreamWorks’ warehouse. What does all this mean?

Typically, Hollywood is criticized for not making enough family-friendly entertainment. Critics content that G and PG rated movies do better at the box office (but, like duh, of course, because G and PG permit a larger unrestricted audience). But now some analysts are wondering, in light of the shortfalls by Pixar and DreamWorks -- two studios with historically strong family friendly video sales, does this “signal that something a lot more troubling is afoot in the DVD market?� (Money/CNN).

I will have more to say about this in my next post…

Catholic Mass decline is Blamed on Dads

I found this interesting bit of info about declining Gen X attendance in Roman Catholic religious services. According to a 2000 Swiss study posted on the AD2000 website it is attributed to the lack of church attendance by the children's fathers.

“In summary, if a father does not go to church, no matter how regular the mother is in her religious practice, only one child in 50 becomes a regular church attendee. But if a father attends regularly then regardless of the practice of the mother at least one child in three will become a regular church attendee.�

Anglican Vicar Robbie Low is quoted as saying, "when a child begins to move into that period of differentiation from home and engagement with the world 'out there', he (and she) looks increasingly to the father for that role model. Where the father is indifferent, inadequate or just plain absent, that task is much harder and the consequences more profound."

The disinterest of fathers in Catholic worship services apparently contributes has the following reality: "The drop-off in young people attending Mass has now persisted for some decades resulting in a "graying" of the Mass attending population. As of 1996, Mass attendees in their twenties and thirties were substantially under-represented, making up just 20 per cent of all attendees, although they constitute 39 per cent of the Catholic population."

And that was as of 1996. That percent would be much worse now.

But, instead of lamenting spilled beans, I would suggest creating Church worship services that speak to father-less Gen-Xers. I mean like --do it --get on with it. If Boomer dads are disinterested in boring traditional Roman Catholic mass how much more so will Gen-X find it?

We live in a fractured world --and that is the reality. Live with it, understand it, and respond appropriately. Why is it that the “church,� even with the knowledge of what is happening, can never get past some traditional approach? It is a form of denial and major self-centered sinfulness in my mind. People should always come first –just as Jesus demonstrated, even at the cost of his life! Did Jesus ever put on a traditional religious service? No, never, he much preferred the casualness of the hillside, the local well, homes, and leper colonies. Oh, and wasn’t Jesus God incarnate? Hmm, what a statement from God! Hey “church� it’s time to get real!

Christian playwrite of Ben Hur Dies

USA Today reports that playwright Christopher Fry, a Christian humanist who helped T.S. Eliot revive verse drama in the 1940s and wrote a number of epic films including Ben Hur, has died at the age of 97, his son said.

Fry died on June 30 in the hospital in Chichester, southern England, Tam Fry said. The cause of death was not announced.

As a Quaker, Fry was a conscientious objector and spent four years in the non-combat Pioneer Corps. A master of whimsical comic verse, Fry's best-known plays, The Lady's Not for Burning (1948) and Venus Observed (1949), have a sense of benign providence and hope for humanity that struck a chord in a world still coming to terms with news of the Holocaust and the use of the atom bomb.

His love of Jesus is clearly observed in his rewriting of William Wyler's film of Ben Hur and scripting Barabbas for Dino De Laurentis.

HJ ON THE AIR #4

Download the HJ PODCAST show #4
Kevin Miller, David Bruce, Kris Dunlap review War of the Worlds

To listen on your PC just click link. (Best way to download for use on any MP3 player: right click "save target as" some browsers may have "save link as")