Movie challenges Coptic restrictions on divorce

An upcoming Egyptian movie has caused a stir over it's portrayal of the struggles faced by divorced women to remarry in the Coptic Church, reports the LA Times.

"Christian lawyer Nabil Gobriel has filed a legal complaint and called on the Egyptian prime minister to ban the movie. “Freedom is not absolute, it must have limits, it should not infringe on religious fundamentals,” Gobriel told The Times in a phone interview. "

Obviously, I would argue that the lawyer is out of line for calling for the banning of the movie. I don't think laws regarding divorce are this strict in the Indian church. Is there not a "canonical standard" on this among the Oriental Churches?

Disney Backs out of Next Narnia Movie

Disney will not take up its option on the next film in the Chronicles of Narnia series, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Both 2005's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and this year's followup Prince Caspian were produced by a partnership between Disney and Walden Media, the Christian education-focused company which owns the film rights to the books. The first movie took an impressive $740m (£500m) across the globe on a budget of $180m (£122m), but its sequel's take was way down on that – $420m (£285m) from a $200m (£135m) budget, prompting Disney to pull out.

So $ 220 million is a let down? Well, I imagine it's trending downward, with five more movies at least to produce (based on less familiar titles). However, that doesn't excuse the number of terrible movies Disney DOES invest in (i.e. Mighty Ducks, the two later Lion King movies). I'm waiting for the Culture War angle on this, as to whether Disney wanted to dissociate itself from a movie unavoidably linked with traditional Christian ideas and symbols.

-Steve K.

An Orthodox Wedding for Jennifer Aniston

The news sources for this are very weak and this may finally be exposed as yet another Internet rumor, but several outlets are reporting that actress Jennifer Aniston will be marrying again to current boyfriend John Mayer ... and her dream wedding is Greek Orthodox!

"Jen was exposed to the Greek Orthodox religion growing up because that's her dad's background. Her first marriage, to Brad Pitt, was a huge, extravagant affair, but it was not a church wedding. Jen isn't overly religious, but she wants one now."

In many culturally-rooted Orthodox churches (Indian, Greek, Russian, etc), this is a very common observation i.e., the Sacrament of Marriage given to a couple who is not spiritually connected to the Church. The tragedy in most cases is the community and the priest fails in their Spiritual obligation to the new couple and do not leverage their interest in the Church to bring that couple closer to Christ.

Dr. Bradley Nassif wrote on the Orthodox church forgetting it's evangelical roots, and it's almost impossible to argue this point. Our Church must wake up and respond to the natural tendency of people to search for God as they get older in order for a healthy growth, as in almost every cases the person's search begins with what they had experienced in their childhood.

Twilight Unconsciously Mormon

So I watched Twilight this past Thursday (not my idea...really!). The movie was painfully slow and terribly directed. The concept itself is actually cool...but the movie missed every opportunity for more upbeat fiercer music or more dramatic camera work. OK so maybe that's what I expect from a vampire movie nowadays.

I came across this nugget of knowledge this morning. Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight Series is a devout member of the Church of Latter Day Saints aka Mormon Church:

Unconsciously, I put a lot of my basic beliefs into the story. Free agency is a big theme, as is sacrifice. One very kind fan wrote to me and said, “instead of gore and horror there was lyrical beauty.” (Okay, so she was probably too kind). Even after I explain all that, I still have LDS friends (and extended family) who look at me funny.

full interview with A Motley Vision

I really didn't expect that at all. It vaguely makes sense...sucking blood equals sex...not sucking blood equals abstinence...no really it is interesting. I also didn't expect Orson Scott Card who wrote Ender's Game was also a Mormon. Then again, this is all I know about Mormonism.

Then again, belonging to a particular faith tradition doesn't necessarily mean that an author will write about that faith's themes in his work.

-Steve K.