Let's Go To The Movies

Laura Donnelly
October 21, 2005

So if you're, say, a right-wing evangelical Christian, you might rely on your church for a lot of important things—among them, spiritual guidance and a like-minded community. In a lot of cases, you might also get your political leanings from your church (intelligent design in public schools, anyone?). But in a relatively new phenomenon, evangelical Christian churches are increasingly acting as distribution hubs for popular culture. Remember "The Passion Of The Christ?" Much of its overwhelming success came from church groups renting out theaters for screenings. And this weekend, the movie "Left Behind: World At War" opens in not a single commercial theater—but it will be showing in more than 3,000 churches nationwide. That's a pretty big number. I'll wager there's not going to be nearly so many progressives gathering for movie-watching this weekend.