Faith and Film

"The Departed" won Best Picture at last night's Academy Awards. Helen Mirren was named Best Actress for her turn as Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen."

Me, I cared more about the documentaries.

Many of this year's documentary nominees were just dripping with religious themes. "Deliver Us from Evil" burrowed into the psyche of a pedophilic priest. "Jesus Camp" (featuring snippets from our own Rev. Ted Haggard and New Life Church) was a dissection of a charismatic Christian camp where children are trained to be the next generation of God's soldiers.

The winner -- Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" -- is pretty secular by comparison. But then again, thousands of more progressive churches (including a half-dozen in Colorado Springs) screened the film in their sanctuaries.