By Eric George Tauber
CINCINNATI, Ohio — I had mixed feelings about watching the movie Jesus Revolution because I remembered how our Jewish press reacted to Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ back in 2004. Writers who didn’t normally comment on movies had a lot to say about how this movie would surely be bad for the Jews, predicting renewed efforts to convert us. Fortunately, these dire prophecies did not come to pass.
There were things I wanted to say that kept niggling at me, and I would not opine on a film I had not seen. Having seen it, I have broken down this article into four sections. Jesus Revolution: What it is. What they whitewashed. Why they made it. Why it won’t work.
1. What it is
Jesus Revolution is a Christian propaganda film dramatizing the rise of the Jesus People movement, which spawned denominations like Calvary Chapel, Harvest Church, and the Vineyard. I have to say that for its genre, it’s surprisingly good. It’s not overly preachy, the heroes have their tragic flaws, the dialog is believable, and the acting is genuine. Kelsey Grammer, best known as Frasier, plays Pastor Chuck Smith, the founder of Calvary Chapel. Smith initially looks with scorn at the stoned, shoeless hippies on the news and sarcastically remarks that he’d like God to send him a hippie to explain it all to him. Be careful what you pray for. Smith’s daughter, Janette gives him that opportunity when she picks up itinerant hippie preacher, Lonnie Frisbee.
Grammer delivers a performance layered with subtlety. We watch his transformation from a scornful “square” to a compassionate shepherd of his hippie flock. When one of his deacons complains that the dirty bare feet of the hippies are ruining the church’s new shag carpet, Pastor Smith responds in true Christian fashion by washing their feet. Smith realizes that the hippies, though unkempt and often high, are the future. His almost empty church will die without them. Smith clearly knows the risk he’s taking when he says, “Our door is open to those who wish to enter. And if that’s a problem, well, that door works both ways.”
Ally Ioannides also gives a touching performance as the preacher’s daughter, Janette. Ready to give up on her family’s religion, she finds genuine faith in this flock. Likewise, Jonathan Roumie displays real gravitas as Lonnie Frisbee. It’s easy to see why people were drawn to him. But later on, the message gets lost in the theatrics of the messenger.
We also follow the journey of Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney). When a pretty girl invites him to a groovy “happening” featuring Janis Joplin and psychedelic guru Timothy Leary, he walks out of a military academy to join them. After he’s nearly killed by a stoned driver of a VW bus, Laurie goes looking for something better. That’s how Laurie meets Smith and Frisbee. An aspiring cartoonist, Laurie starts drawing the little comic-book style tracts that have become ubiquitous to evangelism.
There’s no question that the Jesus People have had a major impact on religion in America and around the world. Many churches are less reliant on ritual, moving from traditional church buildings to more makeshift spaces. They have switched from pipe organs to folksy rock worship bands and “proper church attire” has gotten a radical makeover. Jesus Revolution dramatizes the genesis of this societal shift.
2. What they whitewashed
There is one aspect of Frisbee’s life this movie does not show. You see, the hippies didn’t cast off just their shoes and shaving razors. They also rebelled against societal taboos against same-sex intimacy. Frisbee was fired by the very churches he founded because he took the whole “love thy neighbor” thing a little too far. Frisbee died in 1993 at the age of 43 and accounts differ as to whether he succumbed to a brain tumor or complications from AIDS. This part of the story is told in the Emmy-nominated documentary, Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher.
3. Why they made it
The 1990s into the early 2000s were the heyday of the Evangelical mega-church, houses of prayer that drew people by the thousands with multiple services, worship bands and rockstar preachers on jumbotrons. This group became so influential that in 2000, they supported George W. Bush for POTUS. He was an ineloquent political brat with a history of substance abuse who found religion in recovery, so he talked their language.
Since then, this demographic has been losing ground. Pew Research polls have shown that American society is getting less religious. Parishes have closed and church buildings have been repurposed as bars, mini-malls and fitness centers. Christianity is unlikely to disappear from American society altogether, but if current trends continue, professing Christians will be a minority by the middle of this century.
Simply put, they made this movie in the hope of getting their old mojo back. After all, some of the movers and shakers like Greg Laurie are still alive. They remember when church attendance was getting grayer and sparser because young people weren’t coming. Then came this great “spiritual revival” with young hippies getting baptized by the hundreds. Their hope is that they can make this history repeat itself.
4. Why it won’t work
It just won’t work this time because they can’t erase the past fifty years. Buzzfeed asked its readers to share why they left the churches they once felt at home in. Responses poured in by the hundreds. Of the accounts I read, no one said they left because church was “too square.” In fact, many of them came from the kind of churches the Jesus People established. Then the sheep gazed with horror and disgust at the hungry wolves their shepherds had become and they felt betrayed by those they once looked to for moral guidance.
Preachers often respond to personal tragedies with vapid platitudes like “God has a plan,” or “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.” Victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault come to their faith leaders for help, only to be told to “turn the other cheek” (Mt. 5:39) because “Love keeps no record of wrongs.” (I Cor 13:5) Victims are shamed into silence while perpetrators are protected because a scandal would hurt their image.
They weep mightily for the aborted unborn, accusing doctors and young women of murder. However, when born children are shredded by assault rifles, they offer nothing but vapid and feckless “thoughts and prayers.”
They softly sing, “Jesus loves me,” then shout “God hates fags” through bullhorns. They give the families of LGBTQ+ people the choice to either shun their own children or be shunned. And if this rejection causes such children to shut down and self-harm, too bad. If your child commits suicide, know that their poor souls will burn forever in Hell.
Many “Christian” preachers canceled the man they pretended to revere, then proclaimed a golden commode their False Messiah. As throngs of refugees came to our border desperate, hungry and exhausted, did these “Christians” follow commandments to help the needy and love the stranger? Not a chance in Hell. They looked at the refugees’ brown skin, called them “invaders” and chanted, “BUILD THE WALL!”
When the entire medical community told us to love our neighbors by wearing masks, preventing the spread of a deadly virus, many “Christians” refused because this minor inconvenience infringed upon their “freedom.” Then, when the Almighty blessed Humanity with an effective vaccine, did they cry “Hallelujah! Our prayers have been answered.”? Hell, no. They spread crazy conspiracy theories online and horse paste on their communion wafers.
Conclusion
Jesus Revolution has one poignant scene where Janette tearfully tells her father that she was ready to give up on Christianity. After a lifetime of sermons, the words just rang hollow. Where was the love? she wondered. Then the hippies came along and she found it. The words ring just as hollow today when preached by those who clearly cherish their own wealth and power while disdaining the values of compassion and humility. This is why people are leaving their churches and they are not looking back. Every sheep has their own reasons for breaking free of the flock and every shepherd has only himself to blame. If another revival is to come, the Holy Spirit is going to need a whole new set of vessels to make it happen. The old ones are far too broken.
*
Eric George Tauber is a freelance writer who specializes in the arts and social Justice based in Cincinnati, Ohio. His work has been published in sdjewishworld.com, sdtheatrereviews.com, themoderatevoice.com, and jewishvoice.com. He can be contacted at ericgeorgetauber@gmail.com.
Is this a movie critic’s review or Audrey Hale’s manifesto?
It is more than a movie review. I used the movie to then segue into a diatribe on the brazen hypocrisy of the Christian Right.
As to your remark about Aiden Hale, where do you see any call for violence? I specifically called them out for their inaction on gun violence. Furthermore, there is no need to walk into a church with guns blazing. Their numbers are dwindling quickly enough as it is.