A Christian Nation

In the comment section of a recent post, I drew some fire for making the following, apparently shocking claim:

We [Americans] see America, from the Pilgrims who signed the Mayflower Compact to the Biblical scholars… who birthed the nation, to the spirit of sacrifice and charity that thrives to this very day, not as a nation of Christians (for that freedom is at the deepest core of our common philosophy) but as a Christian nation.

It seems that there is a growing belief that because our Founders were stalwart advocates for religious liberty, and because some of them had very nuanced and sometimes cynical views about organized religion, the United States was somehow conceived to be a secular nation. This belief is not only untrue, but detrimental to an adequate understanding of the underlying political philosophy of the founding, not least of all because it envisions the government as the nation instead of merely the organization through which the nation conducts its civil affairs, and more importantly because it betrays the singular belief that undergirds the entire American experiment: That the rights of man come not from government but from God. (more…)

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Tags: Barack Obama, Christian Nation, constitution, Declaration of Independence, Everson vs Board of Education
Posted Aug 29th 2009 at 2:49 pm in Featured Story, Politics, Religion | 210542168 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jdboreing/2009/08/29/a-christian-nation/A+Christian+Nation2009-08-29+21%3A49%3A15Jeremy+D.+Boreing

Selling ObamaCare: The True Religion of the Left is Pragmatism

On August 19th, President Obama conducted an Internet conference to draw support from faith leaders for his health care package. He used explicit, religious language to engage the audience, ”I know there’s been a lot of misinformation in this debate. And there are some folks out here who are, frankly, bearing false witness.”

“Thou shalt not bear false witness…” Sounds familiar. That would be one of the Ten Commandments liberal judges say cannot be posted in public schools, or on government monuments because that would be an establishment of religion by the US Government.

Here’s the President of this pluralist, secular, democracy paraphrasing Cain and Abel found in the book of Genesis: “…what I consider to be a core ethical and moral obligation that we look out for one another, that I am my brother’s keeper and I am my sister’s keeper.” (more…)

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Tags: bush, Cindy Sheehan, Democrats, Obama, ObamaCare
Posted Aug 25th 2009 at 8:41 am in Politics, Religion | 210274140 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dtennapel/2009/08/25/religion-for-me-but-not-for-thee/Selling+ObamaCare%3A+The+True+Religion+of+the+Left+is+Pragmatism2009-08-25+15%3A41%3A38Doug+TenNapel

Lonewolf Diaries: Brad Pitt Leading the Anti-Christian Charge

I should say right off the bat that I can’t just blame Brad Pitt. The plague of closed-mindedness permeates every corner of Hollywood… Brad Pitt just happens to be the one who’s most recently crystallized it so perfectly. Much like the time Megan Fox tipped Tinseltown’s hand when she said that if given the chance, she’d urge Megatron to only murder the “white trash, hillbilly, anti-gay, super bible-beating people in Middle America,” Brad Pitt had a tongue-slip with his anti-Christian comment this weekend. However, I must give credit where credit’s due folks: he made the comment on the Bill Maher show. It takes guts to take such a stance on that program. Doesn’t at least a part of you admire his moral fortitude?

To start with, Brad Pitt said that he was thinking of running for mayor of New Orleans, on an “Anti-religion, pro-legalization of marijuana and pro-gay marriage” platform. I know, I know… What a risky position to take in Tinseltown, right?

After Brads continued “anti-religion” commentary, Bill Maher decided to step up the game with his uniquely hateful brand of bigotry that’s made him oh so popular with 13-year-old atheists everywhere. In a display of “compassion,” Pitt went on to say, “Well I don’t think any Christians watch this show anyway.” (more…)

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Tags: Atheists, Bill Maher, brad pitt, Christianity, Christians
Posted Aug 18th 2009 at 5:40 pm in Celebrity News, Featured Story, Lone Wolf Diaries, Religion | 207654241 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/scrowder/2009/08/18/lonewolf-diaries-brad-pitt-leading-the-anti-christian-charge/Lonewolf+Diaries%3A+Brad+Pitt+Leading+the+Anti-Christian+Charge2009-08-19+00%3A40%3A46Steven+Crowder

Brad Pitt and Atheist Evangelism

So for the second time in about as many weeks, I’m hearing from Brad Pitt on religion. First, there was the absurd, “Eighty percent agnostic, twenty percent atheist” comment, and now he jokes that he’s running on the “no religion” platform in the New Orleans mayoral race. The leap from being atheist to being against religion fascinates me.

Why can’t you simply not believe in God? Surely atheism can exist without a hatred of religion. It’s particularly disturbing that the disdain atheistic non-religionistas have for religion is pretty much limited to Christianity – from my experience. I knew an atheist who was offended when someone at work played a CD by Christian rock band “Third Day.”

But I can sympathize to a degree, after all my son believes in this nut that dresses in a red outfit, is friendly with reindeer, and gives kids presents. Crazy, I know, but my kid runs around singing about this obese clown coming to town, or some nonsense — and IT JUST OFFENDS THE CRAP OUT OF ME!!! (more…)

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Tags: 9/11, Atheism, Atheist Evangelism, brad pitt, Christopher Hitchens
Posted Aug 14th 2009 at 4:03 pm in Culture, Religion | 205210439 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ccannon/2009/08/14/atheist-evangelism/Brad+Pitt+and+Atheist+Evangelism2009-08-14+23%3A03%3A51Cam+Cannon

The Straight Poop On Radical Islam

I suspect that because George Bush and Condoleezza Rice were so respectful of Muslims, constantly telling us that theirs is a religion of peace, some otherwise sensible Americans actually began to believe it.  Now we have a president who not only kowtows to a Saudi prince, but carries on as if Israeli homes are more threatening than Iranian nukes.

What is wrong with our leaders?  Are they worried that they won’t be invited to those cool Ramadan parties?  The Islamists have been actively at war with us for 30 years and generally at war with western civilization for well over a thousand years, and still we pay lip service to these people in a way we never did with Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan or the Soviet Union.  Is it because the Muslims commit sadism and murder in the name of religion and not country?  If anything, I would think that would make their evil acts all the more contemptible. (more…)

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Tags: 9/11, Africa, al qaeda, Barbara Boxer, Barney Frank
Posted Aug 13th 2009 at 8:52 am in Politics, Religion | 204482108 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bprelutsky/2009/08/13/the-straight-poop-in-radical-islam/The+Straight+Poop+On+Radical+Islam+2009-08-13+15%3A52%3A13Burt+Prelutsky

The Curious Case of Brad’s Vacant Pit

Brad Pitt was recently asked by German magazine Bild if he believed in God. Pitt smiled and answered: “No, no, no!”  Then, asked if his soul was spiritual, he once again said: “No, no, no!” Adding: “I’m probably “20 percent atheist and 80 percent agnostic.” With that, the shrieks of millions of women who dreamed of a storybook church wedding with Mr. Pitt could be heard crying out across the planet.

The comment is sure to cause a few ripples from the man who once played the son of a preacher man in the spiritual A River Runs Through It.  What’s more, Pitt advises there is no use thinking about God or a higher power — we’ll find out when we get there, he says.  Umm, get where Brad?  The Beverly Hills Hotel in the sky?  It never ceases to amaze to hear celebrities speak out about religion – or a lack thereof.  In a business where vainglory is king, perhaps it is not surprising many in Hollywood are said to lack religion.  Que Sera Sera — free country, right?   (more…)

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Tags: angelina jolie, brad pitt, charity, faith, Katrina
Posted Jul 29th 2009 at 7:17 am in Celebrity News, Featured Story, Religion | 191298161 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jmeath/2009/07/29/the-curious-case-of-a-godless-man/The+Curious+Case+of+Brad%27s+Vacant+Pit2009-07-29+14%3A17%3A46Jason+Killian+Meath

My Weekly Date with a Liberal – ‘Emotional Redistribution’

The article will begin shortly.

Thank you for your patience.  Let’s begin.

Although facebook has been the gift that keeps on giving in terms of confirming whether or not a prospective date is or is not a liberal, for this installment I thought I’d put my instincts to the test by participating in the very underrated process of “stereotyping.”

I think, and rightfully so, that many Americans feel that Los Angeles is a place bankrupt of spirituality…not to mention just plain bankrupt. However, there is a spiritual movement among Angelinos that folks may not be aware of, largely because it is a faith so self indulgent it would be difficult for the average hard working American to fathom.  This movement is called “Spiritual Psychology.”

Let me just say this for fear of being labeled judgmental: I have nothing against spirituality or psychology; in fact, I actually saw a Medicine Man on an Indian reservation in the Jemez Valley to help me with a “problem” I’d prefer not to discuss here. It was an extremely spiritual, dare I say magical experience, after which my “problem” did not improve in the least. (more…)

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Tags: Ana Gasteyer, boba, breitbart, Carpet Fresh, facebook
Posted Jul 28th 2009 at 5:02 am in Culture, Featured Story, News, Religion | 193070100 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jdavid/2009/07/28/my-weekly-date-with-a-liberal-emotional-redistribution/My+Weekly+Date+with+a+Liberal+-+%27Emotional+Redistribution%272009-07-28+12%3A02%3A30Jon+David

‘Slumdog Millionaire’: A Leftist View of a Globalized World

Well after its phenomenal success of eight Oscars, four Golden Globes, seven BAFTA’s, and $350 million at the boxoffice, “Slumdog Millionaire” has managed to stay alive. As much an amazing longshot victor as its hero, an urchin from the Mumbai slums cum tea server at a phone call center who wins a fortune in an Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?,” “Slumdog” has kept making news in ways deeply rooted in its own depiction of the world.

Recently the film’s British director Danny Boyle, serving as jury president of the 12th Shanghai Film Festival, confided during a panel discussion that on “Slumdog” he had shed the patronizing, “imperialist” mentality, relying heavily on a local Indian crew. Boyle also observed that while it was “regrettable” that Beijing imposed censorship restrictions on its filmmakers, he’d nonetheless love to work in China, as it would be a “challenge learning Mandarin.” Boyle neglected to mention that on “Slumdog” he’d skipped the challenge of learning Hindi, necessitating an Indian co-director, and also skipped the patronizing practice of paying Western wages, and the low pay for local child actors would fuel most of the subsequent controversies. (more…)

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Tags: "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", Amitabh Bachchan, BAFTAs, Bandra, Bollywood
Posted Jul 27th 2009 at 6:52 am in Culture, Politics, Religion, Reviews | 19112630 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/eazlant/2009/07/27/slumdog-millionaire-and-topdog-fantasies/%E2%80%98Slumdog+Millionaire%E2%80%99%3A+A+Leftist+View+of+a+Globalized+World+2009-07-27+13%3A52%3A03Edward+Azlant

Story and the Power of Conservative Themes in Film

Boy, did I ever kick a hornet’s nest with my tongue-in-cheek Archie Bunker-on-steroids BH post, “My Secret Life as a Conservative Republican.” Lefties called it Reaffirmation With Senator Smalley, which I expected. But Righties nearly wet their pants in fear, which I did not expect in the least. Where’s the pioneering spirit, self-confidence and gutter-level humor that founded this country?

People, this is OUR Fortress Hollywood! This is OUR sanctuary! Since when the hell do we care about what demagogues like Keith Olbermann think or say? Or any other mental tinfoil hat Lefties like Garofalo for that matter? It’s like Churchill worrying about Hitler calling him a fat cigar-chomping drunk! Who won that fight, and why? And who was in the right, despite all the insipid name-calling?

Time to grow a pair, people. It’s also time to raise the stakes. Now, I’ve heard from some contributors here at BH that it is really bad in Hollywood in places. That people might even lose their jobs if they spoke up like I do here. If true, that’s McCarthyism at its worst. Fortunately, that’s not my experience. I still have great relationships with people in the biz who could care less about politics. All they care about is finding great scripts or literary works to adapt, and telling great stories on film.

And that is where the battle really needs to be fought: on their playing ground. An insurgency of ideas, if you will. Example. Just under the Big Hollywood sign today, I saw the banner “TNT’s ‘The Closer’ Thrives on Strong Moral Foundation.” That PJM-linked article describes how The Closer, a show that portrays the border, the illegals situation, and even the cops themselves in very gritty and realistic fashion, is the top-rated scripted show on ad-supported cable since its inception. (more…)

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Tags: Academy, Afghanistan, al qaeda, American Gangster, AMPAS
Posted Jul 21st 2009 at 10:22 am in Classic Hollywood, Film, Politics, Religion | 184986103 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/07/21/taking-the-fight-to-the-left/Story+and+the+Power+of+Conservative+Themes+in+Film2009-07-21+17%3A22%3A45John+T.+Simpson

‘We a people who give children life, not who destroys them.’

Fifty years ago, Lorraine Hansberry became the first African-American woman to produce a Broadway play, with her timeless and iconic A Raisin in the Sun. Theatergoers at the Ethel Barrymore were shocked, as the New York Times put it on March 12, 1959, by the play’s “vigor as well as veracity,” raving that Hansberry’s masterpiece was “likely to destroy the complacency of anyone who sees it.” Generations since have been stirred by the profundity with which Hansberry detailed the trials and triumphs inherent in the human condition and the strength of character, resiliency, and unbreakable spirit that define the American dream for even the poorest and most vulnerable among us. Yet there is one clear message that has been forgotten over the last half-century, as we are faced with a poverty much greater than Hansberry’s cast of characters could have ever imagined: the ravages of government-subsidized abortion has brought upon a decimated Black community.

Lorraine Hansberry

Recently the Secretary of State appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and confirmed it is the Administration’s goal of including abortion as an integral element of “reproductive health care” provided by the United States. In this context, I had the opportunity to raise concerns about her words of praise for Margaret Sanger, the notorious American racist who founded Planned Parenthood and advocated tirelessly for eugenic policies to eliminate persons she deemed inferior and unworthy to live.

Today, when twice as many Black children are eliminated through abortion than are born, Lena Younger’s stern words to her son, “We a people who give children life, not who destroys them,” evoke the strength, pride, and hope that characterized the soaring spirit of the civil rights movement. Her words should be lifted on billboards and sung through every corner of the world, but little mention is made of her stirring affirmation of life. (more…)

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Tags: a raisin in the sun, abortion, Black community, Ethel Barrymore, eugenics
Posted Jul 20th 2009 at 6:37 am in Art, Featured Story, Religion | 185846101 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jfortenberry/2009/07/20/congressman-fortenberry/%27We+a+people+who+give+children+life%2C+not+who+destroys+them.%272009-07-20+13%3A37%3A40Rep.+Jeff+Fortenberry+%28R-NE%29

The Media: Wrong on Jackson, Wrong on Palin

I have been driving around the Midwest for the last six days with my son playing golf, watching baseball games, visiting old friends and doing a few shows. There are a lot of benefits to this well-timed vacation. The weather was perfect and I missed the entire hullabaloo known as the Michael Jackson memorial. I didn’t see a minute of the lead-up coverage, the “service,” or the postmortem, no pun intended.

I was listening to evil talk radio in the car and did hear and read a number of reports on the event.  Depending on whom I was listening to, it was a freak show/circus, a fitting memorial or “not as bad as I thought it might be.”

I always thought of Mr. Jackson as a talented singer/dancer/songwriter who had poor impulse control. I thought this was due to the fact that the leeches and toadies who depended on him for money never said one simple word to him: “No!” Apparently I was very wrong! Until I heard and read reports from his memorial, I was unaware of his role in our society as everything from a civil rights pioneer to basketball coach. Martin Luther King Jr. and Pat Riley, take a break, the king of pop has got your back. I heard he was quite the philanthropist too; although there isn’t a Michael Jackson Foundation, he did at one time donate a reported $22 million to a single California family. (more…)

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Tags: Chicago Tribune, Christians, journalists, Martin Luther King, Michael Jackson
Posted Jul 13th 2009 at 5:03 am in Celebrity News, Media Criticism, Politics, Religion | 180658237 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjena/2009/07/13/jackson-palin-and-the-media/The+Media%3A+Wrong+on+Jackson%2C+Wrong+on+Palin2009-07-13+12%3A03%3A16Jeffrey+Jena

A-holes and Insects – or Mother Nature Doesn’t Care If You’re a Good Liberal

Decades before George Clooney began using “Darfur” to swat away the unfashionable nuisance of “Iraq,” the hollow eyes and distended stomachs of starving Biafran children gave America’s impressionable “me generation” a reality check during commercial breaks.  Parents shook their heads and wrote checks.  “We have so much,” went the refrain.  “The world is so unfair.”

My pretty fourth-grade teacher, who taught us everything from math and history to a dash of entomology (study of insects), didn’t think so.  One day, unprompted, she told her class of 10-year-olds that she wasn’t really concerned about the Biafran babies because mass starvation was just nature’s way of controlling overpopulation.  (My parents were mortified.)

Margaret Sanger

Hard to fathom how, less than three decades after the Holocaust, any educated person could harbor such cold acceptance of the cruel suffering of fellow human beings - much less voice it (and to children, no less).  But whoever said the human race is on a one-way path to progress?

It’s widely assumed that, in every moment we’re alive, we’ve reached a new pinnacle – of modernity, experience, knowledge, enlightenment – that we always move forward, never back.  But what if we don’t?  What if we’re fated to make the same mistakes (disguised with innocuous new names) over and over again? (more…)

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Tags: Ahmadinejad, ants, Betty Friedan, Biafra, Census Bureau
Posted Jul 10th 2009 at 5:02 am in Featured Story, Politics, Religion | 164862210 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cwinecoff/2009/07/10/a-holes-and-insects-or-mother-nature-doesnt-care-how-liberal-you-are/A-holes+and+Insects+-+or+Mother+Nature+Doesn%27t+Care+If+You%27re+a+Good+Liberal2009-07-10+12%3A02%3A16Charles+Winecoff

Moral Relativism; The Liberal Lynchpin

The vast majority of adults in this world know that moral perfection is absolutely impossible, so I get upset when self proclaimed Hollywood/MSM liberals ruthlessly attack any conservative that cannot do the impossible; avoid succumbing to temptation for their entire life. Hollywood/MSM liberals always use this angle to attack conservatives nationwide because by strongly believing in nothing specific they’ve set themselves up to perpetually come out on top of any moral argument, guilt, worry and public-scorn free.

In today’s Hollywood a famous liberal filmmaker could hire a hooker while shooting a $100,000,000 studio feature film, secretly charge it to the budget, snort coke in his trailer between shots and drop E at night without any real concern for condemnation or job loss if he’s caught, because, well, he never proclaimed to be on the side of good in the first place. Whereas a famous conservative Christian filmmaker (pretend with me here) caught doing the same thing would be ridiculed and kicked out of town for the hypocrisy of it all since, by being Christian, he openly admitted that kind of behavior is not the most desirable for himself and doesn’t set a very good example for the fans. (more…)

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Tags: drugs, hollywood, Hypocrisy, morality, prostitutes
Posted Jul 9th 2009 at 2:51 pm in Entertainment, Politics, Religion | 177038112 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmcgruther/2009/07/09/moral-relativism-the-liberal-lynchpin/Moral+Relativism%3B+The+Liberal+Lynchpin2009-07-09+21%3A51%3A12Michael+McGruther

‘Whatever’ Doesn’t Work: An Email from God to Woody Allen

From: God<god@heaven.org>
Date: Sat, 4 Jul 2009 07:03:37 -0700 (PDT)
 
To: Woody<woody.allen@mischugana.com>
 
Subject: Your latest verkaktah film.
 
Dear Woody,
 
Would it kill you to pick up the phone and call your father once in a while?  That’s what happens with kids they get to smart for their own good and think they don’t need me.

And now, you come out with this “Whatever Works” film. What, you think that shemdrick Larry David who plays that louse Yellnikoff can out match me with a formula? Never happen! I created formulas. In one of his rants he tried to pull a fast one on the audience about Job. Yellnikoff whined that all that Job got for his piousness was suffering. So, why suffer? Right? Wrong. I was teaching Job how to be patient! Something you, Yellnikoff, and apparently that David character have never learned. (more…)

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Tags: "Broadway Danny Rose", "Whatever Works", God, Heaven, woody allen
Posted Jul 8th 2009 at 5:02 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Religion | 17784678 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/nanenberg/2009/07/08/whatever-doesnt-work-an-email-from-god-to-woody-allen/%27Whatever%27+Doesn%27t+Work%3A+An+Email+from+God+to+Woody+Allen2009-07-08+12%3A02%3A11Noel+Anenberg

Stoning: Coming to a Neighborhood Near You?

And I don’t mean the movie. “The Stoning of Soraya M.” is a remarkable feature film about harsh Sharia law twisted by a husband against his wife. The film is brutal, honest and unflinching. Based upon Freidoune Sahebjam’s 1994 novel, the film straddles the world between fact and fiction, present and future.

“Soraya” epitomizes a woman’s plight in the Islamic world and reaches across the globe into communities which welcomed Muslim immigrants into their secular societies.  But the question left unasked by these societies – face to face – is this:  Will you accept the strictures of our society based upon Freedom and mutual respect?

Some Muslim immigrants (not all) refuse to embrace their adopted country’s mores and behaviors. They choose isolated communities.  In France, a friend told me that many third-generation Algerians still don’t speak French.  News reports about “disaffected youth” riots veil the source of burning cars in Paris – radicalized Islamist youth.  Herein lies the question about enforced societal acceptance of multiculturalism and freedom.

Freedom is a tough concept to sell. You know it when you have it. You can see when it’s absent, i.e., Iran, Zimbabwe, socialist left-wing dictatorships like China, etc.,  But it’s taken for granted in America.   Unfortunately in our ADD, media-centric world of flash, celebrity and shock, the world’s impression of freedom is excessive violence, sexuality and degradation. Freedom is confused with approval. The best definition I ever heard for Freedom was “The right to do what you want and the responsibility to take the right course of action.” (more…)

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Tags: honor killings, Islam, Middle East, Politics, soraya
Posted Jul 6th 2009 at 5:02 am in Politics, Religion | 17432649 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmandaville/2009/07/06/stoning-coming-to-a-neighborhood-near-you/Stoning%3A+Coming+to+a+Neighborhood+Near+You%3F2009-07-06+12%3A02%3A14Michael+Mandaville

Law and Order: C.I. — Christian Serial Killer Episode Fair to Christianity

“Family Values,” the most recent episode of “Law and Order: Criminal Intent,” returned to an issue the program often deals with in a less than flattering way: religion. The episode, which premiered last Sunday, ran true to form, at least on the surface.

But as I’ve often noted in the past (most recently here), getting too caught up in the surfaces of cultural products often causes one to fail to see their true meaning. That’s the case with “Family Values.”

Certainly the story seems calculated to make a particular religious belief look bad, specifically evangelical Christianity. It concerns a serial killer who is a evidently devout Christian. (And indeed, the numerous promos on the USA Network leading up to the airing of the episode highlighted that sensationalistic concept.) In addition, the episode’s title, “Family Values,” seems calculated to annoy evangelical Christians, in an obvious sardonic reference to former Vice President Dan Quayle’s most famous political quest. (more…)

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Tags: "Family Values", Christianity, Dan Quayle, evangelical Christians, Law and Order: Criminal Intent
Posted Jun 30th 2009 at 2:53 pm in Entertainment, Religion | 1731946 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/06/30/christian-serial-killer-tv-episode-surprisingly-fair-to-christianity/Law+and+Order%3A+C.I.+--+Christian+Serial+Killer+Episode+Fair+to+Christianity2009-06-30+21%3A53%3A42S.T.+Karnick

Despite Ugly Facade, ‘Year One’ Has Positive Message About Religion

The new film Year One is definitely taking a beating from the critics, especially conservative ones.

Two reviews by my colleagues at Big Hollywood exemplify the complaints. Comedienne Victoria Jackson expresses immense disappointment with the film’s high proportion of obscenity and vulgarity (she reports that she left the film in tears of frustration and sadness), and John Nolte observes that it lacks a sensible story line, excessively indulges in its performers’ ad libs, manages to have scenes that are both overlong and end too abruptly, has a nonsensical timeline, and is just sloppy and poorly executed overall.

Both of these critics’ observations are quite accurate, but I think there’s more to this story. (more…)

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Tags: "Year One", Abraham, Bible. Sodom, Harold Ramis, Jack Black
Posted Jun 28th 2009 at 3:02 pm in Entertainment, Politics, Religion | 167406One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/06/28/despite-ugly-facade-year-one-has-positive-message-about-religion/Despite+Ugly+Facade%2C+%27Year+One%27+Has+Positive+Message+About+Religion2009-06-28+22%3A02%3A27S.T.+Karnick

Broadway Rejects Conservative Plays

The New York Post ran a story this weekend with a very encouraging headline: RIGHT TURN ON B’WAY? Michael Riedel’s article revolves around two new plays that are being shopped around for a home.  One is a one-man play about Ronald Reagan.

“Reagan” is a one-man play that doesn’t portray the 40th president as a fascist. It’s by Lionel Chetwynd, whose scripts for television and film include “The Hanoi Hilton,” “Color of Justice,” “Kissinger and Nixon” and “DC 9/11: Time of Crisis.” ….  Chetwynd declined to comment on “Reagan,” except to say with a laugh, “It will change lives and the course of history.” A copy of an early script portrays Reagan as thoughtful, determined, sly (when necessary) and winning. Talking to the audience from the main room of his California ranch, Reagan explains his journey from FDR Democrat to conservative Republican. Along the way, he offers a spirited defense of conservative principles. At least three top directors have passed on the play because, says a source, “They can’t stand Ronald Reagan.”

The other play cited is “Girls in Trouble (Formerly Three Abortions)” by Jonathan Reynolds.

In “Girls in Trouble,” Reynolds presents a balanced view of pro-lifers while taking some swipes at the NPR crowd. The play ends with a harrowing confrontation between two women — one pro-life, the other pro-choice — that’s not for the squeamish. “Thus far, its claim to fame is that it’s been turned down by all the theaters in New York,” Reynolds says of his play. “It was commissioned by the Long Wharf, but they wouldn’t put it on. There was a theater in the suburbs of Washington, DC, that said they wanted to present the ‘other side’ of the abortion debate. But when they read it, they said it would “infuriate our audience.” Oskar Eustis, the head of the Public Theater, told Reynolds that his staff “didn’t go for it,” but that he would take a look at it himself.

(more…)

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Tags: "Girls in Trouble (Formerly Three Abortions)", "Tales of an Urban Indian", "The Good Negro", abortion, and the People Who Love Them"
Posted Jun 28th 2009 at 6:57 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics, Religion | 1667425 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/06/28/conservative-plays-get-noticed-in-new-york/Broadway+Rejects+Conservative+Plays2009-06-28+13%3A57%3A38Stage+Right

Lessons From the Movies: ‘I was born a poor black child.’

In the comedy classic, “The Jerk,” Steve Martin begins his sad tale with the famous line, “I was born a poor black child…” He isn’t kidding. The film revolves around the life of a pale-skinned, white-haired man who firmly believes he is something he is not, despite all evidence to the contrary. The lie has very little practical value, however, as almost all of his actual behavior is driven by his true nature, not his view of himself. Put simply, no matter how black he believes himself to be, Steve Martin cannot sing the blues.

This is, perhaps, one of the most interesting things about human beings: Our unique capacity for deception. Not the deception of others. Most animals are capable of that sort of deceit. No, it is the ability of man to deceive himself that is so remarkable, and not just the ability, but the proclivity to do it. Like Steve Martin’s character in the film, man seems ever determined to create his own definition of himself based not so much on what he is, but on what he would like to be. This self-image certainly has some effect on what a person does, but strangely, it almost never changes or constrains what they actually are. Despite his efforts to be what he believes himself to be, what he is almost always dominates him. The inner-white-man always emerges if you will. While the human mind seems perfectly capable of believing two mutually exclusive things at the exact same time, it is perhaps only able to consistently act from one of them. (more…)

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Tags: founding fathers, self-image, Steve Martin, The Jerk
Posted Jun 27th 2009 at 5:47 pm in Entertainment, Politics, Religion | 1670305 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jdboreing/2009/06/27/some-lessons-from-the-movies-i-was-born-a-poor-black-child/Lessons+From+the+Movies%3A+%27I+was+born+a+poor+black+child.%272009-06-28+00%3A47%3A06Jeremy+D.+Boreing

Part 2: Interview — ‘The Stoning of Soraya M.’s’ Cyrus Nowrasteh

Note: Part 1 of this 2 part interview can be found here.

The execution scene at the heart of “The Stoning of Soraya M.“ is all force and little subtlety. Some audiences might flinch at the visuals, while others may draw parallels to the violence at the core of “The Passion of the Christ.”

But director/co-screenwriter Cyrus Nowrasteh says a version of the film featuring a shortened stoning sequence didn’t test as well as the full-length movie.

“This movie is a ticking clock to an execution. That execution is a primitive rite we’re witnessing, and we need to go through each stage of it,” he says. ”It’s almost a catharsis.”

Not all audiences are ready to take the journey.

He says about five or so people typically leave the theater during test screenings once the execution starts – but roughly half return to watch the film’s finale.

Nowrasteh, who is of Iranian heritage, has been watching the news reports coming out of Iran in recent days as intensely as any viewer.

(more…)

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Tags: Bill Clinton, Bob Iger, cyrus nowrasteh, iran, Iranian protests
Posted Jun 26th 2009 at 1:13 pm in Entertainment, News, Religion | 1688462 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2009/06/26/part-2-interview-%e2%80%94-%e2%80%98the-stoning-of-soraya-m%e2%80%99s%e2%80%99-cyrus-nowrasteh/Part+2%3A+Interview+%E2%80%94+%E2%80%98The+Stoning+of+Soraya+M.%E2%80%99s%E2%80%99+Cyrus+Nowrasteh2009-06-26+20%3A13%3A22Christian+Toto

‘The Stoning of Soraya M.’ – A Powerful, Must-See Film

As the world watches and waits for the political uprising in Iran to either succeed in toppling the brutal Khomeinist regime or be crushed by it, a movie by the name of The Stoning of Soraya M.  opens in limited release today. Far from being your typical summer fun film fare, Soraya depicts the ugliest, most brutal side of human nature and one woman’s crusade to keep it from being swept under the rug.

Directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh (The Path to 9/11) and written by Nowrasteh and his wife Besy Giffen-Nowrasteh, Soraya is based on the 1995 non-fiction book of the same name by Freidoune Sahebjam. Soraya takes place after the Islamic revolution in Iran and centers around Soraya (played by Mozhan Marnò), a woman whose husband, Ali (played by Navid Negahban), has tired of her after 20 years of marriage and wishes to discard her for a younger woman. Actually, “younger” is an understatement, as Ali lusts after a 14-year-old girl. Soraya knows about Ali’s plans, but won’t agree to a divorce because she knows she will be unable to provide for her two young daughters (the two sons will stay with Ali, of course). Ali must then come up with another scheme for getting rid of his uncooperative wife, and he uses guile, cunning and good old-fashioned blackmail to get the key players in place for what is passed off as a religious cleansing rite. (more…)

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Tags: Ali Pourtash, Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh, cyrus nowrasteh, David Diaan, Freidoune Sahebjam
Posted Jun 26th 2009 at 5:03 am in Featured Story, Religion, Reviews | 1681306 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pmeister/2009/06/26/the-stoning-of-soraya-m-a-powerful-must-see-film/%27The+Stoning+of+Soraya+M.%27+-+A+Powerful%2C+Must-See+Film2009-06-26+12%3A03%3A22Pam+Meister

Part 1: Interview — ‘The Stoning of Soraya M.’s’ Cyrus Nowrasteh

Director Cyrus Nowrasteh has news for people who think the public execution scene at the heart of “The Stoning of Soraya M.” is too long, too graphic or too uncompromising in its horror. The real thing is worse. Much worse.

Nowrasteh’s “Stoning,” which debuts in select cities June 26, tells the true story of an Iranian woman accused of adultery by her narcissistic husband and subsequently stoned, per Sharia law, for her crime. The film, based on the book by journalist Freidoune Sahebjam, reveals its critical sequence via the title. But audiences will still recoil at the monstrous behavior on display.

“I want people never to forget what a stoning is,” Nowrasteh says. “I’ve seen it on tape, and it’s much worse.”

Nowrasteh, who wrote the ABC miniseries “The Path to 9/11,” read Sahebjam‘s book back in 1994 but figured no one would green light a film based on the harrowing true story. The story stuck with him all the same, and years later he and his wife, screenwriter Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh, decided to try to make such a movie themselves. Wresting the legal rights to the book took time, but they had very little competition, he says. Only two Italian directors flirted with the notion of making the book into a movie, as did, briefly, director Costa-Gavras (“Missing”). (more…)

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Tags: Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh, cyrus nowrasteh, Farsi, Freidoune Sahebjam, Shohreh Aghdasloo
Posted Jun 24th 2009 at 11:47 am in Entertainment, News, Religion | 1671344 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2009/06/24/bh-interview-the-stoning-of-soraya-ms-cyrus-nowrasteh/Part+1%3A+Interview+--+%27The+Stoning+of+Soraya+M.%27s%27+Cyrus+Nowrasteh2009-06-24+18%3A47%3A16Christian+Toto

The Whitewashing of Soraya M.

While Iranian-American protesters packed streetcorners in Westwood last Saturday afternoon in support of the revolution currently playing out in the streets of Tehran, an historical drama about stoning in Iran got underway at the Los Angeles Film Festival mere blocks away.

For the few who don’t know by now, The Stoning of Soraya M. is based on French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam’s bestselling book, which relates the true story of a woman in a remote Iranian village, in the years after the 1979 Khomeini revolution, who is falsely accused of adultery and stoned to death by a mob desperate to cleanse themselves of this affront to their collective honor and to their religion. It’s not only a gripping story in its own right, but it shines a harsh spotlight on the almost unimaginable reality that the barbaric punishment of stoning still exists in the Iranian law code, despite a largely nominal 2002 moratorium, the result of pressure from Western human rights groups.

(Full disclosure, even though I’m not reviewing the film here: I’m close friends with the filmmakers Cyrus and Betsy Nowrasteh, I provided Mpower Pictures with a bit of research on the project, I’m friends with other cast and crew and producers associated with the film, and I think stoning is bad. So don’t take my word for it when I say Soraya will be the most important, affecting film you’ll see all year. Instead seek out the multitude of reviewers who recommend the film, including Big Hollywood’s John Nolte and then see it for yourself.)

Following Saturday’s screening was a panel discussion, not so much moderated as simply hosted by Iranian novelist Khaled Hosseini, author of the bestselling The Kite Runner, who personally selected the film for the L.A. Film Festival. The panel also included Soraya’s writer-director Cyrus Nowrasteh, starring actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Dr. Reza Aslan, billed as an Islamic scholar. (more…)

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Tags: cyrus nowrasteh, Freidoune Sehabjam, iran, Reza Aslan, Shohreh Aghdashloo
Posted Jun 24th 2009 at 5:03 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics, Religion | 1674903 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mtapson/2009/06/24/the-whitewashing-of-soraya-m/The+Whitewashing+of+Soraya+M.2009-06-24+12%3A03%3A56Mark+Tapson

Hollywood Good Guys: Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts

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Hollywood stars Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts, with their two children Samuel, 6, and Alexander, 1, recently visited Israel.

Schreiber said his grandfather was a strong Zionist who had always begged him to go to Israel. His grandfather died before he could make that happen, so this trip resonates for him. It may also have additional meaning following his most recent role as Zus Bielski in Defiance, the Holocaust movie recounting the Bielski brothers, Jewish partisans who lived and rebelled against the Nazis from a Bellarussian forest with a band of fellow refugees.

Schreiber recalls some intensely personal history: (more…)

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Tags: hollywood, Israel, Jewish National Fund, Liev Schreiber, naomi watts
Posted Jun 22nd 2009 at 5:04 am in Celebrity News, Politics, Religion | 164114One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/06/22/liev-schreiber-and-naomi-watts-hollywood-good-guys/Hollywood+Good+Guys%3A+Liev+Schreiber+and+Naomi+Watts2009-06-22+12%3A04%3A15Robert+J.+Avrech

Poem for Iran: ‘Tomorrow is Saturday. Tomorrow is a day of destiny.’

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No comment is really necessary. Just a reminder of the power of art. Reports say this was recorded last night. The transcript is below: (more…)

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Tags: Demonstrators, iran, June 19th 2009, Poem, Revolution
Posted Jun 20th 2009 at 7:45 am in Art, Politics, Religion | 1655585 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/06/20/poem-for-iran-tomorrow-is-saturday-tomorrow-is-a-day-of-destiny/Poem+for+Iran%3A+%27Tomorrow+is+Saturday.+Tomorrow+is+a+day+of+destiny.%272009-06-20+14%3A45%3A16John+Nolte

Why I Walked Out of ‘Year One’ Crying

I had a date with Judd Apatow.  It was around 1991 and I was between husbands: the out-of-work-Jewish-Gypsy-fire-eater-musician, and the high-school-sweetheart-Baptist-helicopter-police-pilot.  I needed a date to a premiere.  I knew the rules of engagement for a Hollywood career, and I tried to follow them.  It’s difficult to do this when you carry the burden of ethics around with you, but I tried to do it and stay within the bounds of morality.

1) Go to the right places.  I went to the Playboy Mansion to find an agent, and I did.  I was 21 and a Baptist virgin, and I found Betty from the William Morris commercial department there.  Check.

2) Wear something provocative to a Hollywood premiere so you can get free publicity.  I did that.  When I was an SNL castmember trying to increase my movie roles, I attended some Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan premiere (go figure – it was a flop!) in a see-through black shirt with a flowered bra underneath.  I felt ashamed, but I did get my picture in a few magazines.  All press is good press, and press leads to opportunity.

(more…)

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Tags: "Juno", "Year One", bestiality, blasphemy, circumcision jokes
Posted Jun 19th 2009 at 7:15 pm in Featured Story, Religion, Reviews | 16542616 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/vjackson/2009/06/19/why-i-walked-out-of-year-one-crying/Why+I+Walked+Out+of+%27Year+One%27+Crying2009-06-20+02%3A15%3A06Victoria+Jackson

Terrorists and Tyrants Go Straight to Hell

At the risk of earning my place in The Masters of the Obvious Hall of Fame… I gotta say it.  They’re not ‘freedom fighters’, they’re not ‘brave Jihad warriors’, they’re not ‘overseas contingency operators’…they’re terrorists.  And they’re evil.  True, they are going to ‘meet their destiny’ but it’s not going to be what they think.  There are going to be some very disappointed souls who come to find that everything they believed in, indeed, so strongly that they sacrificed their short, pathetic, deluded lives for…was a total lie.  They have an appointment with eternity waiting for them, but there won’t be 72 virgins for them to defile forever.  Or even for an hour and a half.  Nah, none of that.  Ain’t gonna happen.  (And as Dennis Miller once said, “Hey, 72 virgins?  I can see it for a while, but after seven or eight of them…I’m gonna want to call in a pro.”) 

Nope.  Not saying I’ve consulted the Creator, but…I have it on good authority that that virgin-in-paradise thingie is just a cheap, bucket-o-baloney BS recruiting tool. 

Psych!

So all you would-be jihadist bombers with a hard-on to plant the IED’s that are designed to kill our brave servicemen… hey, find something else to do with your hard-on, Sparky, instead of waiting to use it on those 72 clueless virtual babettes.  If you’re that lonely and pathetic and worthless, hop on the ubiquitous 25-hour Internet porn sites, take tool in hand, and work out three minutes of your destiny right there in the privacy of your mud hovel.  Keep the explosives at home!  Your imagined glory doesn’t give a sh*t about you and you blowing up an American G.I. won’t keep you from an eternity of teeth gnashing and anal herpes, so get your head out of your poo-hole, and go get a real job – like maybe something that helps people instead of kills them.  Just a thought. (more…)

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Tags: 72 Virgins, ACLU, Christianity, extremism, IED
Posted Jun 19th 2009 at 5:03 am in Featured Story, Politics, Religion | 164606No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggraham/2009/06/19/terrorists-and-tyrants-go-straight-to-hell/Terrorists+and+Tyrants+Go+Straight+to+Hell2009-06-19+12%3A03%3A10Gary+Graham

Obama’s ‘New Tone’: A Victory of Astounding Trivia

So much was said of Obama during the election, and for all of the promises of healing America’s divide, reaching across the aisle with a new kind of politics, creating new jobs and improving on “the failed policies of the last 8 years” I don’t see anything getting better.

The shame for Bush’s whatever-he-did-every-day was palpable by the left. Ask your favorite lefty what Bush did right and they’ll likely only talk about his help with the Africa AIDS epidemic, and even then it was probably just to look good to all of those voters who are Africans with AIDS. They were ashamed of his Texas-ness, his swagger and for the first time we declared that “go-it-alone” wasn’t an American quality. Somehow, Kim Jong-il would be better under Obama. We would talk together, and he would listen. But Kim Jong-Ronery has upped his missile launches since Bush left office. (more…)

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Tags: Ahmadinejad, bush, cheney, Kim Jong-Il, Obama
Posted Jun 10th 2009 at 1:24 pm in Politics, Religion | 154950No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dtennapel/2009/06/10/healing-our-global-reputation/Obama%27s+%27New+Tone%27%3A+A+Victory+of+Astounding+Trivia2009-06-10+20%3A24%3A50Doug+TenNapel

Burnt Offerings: President Obama Addresses the Islamic World

From time to time I feel like presenting a piece that should be read. This is one of them — sent to me by a very close friend in Congress. 

Obama’s Cairo Message: Limited Audience, Limited Impact 

1. President Barack Obama’s address at the Cairo University on June 4, 2009, which was billed in advance by his staff as a historic message of goodwill and reconciliation to the Islamic world, had a limited audience. Though projected as an address to the Islamic world, it was largely an address to the Arab world and focused largely on issues of interest to the Arabs.  

2. The Arabs constitute a minority in the Islamic world. Non-Arab Muslims living in countries such as India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia constitute the majority. The issues, which agitate them, are different from the issues which agitate the Arab world. Osama bin Laden understands this better than Obama and his advisers. That was why in his audio message released through Al Jazeera a day before Obama’s Cairo address, bin Laden focused on issues of immediate concern to the non-Arab Muslims in the Af-Pak region such as the large-scale displacement of Pashtuns from the tribal areas of Pakistan. By focusing on their plight and by holding the Americans responsible for it, he sought to make it certain that the anti-American anger in the Af-Pak region will increase rather than decrease.   (more…)

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Tags: bin Laden, Cairo, Islam, Muslim, Obama
Posted Jun 5th 2009 at 1:21 pm in Featured Story, Politics, Religion | 1527426 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rdavi/2009/06/05/burnt-offering-president-obama-addresses-the-islamic-world/Burnt+Offerings%3A+President+Obama+Addresses+the+Islamic+World2009-06-05+20%3A21%3A24Robert+Davi