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By Peter T. Chattaway
IF THERE is one thing you can say about Abbotsford-based writer and filmmaker
Kevin Miller, it’s that he doesn’t shy away from a controversy.
Two years ago, he co-wrote the origin-of-species documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which provoked a firestorm of debate (especially south of the border) and went
on to become one of the dozen or so top-grossing documentaries of all time.
And now, he has finished work on a new film called With God on Our Side, which looks at the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and different
Christian responses to it.
Those who think they can guess where the film is coming from, based on Miller’s past work, might be in for a surprise, however. Expelled was widely perceived to be coming from the right wing of the North American
culture wars; but With God on Our Side takes a fairly critical look at Christian Zionism and evangelical support for
the modern state of Israel, and thus takes a position that some might associate
with a more liberal point of view.
As with Expelled, though, so here: while some people might want to slap a label on the film,
Miller said it goes deeper than such political distinctions.
“The argument we’re making in the film may be criticizing a point of view which is prevalent
among a lot of conservative evangelicals,” he said, “but it’s not really then eking out a kind of left-wing position in any way, I would
say, unless you want to put Jesus on the left wing.
“I think what we’re just trying to say is, in a sense, a call to faithfulness to the gospel – and the gospel calls us not to choose sides. It calls us to love God and to love
others, and we’re not supposed to figure out whose side God is on, because that’s not really for us to determine.”
Miller got involved with the project when director Porter Speakman Jr., who
lives in Colorado, showed a rough cut to a mutual friend – who suggested that Miller might be able to help them with the script.
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Miller spent several weeks restructuring the material, which includes interviews
with pro-Israel types like John Hagee – as well as Palestinian Christians, who are more critical of Israel’s policies. He also advised the filmmakers as they shot new footage – including an interview with Ron Dart, a professor of philosophy and politics at
University of the Fraser Valley.
A key part of his job, said Miller, was helping the filmmakers determine which
audience they were aiming for. In the end, he said, they aimed for two groups
that comprise the “mushy middle”: people who feel intuitively that to be a Christian is, in some sense, to be a
Zionist; and people who have problems with Christian Zionism, but are not sure
why.
“So this is a movie that really tries to help inform that gut feeling that they
have,” he said.
With God on Our Side premieres at Trinity Western University February 11, and will be followed by a
panel discussion.
February 2010
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