Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 06/09/25

Don’t give up on America. That’s the message of American Miracle, the big-screen docudrama beginning a limited three-day run in theaters starting now and concluding Wednesday (June 11). Based on the bestselling book by bestselling author and broadcaster Michael Medved, the film makes a compelling case that a series of events so strange you might even deem them miraculous suggests that God believes in the promise of America – and has since its earliest days.

So, in a time when it can seem as if our nation is on the brink of a second civil war, maybe today’s Americans should consider doing the same. In our conversation for Religion & Liberty Online (read the whole interview here), I asked Michael what he hopes people get out of the film. He replied “I hope that they take that our reaction to America should not be looking at our past and feeling guilt but feeling gratitude and, basically, recognizing how fortunate we are.”

Hear! Hear! The stoking of guilt, fear, anger and self-righteousness among Americans is an unfortunate byproduct of the Social Media Age that encourages each individual’s most negative tendencies. Meanwhile, the eternal virtue of gratitude for what we have been given to us by God is hardly nurtured at all. Our forebears certainly weren’t perfect. Some did some very bad things, others did some extraordinarily good and great things. Most others just did the best they could. In the end though, good has largely overcome evil in the United States and the world we live in today is much better on several levels than what they were born into. We should be grateful for all demons they overcame. In balance, we come from heroes.

Grateful to be an American. In related news, MCA Records/Universal Music Group just honored singer-songwriter Lee Greenwood with a plaque celebrating two-million sales of his iconic single God Bless The U.S.A. Am I proud to be an American? Though I had nothing to with it, yes. Mostly however, I feel thankful.
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Film Notes

The film company Neon has released a new trailer for The Life of Chuck. Though based a novella by horror tale royalty Stephen King and due in theaters this coming Friday the 13th, the genre-bending film starring Tom Hiddeleston and Mark Hamill is not a horror movie. In fact, the movie, which won the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival People’s Choice Award, is being hailed as a life-affirming masterpiece. Don’t forget. King is more than Carrie and Cujo. He’s also given us The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me. So, if you appreciated those films, this may very well be worth checking out.

Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company have wrapped production on I Can Only Imagine 2. The highly anticipated follow-up to the hit 2018 film stars John Michael Finley (of the original movie), Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us), Trace Adkins (The Lincoln Lawyer) and Dennis Quaid (The Rookie). The producers have posted a behind-the-scenes video that you can watch here. I Can Only Imagine 2 will be released in theaters nationwide on February 20, 2026.