There's no pockets Lord Rupert won't stick his hands into.
In an effort to attract the enormous church-going audience that flooded theaters to see Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, Fox Filmed Entertainment is expected to announce today (Tuesday) that it is creating a new division, FoxFaith, that will produce as many as 12 films a year, half of which will have theatrical releases and the other half going directly to home video. According to today's (Tuesday) Los Angeles Times, the first theatrical release under the new banner will be Love's Abiding Joy, due to open on Oct. 6 at theaters operated by Carmike Cinemas and AMC Theatres. The studio hopes to attract evangelical Christians who have traditionally stayed away from current movie fare, regarding it as offensive and irreligious. Commenting on the studio's plans, the Times observed: "Fox might seem an unlikely studio to pioneer a religious label, given its history as a purveyor of salacious TV programming. Yet people in the Christian community say the company has gained credibility as the voice for conservative America through its Fox News Channel."
That last quote just kills me. Apparently the fact that Rockefeller Republican Murdoch supports Wingnuts is more important to the Religious Right than is the fact that he puts "filth" on Fox TV, FX and on the movie screens. I mean, he's corrupting the children of 'Murica!! Isn't there a verse in the bible about not being able to serve God
and mammon?? Or is that just one of the many "inconvenient" passages that the Wingnuts can just wipe out with a Sharpie? (Y'know like
"the poor will be with you always, so be generous to them.")
Murdoch's adherence to conservatism is strictly on that of their anti-tax, anti-regulation, anti-unions platforms. He couldn't give a shit one about Christianity. But he'll
gladly wrap it up in a package and sell it to the gullible--sorry, I mean the faithful.
If you're a Christian person, or Christian organization, then you're not supposed to have dealings "on the side". Most Christian publishing companies and record companies do Christian authors/artists exclusively and don't even consider signing a secular artist. Some churches consider it a sin to even hold bake sales or car washes to raise money for the church because the money might come from people who are unsaved and therefore it's dirty money. Whatever else you want to say, they've got integrity.
(I am of course, talking about churches that don't subscribe to the Pat Robertson School of Evangelical Economics)
Murdoch and Rove are two peas in a pod. They're unceasingly able to convince people they're doing Holy Work and yet they're just treating their followers like sheep. They are the False Prophets that are mentioned vastly in the Old Testament.
Hmm, wonder if we'll see THAT in a Fox Faith movie?