When her father, a biblical scholar, mysteriously disappears, a
Christian high-school student named Danielle investigates. She discovers
that he had stumbled across a cover-up of Christianity's best-kept
secret: that Jesus Christ never existed.
Now that she possesses proof of this dangerous fact, Danielle must
confront two strong forces: a band of fundamentalist Christians who will
stop at nothing to suppress the truth, and her own desire for Jesus
Christ to be real.
Diving into factual territory well-explored by scholars but largely
hidden from the view of the public, "The Beast" is an epic story of
innocence lost, faith in crisis and the astonishing power of the truth
to survive.
On the trailer, which is viewable on the film's site, ominous music plays
while these words flash across the screen: "Centuries ago, a legend was
invented
forgery
fraud
coercion
wealth
greed
torture
murder
war
gave it the power to dominate the world." The words are displayed on a
background of a painting of Christ's face.
The producers offer a newsletter for those interested in following the
making of the movie.
Fleming is touted on the film's website as "internationally acclaimed."
States the site: "Flemming's work has been called 'a parallel universe'
by the BBC, 'jaggedly imaginative' by the New York Times, and 'immensely
satisfying' by USA Today. The Fox News Channel dubbed him 'a young Oliver
Stone.' Flemming won the New York Times Claiborne Pell Award for Original
Vision for his groundbreaking feature film 'Nothing So Strange,' which was
released theatrically in 2003 and is currently distributed on DVD in more
than 200 countries."
Supporters of the film have participated in a discussion forum on the
site.
Says one excited poster: "I must say, I highly commend this director for
his immense courage on putting something like this out!! The fact that he
has the courage to put out a movie about the possibility of Christ never
existing after all the controversy surrounding a movie about the LIFE of
Christ (well death really) is just amazing!!
"Mad Kudos (and thanks) to EVERYONE involved in the making of this movie
and good luck in handling all the 'adverse' reactions!!"
Another participant enthused, "I'm so excited! I can't wait until it's
released! This is DEFINITELY the age of Aquarius!!"
Greg Koukl is head of Stand to Reason, a Christian apologetics
organization. He says this kind of story line is not unusual among books and
movies.
"It always turns out that fundamentalist Christians are the bad guys," he
told WorldNetDaily.
"The problem with this is the evidence they draw from is always out on
the fringes of academic scholarship" evidence, he says, that is not even
used by the leaders of the leftist Jesus Seminar.
Koukl noted historians that have no affinity for fundamentalist
Christianity certainly write about Jesus and his impact on history.
"Nobody is trying to explain the indelible mark of Jesus of Nazareth on
history by saying he never existed," he said. "That's way beyond the pale.
No credible historian would make that claim.
It's a bizarre statement from
an academic perspective."
Koukl wonders what motive anyone would have to invent Jesus and then
"fool everybody."
He dismisses "The Beast" promoters' argument that because no
non-Christian accounts of Jesus exist from the time of his life, he must be
a fictional character.
"It may be the case that only Caesar wrote about the Gallic wars," he
explained, "but just because there are no other writing about the Gaelic
wars doesn't mean we can't trust Caesar," mentioning the four Gospels are
themselves four separate accounts of Christ's life.
He mentioned there are a "number of historical references to Christ
outside Christianity, which buttress the fact he did exist."
Ted Baehr, founder and publisher of MovieGuide and chairman of the
Christian Film & Television Commission, predicts "The Beast" will bomb with
American moviegoers.
"Generally, these movies do very poorly at the box office," he told WND.
"'Saved!' which had a lot of publicity, did about $6 million at the box
office.
That's pitiful."
Baehr said bringing the film's contentions into the light of day in the
media works well to expose the agenda of its promoters.
"The way you pull the teeth of a false argument is bring up the argument
first and show that it's frivolous and fallacious," he said. "Of course it's
frivolous. The original apostles wouldn't have gone to their death for Jesus
if they didn't believe he was real."
Baehr said, "There is a small group of teenagers who will see ['The
Beast'] who will be convinced it is the truth.
It will have an impact on a
susceptible few."
One of the film's producers, Amanda Jackson, was contacted for this story
but did not respond by press time.
SOURCE
A movie whose purpose is to prove that Jesus Christ never existed and
that demonizes Christian fundamentalists is scheduled to open on June 6,
2006 that is, 06-06-06, the "666" Biblical mark of the Beast. 