The "End of the Spear" kerfuffle - 1 decade later

NYTimes: Evangelical Filmmakers Criticized for Hiring Gay Actor

Excerpt:

The film relates the true story of five American missionaries who were killed in 1956 by an indigenous tribe in Ecuador. The missionaries' families ultimately converted the tribe to Christianity, and forgave and befriended the killers. The tale inspired evangelicals 40 years ago with its message of redemption and grace, and the film company expected a similar reception.

On Jan. 12, though, the Rev. Jason Janz took the filmmakers to task for casting Chad Allen, an openly gay man and an activist, in the movie's lead role as one of the slain missionaries, and later, his grown son.

An assistant pastor at the independent Red Rocks Baptist Church in Denver, Mr. Janz posted his comments on his fundamentalist Christian Web site, sharperiron.org. He also asked the filmmakers to apologize for their choice.

The executives at Every Tribe stood by Mr. Allen. Jim Hanon, the director, said he was by far the best actor for the role. "If we make films according to what the Bible says is true, it's incumbent upon us to live that," he said. "We disagree with Chad about homosexuality, but we love him and worked with him, and we feel that's a Biblical position."

More than 100 pastors of churches across the country signed a letter drafted by Mr. Janz and addressed to Every Tribe expressing their disappointment in the casting of Mr. Allen.

Some evangelicals have boycotted the film, and Every Tribe's executives said that they had also turned over to the authorities material that they considered threatening.

"Does anyone really believe that Chad Allen was the best possible actor for Nate Saint?" Mr. Janz asked in his Jan. 12 Web log entry, referring to one of the characters in the movie. "That would be like Madonna playing the Virgin Mary."

After discussions with executives at Every Tribe, Mr. Janz wrote in an e-mail message that he had recently corrected a few assertions in his original posting and sent the corrections to his audience and members.

But Mr. Janz, who said he rarely weighed in on the culture wars, stood by his previous statement that "we must realize that the Christian message and the messenger are intricately related."

He wrote that Mr. Allen's homosexuality was not so much the problem as was his open activism for gay causes, and that if a drunk who "promoted drunkenness" had acted in the movie, "I'd be just as mad."

One Web log, nossobrii.blogspot.com, written by Kevin T. Bauder, president of Central Baptist Seminary in Minneapolis, stated in a Jan. 13 entry: "Granted, we must not overreact. And it would probably be an overreaction to firebomb these men's houses. But what they have done is no mistake. It is a calculated strategy."

Greg Clifford, chief operating officer of Every Tribe, said the company, based in Oklahoma, had alerted the F.B.I. there about the Web log. The F.B.I. did not return phone calls yesterday about the matter.

Mr. Janz said he had not been contacted by the F.B.I., and Mr. Bauder could not be reached for comment.

Many evangelicals are concerned that young people inspired by the movie will look up Mr. Allen on the Web and "get exposed to his views on homosexuality, and that would cause some of them to question Biblical views of homosexuality and every other sin," said Will Hall, executive director of BPNews.net, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention, which has published articles critical of Every Tribe's decisions.

The original Janz article (from the "wayback" archive)

Excerpt:

Every Tribe Entertainment chose a gay actor to play Nate Saint in the movie.

In an interview, he was asked if he had ever been in love. He said, “Yes, absolutely. I’ve loved deeply, in the romantic sense. I’m very proud of that.” The interviewer asked, “Not so long ago you had a big reputation around drugs and parties. Were you a circuit boy?” Allen responded, “No, I was a guy who loved to push everything to its limits. That included the use of drugs and alcohol to expand and heighten every emotion to its absolute extreme. I’ve experienced the rave scene, the underground New York and L.A. scenes, the circuit party scene among gay men—all of it. It’s a nice little label to give somebody, but what does it really tell you about them? Nothing. I’ve had beautiful, intense romantic relationships with women in my life. And in this period in my life I have beautiful, intense romantic relationships with men.”

I’ve been around evangelicalism enough to know that many will not be a bit concerned about this. After all, is homosexuality the worst sin in the world? Chad is not only gay, he flaunts his sexuality on the big screen. In an interview with InLA Magazine, he was asked about his first gay love scene in a movie. He responded, “I want beautiful, positive representations of gay male sexuality out there. So it was very important to the director, Ron Oliver, and me to make a really good sex scene that wasn't gratuitous or gross but was healthy, sexy, and beautiful.”

Every Tribe Entertainment chose a producer of gay films.

Chad Allen is co-producing a film called The Way Out, starring David Duchovny, about two old men who fall in love in an old folk’s home.3 He also started a company called Mythgarden. In August of 2005, he gave an interview to Scene magazine in which he expanded on Mythgarden’s plans. He said, “For television, we have a biography series of gay and lesbian heroes throughout history. We also have a wonderful series that takes classic fairy tales both familiar and lesser known and makes them gay. There's a fantastic book we optioned called Fairy Tales for Gay Men.”

He further elaborated on his goals when he said, "There are so many good stories that want to be told, and we just want to make good movies with and for gay people," says Allen, who is going back into production with a new Donald Strachey mystery for Here TV in which he plays a gay detective. "We want to tell stories that highlight historical events and also illustrate what it really means to be gay." His agenda comes across pretty clear when he states in an interview with Out magazine that he hopes to use Mythgarden to show gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans-gendered people in a positive light.

Every Tribe Entertainment chose a gay activist.

Not only is Allen a gay movie actor who also produces gay films, he is an activist for gay causes. According to Out magazine’s January 2006 article, Chad tours the country with gay outreach programs.6 In an April 23 interview, he was asked if he had been to many gay pride celebrations around the country. He replied, “I love it. Everyone gets so uptight about people marching down the street…I mean who cares, these people have been doing this before we could even talk about being openly gay and stuff. These people have pushed the community so (expletive) far forward, excuse my language that who cares about the shock.”

According to Advocate magazine in November of 2003, “He began pouring his energy and time into myriad causes, including the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which helps elect openly gay candidates nationwide, and the Trevor Project, which sponsors a toll-free, round-the-clock suicide hotline for GLBT teens.”

Every Tribe Entertainment chose a star who has appeared in plays that have degraded Christ and Christianity. In 2001, Allen starred in a play, set in 1950’s Corpus Christi, Texas. The play is said to parallel the New Testament story of Jesus. The play features a hard-drinking gay man gay named Joshua. Joshua is the Christ-figure who is different because he is gay. He grows up in isolation and becomes an object of ridicule. He runs from the environment of the city and while traveling gathers about him a group of twelve disciples who cling to him because of his message of love and tolerance. Most of the twelve disciples bear the names of Christ's apostles.

The nossobrii.blogspot.com Bauder article (from the "wayback" archive)

Excerpt:

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2006

No Way!

Jason Janz on SharperIron has published an article documenting that Every Tribe Enterainment has used a homosexual activist to play Nate Saint in End of the Spear, an about-to-be-released film biography of the famous aviator and missionary martyr. The actor and activist is Chad Allen. This is the same Chad Allen who debated John MacArthur on Larry King Live about the legitimacy of homosexuality, homosexual marriage, and homosexuals getting legal guarantees for the “right” to adopt children.

The director who cast him for the role (knowingly, as Janz clearly demonstrates) is Jim Hanon. In order to put Allen in the movie, Hanon secured the blessing of Nate Saint’s son, Steve Saint, who was also aware of Allen’s homosexual activism. Presumably the executives of Every Tribe Entertainment had to approve this decision.

Who are they? The CEO at Every Tribe Entertainment is Mart Green, who is also the perpetrator of Mardel Christian and Educational Supply, a chain of 21 Christian junk shops. The ETE president and the producer of End of the Spear is Bill Ewing, whose other credits include Charlie’s Angels (how can a Christian not think that Charlie’s Angels is pornographic?).

That's a great group of guys behind this film. If you wonder what this is about, the Every Tribe mission statement makes it clear. “We base our film choices on what we hope to inspire rather than what we hope to sell.” Seems pretty straightforward.

We needed to know what was going on. Attaboy, Jason.

We also need to respond correctly. Jason recommends sending a letter to Every Tribe Entertainment “with meekness,” expressing “deep disappointment” for the company’s “mistake.”

Huh?

I feel a bit as if Jason has run the ball 98 yards, only to be tripped up at the one-yard-line. It was a great run (really great), but I can’t help wishing he’d have gone another step or two.

Granted, we must not overreact. And it would probably be an overreaction to firebomb these men’s houses.

But what they have done is no mistake. It is a calculated strategy.

This is not a private peccadillo. It is a very public scandal.

It is a scandal because it promotes a man who is working hard to advance one of the most shameful and unnatural of human abuses.

It is a scandal because this concession to homosexual activism dishonors the memory of a Christian martyr (who himself would certainly have been scandalized by homosexuality) and ultimately brings reproach upon the name of Christ Himself.

It is a scandal because it panders to the evangelical appetite for amusement, furthering the confused perception that somehow the Christian faith can be turned into a form of entertainment.

It is a scandal because it exploits evangelical naivety and lack of discernment. Every Tribes Entertainment clearly assumes that American Christians can be induced to ignore moral incongruities and to part with their dollars simply because they are offered an amusing spectacle wrapped around a vaguely Christian theme. The production company is trying to huckster money from evangelicals that they should really be getting from NAMBLA.

Meekness? Once we have caught our breath, the only ordinate response is deliberate fury.

If this were a Matthew 18 situation, private pleading would be appropriate. It is not.

If this were a Galatians 2:11 situation, we would withstand these debasers of the faith to their faces because they are to be blamed.

If this were a 1 Corinthians 5 situation, we could simply deliver such ones unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, the “ones” including Messrs. Green, Hannon, Ewing, and (Steve) Saint.

I wonder, however, whether this situation does not fit the parameters of Galatians 1:8-9. Does this kind of confusion actually alter the gospel itself? I am tempted to think that it does—and does it deliberately, “with malice aforethought.” If so, then we know what is required of us.

Where is Bob Jones, Jr., when you really need him?

"Stuff Out Loud article: "Rhetoric anyone?"

Excerpt:

Greg Clifford from ETE, notified the FBI because someone said not to firebomb them. How did that phone call go?

_________________________________

Umm, Hello??? Is this the FBI? Um, Yeah ... Um, I'd like to report that the president of a fundamental seminary who is an obscenely smart fellow with a great sense of rhetoric published his personal blog in which he said that no one should firebomb us over our choice of Chad Allen. Can you please look into this?

Um, sure. What would you like us to look into?

Well, he said that people shouldn't firebomb us.

Yes, I understand that. What would you like us to look into?

His comment that people shouldn't firebomb us, that firebombing would be an overreaction.

And what's the problem there?

Well, that's threatening?

It's threatening?

Yes, he threatened us by saying that people shouldn't firebomb us?

What exactly is the threat?

That people shouldn't firebomb us.

That's a threat?

Of course. He used the word "firebomb" and "these men's offices" in the same sentence.

Didn't he also say that it would be an overraction to "firebomb these men's offices."

Yes.

Do you want your offices firebombed?

No.

So this blog agrees with your position that your offices shouldn't be firebombed?

Um ... um ... sorry, call on the other line. Gotta run ...

_________________________________

You know, I can't imagine any graceful way to get out of that conversation.

Comments - 10 years on:

• Chad Allen has retired from acting
• Jason Janz sold Sharper Iron and is now an elder at Providence Church in Denver
• Kevin Bauder is Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Central seminary. He no longer blogs
• The film itself was widely panned. I haven't viewed it but 10 years ago I planned to. I wonder if anyone became a missionary as a result of the film. I doubt anyone caught gayness from viewing it!
• Me? On the cancer journey
• Meanwhile: The book looks to be much better!

Update:

Reflecting on - 13 years agohttps://t.co/umyVKS9Fmp

— James Peet (@jrpeet) February 27, 2019