Did evangelicals overreact to the film The Last Temptation of Christ a number of years ago?
It’s too easy simply to criticize Hollywood for producing films that aren’t culturally or spiritually sensitive. For example, consider how Bill Bright’s organization, Campus Crusade for Christ, uses the Jesus film in cultures that have never seen films before. I’ve watched video footage of little children viewing the Jesus film. We may say, “Look at the emotion in these children and look how the film is moving them.” But just remove the religious context of Jesus being nailed to the cross and you’re left with a film about a man being tortured—something we are appalled at if Hollywood shows our children. I am not saying we should never use the Jesus film. The point is it’s easy to be insensitive when crossing cultures, whether from Christian America to Pakistan or from Hollywood to the evangelical community. The much-publicized attempt by Bill Bright to buy the negatives for Last Temptation was interpreted by folks in Hollywood as a slap in the face to their integrity. To them it implie
