What Would Jesus' Rider Be?

One of the things I miss about my old job was the office copy of the Boston Globe. My new job has the Wall Street Journal, but that stuff is greek to me. The paper is a weird color. And there are no comic strips or horoscopes or dining reviews. What's the use in that?

So I've taken to checking the front page of the Globe on boston.com. Yesterday, the big story was a faith-based movie company that is considering building a studio in Massachusetts, creating about 1,500 jobs. While the irony of faith-based movies being filmed in the bluest state in the nation (with the possible exception of Vermont) is sweet, the one thing that jumped out at me was this:

Kirkpatrick, a former president of Paramount Pictures and a cofounder of the year-old Good News Holdings, whose mission is to produce "spiritainment" that will "please God," is in search of 100 acres in his native Massachusetts to build a $150 million-plus studio to produce films, television shows, and commercials, both religious and otherwise.

"Spiritainment?" For real? Spiritainment? Now they're taking the language of God and turning it into something that Ari Gold tosses around? "Listen, bitch, we're turning the other cheek and getting you into spiritainment. Those Catholic girls have a lot of money and are led by their pent-up hormones. They're gonna love you. You're totally doing 'The True Life and Loves of Mary Magdalene.' Buy a sweater, you're going to Massachusetts. Hug it out."

And is God pleased by made-for-TV movies about His life and times? I thought that being good and just and helping people is what pleased God, not bitchin' special effects and a rockin' soundtrack. Then again, I am no spiritual scholar by any means so maybe that's somewhere in the New Testament and I missed it.

I don't care if people make religious movies or TV shows. If having a heavy religious influence in your programming is what you like, fine. The Bible has some really good stories that make great movies. I just think it's odd that this culture that celebrates charity and sharing the wealth is out to make its fortune by combining the religious with what is generally considered the godless realm of entertainment and is already inventing its own nomenclature. We've come a long way from Davy and Goliath.