Tag: Documentary

Exodus: Coming Out Atheist in the African American Community

While Exodus is a film still in its funding stage, this promising project hopes to become a feature-length documentary about the growing number of African-Americans leaving religion and the prejudice and social problems they face as part of the most religious demographic in America.

Many people are surprised to learn that there are Black non-believers and while the numbers identifying as atheists are small, only 1 or 2 percent by the lowest estimates, the proportion of African-Americans who are not affiliated with a particular religion is about the same as it is for the general population of the United States, amounting to several million.

For Americans who are only slightly aware of the growing trend of African-Americans leaving religion the question is: who are the Black non-believers and where are they?

This important film will challenge stereotypes, promote dialogue, and provide a true insight into the lives of Black non-believers. Yet Black non-believers remain practically invisible in their communities and may be the most closeted group in America.

Project narrative

The church is a focal point of the African American community but many former adherents are declaring themselves non-believers and leaving the faith of their ancestors. They identify themselves as nonreligious, non-believers, Humanist, agnostic, or atheist but they all disassociate with the religion that is the focal point of their communities.

In this film, African American non-believers will tell us in interviews and conversation what caused them to leave the church, the social and personal problems that resulted, the ways their lives have been changed, and why identification as a non-believer is important to them. Pastors and theologians commenting on this trend provide a counterpoint revealing how the African American church and community are responding to this growing exodus.

The “sizzle reel” for Exodus features Alix Jules, Bridgett Bria Crutchfield and Pastor Lorenzo Neal.

 

Alix Jules

Alix Jules: Jules is a secular activist in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area commonly involved in issues and topics regarding the role of diversity in the atheist community as well as atheism in diverse communities. He’s the chair of the Dallas/Fort Worth Coalition of Reason’s Diversity Council, Organizer for Black Nonbelievers of Dallas, and is a founding member of the largest family-based secular humanist organization in Texas, the Fellowship of Freethought. Jules is a regular co-host on Dogma Debate.

Bridgett Bria Crutchfield

Bridgett Bria Crutchfield: Born and raised in Los Angeles, Bridgett (known as ‘Bria’) was raised, baptized and dis-fellowshipped from Jehovah’s Witness faith. She segued to Pentecostal Christianity and assumed leadership roles as Prophetess, Intercessory Prayer Warrior and Evangelist. After careful consideration, Bria realized she was an Atheist. In 2011, she Founded Minority Atheists of MI, and founded the Detroit affiliate of Black Nonbelievers in 2013.

 

Pastor Lorenzo Neal

Pastor Lorenzo Neal:  Neal is pastor of the New Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Jackson, MS. He is also a licensed pastoral counselor and writes about Black Evangelical Christian issues and socio-political issues.

The Filmmakers

Producer/Director David Person is an accomplished professional journalist and consultant with more than 25 years of experience as a broadcaster, producer, and reporter. David Person has hosted and produced two nationally distributed public radio documentaries: Uncommon Courage: The Viola Liuzzo Story and The Afro: Personal Reflections. In addition, he has done feature reporting for National Public Radio. His most recent documentary project is The Biblical Prophets of the Qu’ran, an examination of the commonalities of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Executive Producer Charles R. “Chuck” Miller  is a secular activist and consultant. He was a founding director of the Secular Coalition for Alabama and served as that organization’s Executive Director. He is American Atheists Regional Director and a Life Member of that organization. His writing has appeared in American Atheist Magazine.

Advisory Board

Dr. Dedrick Blue is Dean of the Department of Religion and Theology of Oakwood University. He also serves as a board member at that institution and was Senior Pastor of the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church in New York, NY.

Mandisa Lateefah Thomas is the co-founder and current President of Black Nonbelievers, Inc. a national social and activist organization founded in 2011.

Mandisa Thomas
How to support the film

Filmmakers are actively seeking financial support to fully examine this trend through a combination of crowdfunding, grant writing, and foundation support.

Follow @ExodusTheDoc on Twitter and retweet to your followers.

Like the Facebook page and share it with others.  https://www.facebook.com/Exodus-the-Documentary-1618252915132943/

Contributions can be made by sending funds via PayPal.me/Exodoc.

Underwriters should contact the producers by email at exodusproducers@gmail.com or DM @ExodusTheDoc on Twitter.

Donors who provide $1,000 or more will receive recognition in the credits and institutions making larger grants will be recognized in the opening credits.

Currently, the North Alabama Freethought Association is acting as fiscal sponsor.

Links to Media

“Exodus” Sizzle Reel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jej6u9QCCOw

“Uncommon Courage: The Viola Liuzzo Story” https://beta.prx.org/stories/3383

“The Afro: Personal Reflections” https://beta.prx.org/stories/8759

Rebranding White Nationalism: Inside the Alt-Right: Atlantic Short Documentary

 

Original short documentaries produced by The Atlantic

Author: Daniel Lombroso

Richard B. Spencer greeted an audience of more than 200 at an alt-right conference in Washington D.C. last month with the cry, “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!” He was met with enthusiastic cheers and Nazi salutes, and The Atlantic’s clip made headlines. This short documentary goes further inside Spencer’s ethnocentric worldview to understand what his plans are for the so-called alt-right—namely, to bring white nationalism out of the shadows. “I don’t see myself as a marginal figure who’s going to be hated by society. I see myself as a mainstream figure,” he said. Spencer and other alt-right leaders see Donald Trump’s rise as the first step towards a whites-only state. “Our lived experience is being a young, white person in 21st century America, [and] seeing your identity be demeaned,” Spencer said. “I’ve lived in this multicultural mess for years and I’m trying to get out of it.”

Beyond Diversity is a project of The Atlantic, supported by the Open Society Foundations.

Losing Our Religion: New Documentary Explores Clergy Who Have Lost Faith

Shot across North America and the UK over two years, Losing Our Religion provides a first look inside The Clergy Project, a safe, anonymous online space for preachers who no longer believe in god. The site has grown from sixty to over six hundred members in just two years. Now, for the first time, a documentary crew has been allowed access to the members of The Clergy Project. Many members find themselves trapped, facing the dilemma of either living a lie, or losing their job, community and even home and family.

Filmmaker Leslea Mair interviewed clergy across North America, including the Deep South, who are still undercover and know they would lose their jobs and their friends should anyone find out. Leslea also talked to former clergy, Clergy Project members who are “out,” who give open and personal explanations of why they became preachers, what happened, the cost of being honest, and why they are still working to help others trapped in the pulpit.


Commissioned by Bruce Cowley, senior director of documentary Channel, Losing Our Religion will have its world broadcast premiere on documentary Channel in the fall of 2017. Public screenings are also scheduled in select locations and the film will be available for purchase in 2018.

Contributors include Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, Dan Barker, and many more.

Daniel Dennett, Philosopher, Author
Richard Dawkins. The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Science and Reason provided funding to create the Clergy Project.
Dan Barker, Freedom from Religion Foundation.

 www.losingourreligion.ca CC

“American Anarchist”: Documentary Gains Relevancy as Anarchism Ideology Builds

 The central idea to the book was that violence is an acceptable means to bring about political change. I no longer agree with this.–William Powell

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In 1970, William Powell wanted to help build a new society, so he taught the world how to blow up the old one. As the heady days of the late 60’s counterculture and political upheaval turned darker, Powell, at age 19, wrote one of the most infamous books ever published: The Anarchist Cookbook.  Part manifesto and part bomb making manual, it went on to sell over 2 million copies. Since then, the Cookbook has been associated with decades of violent anti-government attacks, abortion clinic bombings, school shootings and homegrown domestic terrorism.

At age 65, Powell remained haunted by his own creation, struggling to make sense of the damage it has done. After writing the book, Powell left the US and led an itinerant life.  He traversed the globe teaching kids with special needs – committed, ironically, to the kinds of kids who in some cases have turned to violence and the Cookbook.

American Anarchist is a cautionary tale of youthful rebellion and unforeseen consequences, a universal, all-too-human story of a man at the end of his life wrestling with his past, his identity, and coming to terms with who he really is. Powell died unexpectedly shortly after the making of the film.

 

The book is still available on Amazon and is listed as a bestseller. However, it is not the original book as it was published in 1971. That version may be retrieved for free on Internet Archive.

Original cover of book published in 1971

William Powell authored the following denouncement of the book on the Amazon listing:

I have recently been made aware of several websites that focus on The Anarchist Cookbook. As the author of the original publication some 30 plus years ago, it is appropriate for me to comment.

The Anarchist Cookbook was written during 1968 and part of 1969 soon after I graduated from high school. At the time, I was 19 years old and the Vietnam War and the so-called “counter culture movement” were at their height. I was involved in the anti-war movement and attended numerous peace rallies and demonstrations. The book, in many respects, was a misguided product of my adolescent anger at the prospect of being drafted and sent to Vietnam to fight in a war that I did not believe in.

I conducted the research for the manuscript on my own, primarily at the New York City Public Library. Most of the contents were gleaned from Military and Special Forces Manuals. I was not member of any radical group of either a left or right wing persuasion.

I submitted the manuscript directly to a number of publishers without the help or advice of an agent. Ultimately, it was accepted by Lyle Stuart Inc. and was published verbatim – without editing – in early 1970. Contrary to what is the normal custom, the copyright for the book was taken out in the name of the publisher rather than the author. I did not appreciate the significance of this at the time and would only come to understand it some years later when I requested that the book be taken out of print.

 The central idea to the book was that violence is an acceptable means to bring about political change. I no longer agree with this.

Apparently in recent years, The Anarchist Cookbook has seen a number of ‘copy cat’ type publications, some with remarkably similar titles (Anarchist Cookbook II, III etc). I am not familiar with these publications and cannot comment upon them. I can say that the original Anarchist Cookbook has not been revised or updated in any way by me since it was first published.

During the years that followed its publication, I went to university, married, became a father and a teacher of adolescents. These developments had a profound moral and spiritual effect on me. I found that I no longer agreed with what I had written earlier and I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the ideas that I had put my name to. In 1976 I became a confirmed Anglican Christian and shortly thereafter I wrote to Lyle Stuart Inc. explaining that I no longer held the views that were expressed in the book and requested that The Anarchist Cookbook be taken out of print. The response from the publisher was that the copyright was in his name and therefore such a decision was his to make – not the author’s. In the early 1980’s, the rights for the book were sold to another publisher. I have had no contact with that publisher (other than to request that the book be taken out of print) and I receive no royalties.

Unfortunately, the book continues to be in print and with the advent of the Internet several websites dealing with it have emerged. I want to state categorically that I am not in agreement with the contents of The Anarchist Cookbook and I would be very pleased (and relieved) to see its publication discontinued. I consider it to be a misguided and potentially dangerous publication which should be taken out of print.

William Powell –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

 

New Documentary “EX LIBRIS – The New York Public Library” debuts September, 2017

The official trailer from Zipporah Films, Inc. EX LIBRIS premieres worldwide at the Venice Film Festival and theatrically at Film Forum on September 13, 2017.

Film Forum announces the world theatrical premiere of EX LIBRIS – The New York Public Library on Wednesday, September 13. In this, the 42nd documentary by Frederick Wiseman (recipient of an Honorary Oscar in 2016), the legendary filmmaker brings his incisive vision behind the scenes of one of the world’s greatest institutions of learning, capturing the vast programmatic scope of NYC’s library system.

EX LIBRIS is the 12th of Wiseman’s titles Film Forum has debuted, making him the most-premiered filmmaker in the cinema’s 47-year history. Following its NYC premiere, the documentary will open in numerous markets across the country this fall via Wiseman’s company, Zipporah Films. EX LIBRIS will play in select film festivals.

 

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Visit www.zipporah.com for more infomation on EX LIBRIS and the films of Frederick Wiseman.