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June 14th, 2013
04:05 PM ET
Superman: Flying to a church near youBy Eric Marrapodi, Co-Editor CNN Belief Blog Baltimore, Maryland (CNN) - As the new Superman movie takes flight this weekend, filmmakers are hoping the Man of Steel lands not only in theaters, but also in pulpits. Warner Bros. Studios is aggressively marketing "Man of Steel" to Christian pastors, inviting them to early screenings, creating Father’s Day discussion guides and producing special film trailers that focus on the faith-friendly angles of the movie. The movie studio even asked a theologian to provide sermon notes for pastors who want to preach about Superman on Sunday. Titled “Jesus: The Original Superhero,” the notes run nine pages. “How might the story of Superman awaken our passion for the greatest hero who ever lived and died and rose again?” the sermon notes ask. (Disclaimer: CNN, like Warner Bros., is owned by Time Warner.) Similar campaigns to corral the country's large number of Christians into the movie theater have been used for "Les Miserables," "Soul Surfer" and "The Blind Side," all of which had at least some faith angle. Baltimore pastor Quentin Scott is among dozens of ministers who received an e-mail invitation from Grace Hill Media, a Hollywood-based Christian marketing firm, to an early screening of “Man of Steel.” “There was an actual push to say `We’re putting out something that speaks to your group,' ” said Scott, one of the pastors of Shiloh Christian Community Church in Baltimore. At first, Scott said, he didn’t buy the religious pitch. Then he decided to attend a free midweek screening in Baltimore. “When I sat and listened to the movie I actually saw it was the story of Christ, and the love of God was weaved into the story," said the pastor. "It was something I was very excited about that with the consultation of our senior pastor, we could use in our congregation.” CNN Entertainment: 'Man of Steel' director Zack Snyder on Superman's Christ-like parallels Grace Hill’s sermon notes are specially designed for churches like Shiloh that integrate multimedia into their services. “Let’s take a look at the trailer for `Man of Steel,’” the notes suggest after briefly introducing the movie’s history and themes. The man behind the notes, Pepperdine University professor Craig Detweiler, has prepared similar material for films like 2009’s "The Blind Side" and "The Book of Eli" from 2010. The spiritual themes in “Man of Steel” are abundant, Detweiler said, and his notes enable Christians to thoughtfully engage with pop culture instead of shunning it. “All too often, religious communities have been defined by what they're against. With a movie like `Man of Steel,’ this is a chance to celebrate a movie that affirms faith, sacrifice and service,” Detweiler said. It will be hard for even casual Christians to miss the messianic metaphors in "Man of Steel.” The movie focuses on the origins of Superman, who was sent from the planet Krypton as an infant to save his species. He is raised by surrogate parents who help him grapple with his special powers, even though they don’t fully understand the source of his extraordinary abilities. When he turns 33, Superman must willingly sacrifice himself to save the human race. Sound familiar? If that’s not enough, as a boy Clark Kent is shown wrestling with his superpowers, and asks his earthly dad, Jonathan Kent, “Did God do this to me?” “Somewhere out there you have another father and he sent you here for a reason,” says Jonathan Kent. Even the visuals hammer home the messianic motifs. During a fight with his archenemy, General Zod, Superman plunges down to Earth, his arms outstretched as if he were being crucified. Of course, he rises again. Detweiler writes in the sermon notes, “What Jesus and Superman both give us, through their `hero’ actions but also their `human’ actions – is hope.” “I think it’s a very good thing that Hollywood is paying attention to the Christian marketplace,” said Ted Baehr, who runs Movieguide, a website that reviews family friendly films from a Christian perspective. “Where it gets sticky is when they try to manipulate the market and when Christians try to manipulate Hollywood. But here I think we have the right balance.” But other Christians are heaving a supersized sigh at the movie marketing. "Any pastor who thinks using `Man of Steel Ministry Resources' is a good Sunday morning strategy must have no concept of how high the stakes are, or very little confidence in the power of God’s word and God’s spirit," writes P.J. Wenzel, a deacon and Sunday School teacher at Dublin Baptist Church in Ohio. "As they entertain their congregants with material pumped out from Hollywood’s sewers, lives are kept in bondage, and people’s souls are neglected," according to Wenzel, who said he was e-mailed information about the movie. Scott, the Baltimore pastor, said he knows that Warner Bros. Studios has a financial incentive in pushing the film to pastors. But he said that’s fine with him. “They’re using us but in fact we’re using them,” he said. His church won't show clips from the movie this weekend because it had already planned out its service. But he plans to use them later, during meetings with the church’s men’s group. “If you give me another opportunity to talk to someone about Jesus Christ, and I can do that because of your movie, that’s a win for me, because it is about spreading the Gospel.” CNN's Erin McPike contributed to this report. soundoff (6,545 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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You have to love astrology and myths to comprehend faith (falsehood within the imagination).
Wow we have more important news like our rights being stripped away from our government
List all the rights that have been stripped from you and how it is impacting your life right now.
@"superman"
not now, but possibly later. like, dissension against the government or its foreign allies...
room 101 is waiting for you...
"Gimmick:" you've got to have a gimmick in any show-business endeavour. This marketing scheme provides press for Jesus and press for Superman. Regarding the "truth" of either myth, Jesus or Superman, the latter is more believable than the former. Also see: Wotan. Greta Garbo transformed herself into a myth and walked among us. I saw her twice.
"more believable"
really?
planet krypton or 3 day dead, arising...
really?
that's like believing the big bang theory is fact.
steady state, all the way forever...
CNN, you really have no standards, do you?
Their standards are sufficient to draw not only your eyeballs but a comment to boot.
Their advertisers thank you for your patronage.
Why do you say this?
And what draws you to respond to my comment? WELL?
They do what the boss wants: Make Money
Nothing is out of bounds – (interviewing traumatized kids at Newtown removed all doubt for me)
Just what the left wants to compare fictional idol worshiping to God. Don't take the bait.
> Non fictional idol worshiping
> Worshiping a God
Pick one
I'm trying to recall the part of the bible where Jesus (spoiler alert) snapped the neck of his greatest enemy, as Superman does in this movie. Did I miss a book somewhere?
Oh well, both are rank fictions made up to entertain and manipulate the masses, so they'll always have that in common.
Jesus didn't snap any necks, but He did exercise a demon, so that counts. And the Bible doesn't have stories to entertain and manipulate the masses, they were written to educate, and persuade free will to believe or not believe.
Do good. Stop arguing. Love your kids. Help others. Sponsor an orphan.
Yet another reason not to watch this movie.
Ron, you have your Facebook open. I won't reveal you, but remember the recent news: All this is tied together. We may not agree on politics or anything else, but I just wanted to give you a heads up. (nice plane by the way)
Jeeesh man. Please don't and how did you do that if I may ask? Is that legal? Thanks for the head's up.
They need to get Tim Tebow to play the next superman!!!
Sure nuff he's got the acting chops for it. Look how convincingly he played the role of an NFL quarterback — well enuf to completely fool 3 different head coaches.
well.....i guess pandering to the christians isnt a deal breaker for me....after all they believe in a guy wearing a long white robe and sandals doing magic and miracles and living in the sky.....
Just another reason I find Superman to be lame.
Religion-The most powerful cult in the world. Don't forget to drink your kool aid.
Or you could drink atheist Jim Jones' kool-aid.
At least mine won't kill me!
So, Adam, do you refer to the same Jim Jones alluded to in this Wikipedia article?
"James Warren 'Jim' Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was a Christian preacher and the founder and the leader of the Peoples Temple, best known for the cult murder/suicide in 1978, 909 of its members in Jonestown, Guyana, and the murder of five individuals at a nearby airstrip. Over 200 children were murdered at Jonestown, almost all of them by cyanide poisoning. Jones died from a gunshot wound to the head."
lol, poor Adam doesnt even know who his christian superstars are. Jim Jones is one of your loonies deary.
For those of you clever enough, you can see that the I.P.s of a dozen or more of these posters making anti God references are the same. CNN pointed this out two weeks ago. It is only two or three people in reality. Posers! Losers! You have been busted.
Gort1 = Hex Angel
you are a tool.
Feel free to link where "CNN pointed it out" – plenty of room left in your post limit.
And why be coy? Show how you're getting the IP addresses of posters here. If you're telling the truth, feel free to share!
If you're lying, keep implying things with no evidence whatsoever!
AmericanPatriot, wait for Ron's response (see above)
pr0gress, one at a time. finishing one now..... Do you want me to send that info discreetly on one of your previous blogs? You have been quite busy.
Somebody takes CNN.com comments way too seriously and has no life...
pr0gress – KMLU
right.... what's my ip?
Jim Slim, it fits, and its been said before
slim jim, using xrevsnoop?
When Jim writes "AmericanPatriot, wait for Ron's response (see above)", the wait is probably necessary because he needs to sign out as Jim and sign back in as Ron.
I've discovered that CNN makes no effort whatever to keep people from logging in using a name that's already in use. I learned this the hard way when some jerk started posting using my own screen name, saying things that I'd never utter in a million years.
Joseph Smith called, He wants his religion back.
We have to face the truth. God crucified Jesus for his sins. Jesus started a false religion and falsely claimed to be the son of God. That upset God greatly and He punished Jesus and his followers. They are condemned to spent their lives believing a false narrative and forever being ignorant of the truth. God rightfully punished the sinner, Jesus, by crucifying him. Anyone that prays to Jesus, prays to a resident of Hell.
You have to face the truth that you are an idiot, we already know this. God is Jesus in human form. God came down to Earth as Jesus to relate better to mankind, and for mankind to relate better to God, and to foreshadow the future.
Jesus lied. You cannot trust what he said. He was not God.
Pretty much all stories echo the story of Jesus, which pretty much echos all the hero stories before it. It's a formula and it goes back to Sumer, at least.
and Jesus stole his trick from Hercules and Prometheus
Guys I think the athiest won all the arguments using reason and logic, we should comment only on religious articles, they wont be trolling around there I swear...
Add mcgregor_kyle to the same I.P. address. Got ya!
La la la liar.
Since Superman was created by 2 Jewish teenagers around the Cleveland area I doubt they created him to be a parallel to Jesus.
Warner bros made this movie based off of the original.
And why not? Jesus was a Jew.
Actually, they said they were inspired by Moses — rocket instead of basket of reeds, wonder worker, secret ident¡ty, hero to his people, etc.
The only similarity they share is that they're both made up.
Each has a hero willing to sacrifice himself for others, each hero has his tragic flaw, each hero faces death. The details and the setting are different, but each follows the long established formula.
So does Batman...
Hollweird--desperate to maintain its influence over the movie viewing audience.
They haven't received one cent from me in the last five years.
people pay way too much attention to hollywood persons and too little to what really matters in life.