The following is a statement (slightly modified and edited for my blog) which I made to the San Antonio Express News, which is part of a larger interview about this week’s San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, hosted by Vision Forum Ministries:

“There are many forces at work shaping and influencing 21st century American culture, but there can be little doubt that Hollywood ranks as one of the most significant of these influences.

We recognize that Hollywood is not a monolithic institution. There are actors, technicians, writers, directors and producers of diverse background and philosophy who participate at one level or another in the corporate system known as Hollywood. At the executive level, however, decisions are daily made regarding what kind of films should be made, how they are distributed and what values they should reflect. Two primary factors drive these decisions: (1) The worldview of the Hollywood leadership culture, and (2) the market itself.

Hollywood, like all cultures, tends to perpetuate its own kind and to discriminate against those who embrace a different value system. The Hollywood leadership has a deeply entrenched anti-Christian worldview. This is why one rarely ever sees outspoken Christians rising to prominence as directors, producers, actors or executives. There are extremely rare exceptions, and when one finds such an exception it is usually because the Christianity of the actor/producer/director had nothing to do with his professional career, and little or no influence on the film itself.

When a successful actor is exposed to his peers and his employers as a Christian committed to biblical values, he is usually “outed,” black-balled, or in some other way ousted from the establishment. (Those who would cite Mel Gibson as an exception, must also keep in mind that Mr. Gibson’s recent career has included films which themselves teach an anti-Christian view of sexuality and include elements which are at war with the biblical family, as in his 2000 release glorifying fornication called What Women Want, and his nude seen in Braveheart (1996), to cite two examples.)

The fact is that as an institution Hollywood reflects the most decidedly anti-Christian worldview of any leading culture communicating institution within our society. Its value system is out of step with mainstream America. More importantly to us, it is certainly in conflict with biblical Christianity.

Our concerns with Hollywood transcend genre and category. They point to a systemic disrespect for Christianity and the values Christianity teaches.

While it is true that the more outrageous examples of anti-family, anti-Christian bigotry in Hollywood can sometime be mitigated through the market with negative consumer response to such films, our concerns run deeper.

At times Hollywood’s disrespect is subtle, while at other times it manifests itself as outright antagonism to Jesus Christ and the Christian family. Numerous examples could be given: When films paint Christians as bigots or fools, when they teach children to disrespect parents and parents to view children as a burden, when they present a vision of sexuality inconsistent with the biblical doctrine of fidelity and marriage, when they substitute political revisionist agendas for actual American history, when they fixate on the occult, when they expose our children to violent, mind-numbing sights and sounds which defile the conscience and incite wrong behavior—-when this happens (and it happens all the time), Hollywood is not only at war with the family, but with the God of the Scriptures who historically blessed this nation with strong families, unprecedented political freedom, and the opportunity to make culture beautiful.

Hollywood needs more than incremental improvement. Nor can America survive decades or centuries of defilement in the futile hope that little by little, ever so slightly, Hollywood will incrementally go from wicked to Christ-honoring. Yes, even a broken clock is right twice a day. When this broken clock gets something right, we should always be willing to praise that which is objectively good. But a few good deeds will not save the soul of the Hollywood establishment.

Incremental change does not save individuals. There must be regeneration. A similar principle applies to institutions. Those institutions which are not founded and rooted on the Lord Jesus Christ, must be addressed at the foundational level if we hope to see genuine change. Unless the foundations are in Christ there is absolutely no hope for ultimate success. Yes, Hollywood needs more than incremental change—-it needs a heart transplant. This means (just for a start) that the decision-makers who control the purse strings, who decide what will and will not be produced, need to bow to the King of Kings if anything good is to come out of Hollywood.

Of course, were this unprecedented miracle to happen, Hollywood would cease to be Hollywood. It would be something else altogether.

Our worldview being rooted in Christianity, teaches us to honor God in our attitudes and use of language, to reinforce the historic Christian structure of the family, to encourage children to honor their parents and parents to invest in the lives of their children, to eschew gratuitous violence, and to view sexual intimacy as a beautiful expression of oneness and procreation between husband and wife—-and in all of these things to give honor to Jesus Christ.

We believe America needs more than films which are simply “not offensive.” We are hoping to see films which root and branch encourage the family and honor the Lord. Our goal is neither to “clean-up” Hollywood, nor is it to merely “curse the darkness.”

Our mission is to cultivate an independent film market, distribution systems and training grounds for filmmakers that root and branch are a reflection of the beauty, the hope and encouragement only found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”