c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) The horror movie “Constantine” features demons, exorcisms, readings from a Satanic bible, suicide, graphic depictions of hell and a gory scene involving an electric chair.

Many evangelical Christians are eager to see the movie, which opens Friday (Feb. 18).

Pastors, seminary students and youth leaders say “Constantine” will provoke valuable discussions about subjects like heaven and hell; angels and demons; and God and salvation. They cite the film as an example of God using unusual channels to communicate with people.

Also opening Friday is “Because of Winn Dixie,” a family- and faith-friendly movie about a young girl who adopts an orphaned dog. The movie’s official Web site features a Bible study to connect moral themes in the story with passages in Scripture.

Perhaps it’s more obvious than “Constantine,” but Christians who want their entertainment to reflect their morals are excited about “Winn Dixie.”

Neither movie is overtly religious, but they are both cross-overs _ mainstream movies that also appeal to people of faith. After religious filmgoers helped “The Passion of the Christ” reap more than $611 million worldwide, some say the two films may also be harbingers of films to come.

Jonathan Bock, a publicist who markets mainstream movies, including both “Constantine” and “Because of Winn Dixie,” to religious audiences, said the number of films that take faith seriously is increasing.

Many are now in production or being considered for development, he said.

“To me, it’s quite apparent a new trend in mainstream films are stories that resonate with people on a deeper spiritual level than we’ve seen in the past, films that strive to be divinely transcendent,” Bock said.

“Because of Winn Dixie” is based on the award-winning novel of the same name by Kate DiCamillo. In the film, a lonely girl named Opal befriends a dog, and the two breathe new life into a small town.

Wayne Cordeiro, 52, pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship, a church of 11,000 in Oahu, Hawaii, said he’s been heavily promoting “Winn Dixie” in his church services. The congregation will purchase advance tickets for screenings of the movie, he said.

It’s the first movie the church has promoted since “The Passion of the Christ,” he said.

“This one has morals to it, character building, and it’s done creatively,” Cordeiro said. “And when you go away from it you feel awfully good.”

Viewers will likely not leave “Constantine” with the same warm feeling. The movie is the latest and perhaps most extreme example of the evangelical embrace of popular culture. Those who recommend the movie acknowledge the R-rated film’s graphic nature and muddled theology.

In the film, Keanu Reeves plays a man who has the ability to see angels and demons, the latter which he hunts and destroys in an attempt to earn his way into heaven. It’s violent, fast-paced and utterly appealing to the same type of evangelicals who enjoyed discussing the philosophical and religious beliefs that undergirded “The Matrix.”

Bible study guides based on “Constantine” have been prepared at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. and elsewhere to facilitate discussions about the film.

“What I love about the movie is that it takes evil seriously,” said Craig Detweiler, a screenwriter and film professor at Fuller and Biola University in La Mirada.

“It treats the devil as a definable quantity, and yet suggests that God is much more powerful, creative and enduring.”

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For years, Fuller seminary has been highlighting the confluence of faith and film. The seminary founded the Reel Spirituality institute in 1998 to encourage theological reflection on film, and the school’s pop culture classes are some of its most popular.

Fuller graduates Matt Westbrook, 31, and Colin Johnson, 25, wrote the Bible study guide for “Constantine.” Westbrook said the belief that people can perceive God through creation is essential to understanding the intersection of theology and film.

“God is everywhere, He’s all around us,” Westbrook said. “God can speak to us through anything, so films are just one small part of that.”

Ken McCoy, 51, is also designing a Bible study based on “Constantine.” McCoy runs a nonprofit organization in Escondido, Calif. called JumpStart, which offers youth leaders training and curriculum.

McCoy said his Bible study is written to help youth leaders discuss the film with their students. Bible studies based on movies represent a shift in the evangelical attitudes toward popular culture, he said.

“I’d rather not admit it, but there has been a loosening of standards and an absorption of mainstream culture into the Christian culture,” McCoy said.

A generation ago, evangelicals would do more to separate themselves from mainstream culture, he said. But youth leaders now realize that they were kidding themselves back then _ there never really was any separation, he said.

With the Bible study guides, youth leaders can now “arm themselves,” so they can help redeem popular culture by talking about the issues raised in films, McCoy said.

Eric Bryant, college pastor at Mosaic, a church that meets in Pasadena and at a Los Angeles nightclub, said about 20 leaders from his congregation attended advance screenings of “Constantine.” Bryant said he attended the screening so he could talk about the film, but it’s not something he would recommend to others.

He compared the movie to “The Exorcist.”

“It’s not for the faint of heart,” said Bryant, who added that his wife left the theater after the first two minutes.

Not every evangelical who’s thinking about theology and film is openly embracing “Constantine.” John Hamilton, director of the Cinema and Broadcast Arts Dept. at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, Calif., said just because a movie deals with the supernatural does not mean it’s instructive.

Azusa Pacific was asked to publicize “Constantine” like it did “The Passion of the Christ,” Hamilton said.

The school declined.

“Hollywood is trying to jump on the bandwagon to get Christians to come see anything that deals with the supernatural,” he said. “There’s a lot of interest in the spiritual now and the occult and it’s not all good. We have to be careful not to be too star struck with things like this.”

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(Marshall Allen writes about religion for the Pasadena Star-News in Pasadena, Calif.)