Narnia Wars

The next round of debates over "separation of church and cinema," following on last year's The Passion of the Christ, is sure to be over Disney's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, due out December 9.

However, here is a church-state issue that's already cropped up related to the movie (from the Palm Beach (FL) Post, by way of The Corner):

Gov. Jeb Bush is encouraging Florida schoolchildren to read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a parable of the New Testament gospels, for a contest timed with the release of the movie version by a company owned by a prominent Republican donor.

The $150 million film opens Dec. 9, and three sets of winners will get a private screening in Orlando, two nights at a Disney resort, a dinner at Medieval Times and a copy of the C.S. Lewis children's novel signed by Jeb and Columba Bush. . . .

Bush's "Just Read, Florida" campaign worked with Walden [Media, co-producer of the movie with Disney,] earlier this year, when it sponsored a statewide contest centered on Florida novelist Carl Hiaasen's children's book, Hoot. The winner of that contest got a small appearance in Walden's film version of the book, which will not be released until next year.

According to the state's website, the contest is for students to write up to 1,000 words on the question:  "If you had the opportunity to become a character in the story, which character would you be and how would it change the ending of the story?"  Middle schoolers are to do a piece of artwork on the book, and high schoolers to make a short video reenacting a scene.

The inevitable Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State is on the issue:

"This whole contest is just totally inappropriate because of the themes of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," said Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. "It is simply a retelling of the story of Christ."

OUR OWN NARNIA CONTEST:  Meanwhile, Time reports reports that "whether four sentences from the C.S. Lewis book make it onto the big screen" will indicate whether LWW "is a Christian film" and may determine its financial success, if the statistics on The Passion are any precedent.  Readers, without going to the Time story, can you guess the four lines?  (Or is Narnia a Protestant and not a Catholic thing?)  First prize to the winner:  If you're ever in Minneapolis, I'll buy you a bag of popcorn at the Mall of America.

Tom