(Hotel Rwanda is scheduled for release in Australia on February 24.)

Hotel Rwanda and The Passion of the Christ by Brian McLaren

Maybe it’s because I spent time last summer in Burundi, the poorer twin sister of Rwanda that shares a similar history, tribal makeup, geography, culture, and terrifying undercurrent of genocide. Maybe it’s because while I was there, I met Anglican priests serving in Rwanda who told personal stories of the tragedies there – and their efforts to bring healing and reconciliation in the aftermath. Maybe it’s because (some readers may be tempted to write me off after reading this sentence) I was so frustrated by last year’s promotional hype surrounding Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ – and I was so frustrated by the movie itself, though I know many found it moving and spiritually edifying. Maybe it’s because I have deep concerns about the alignment of major sectors of Christianity with “red-state Republicanism,” and I worry that a kind of modernist, nationalist neo-fundamentalism is trying to claim all Christian territory as its sovereign domain.

For whatever reason, when I walked out of the 2005 film Hotel Rwanda this thought wouldn’t leave me: If we really had the mind and heart of Christ, this is the movie we would be urging people in our churches to see. In fact, I can’t think of a more worthwhile experience for Christian leaders than to watch Hotel Rwanda and then ask themselves questions like these: Which film would Jesus most want us to see, and why?

Why did so many churches urge people to see Gibson’s film, and why did so few (if any) promote Terry George’s film? What do our answers to that question say about us?

What were the practical outcomes of millions of people seeing Gibson’s film? And what outcomes might occur if equal numbers saw Hotel Rwanda – as an act of Christian faithfulness?

In what sense could Hotel Rwanda actually be titled The Passion of the Christ?

What do we make of the fact that a high percentage of Rwandans who participated in the 1994 genocides were churchgoers?

What do we make of the fact that a high percentage of the Americans who ignored the 1994 genocides (then and now)

were and are churchgoers?

What kind of repentance does each film evoke in Western Christians? Why might the kind of repentance evoked by Hotel Rwanda be especially needed during these important days in history?

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