IN GOD’S NAME An International Feature Film, VR, Video Game & Media Outreach Project The Persecution of Christians – Real Untold Stories – A Survival Conversation with Hope Magnetic Arts, LLC 214 East Seventeenth Street New York, New York 10003 A local Christian prays in the ruins of a church [email protected] destroyed by ISIS in Syria’s Hasakah. 212-979-1471 Image: Valery Melnikov / Sputnik, from Christianity Today IN GOD’S NAME An International Feature Film, VR, Video Game & Media Outreach Project The Persecution of Christians – Real Untold Stories – A Survival Conversation with Hope Projection Set VR Game With the goal of hope, coexistence and peace - we will film a group of five adults and five teens/20-somethings in a giant 3-D globe that becomes a techno time-machine. We virtually experience scenes of discrimination, ethnic cleansing, forced-migration, torture and genocide. At the same time, we will be filming a set of short VR pieces allowing viewers to also enter these scenes. A companion platform will offer video games where the object is to put down weapons, dialogue for points, and eat together with enemies — fostering empathy and non-violent solutions. 2 IN GOD’S NAME An International Feature Film, VR, Video Game & Media Outreach Project The Persecution of Christians – Real Untold Stories – A Survival Conversation with Hope If they persecuted me, they will And you, of tender years, persecute you… Can’t know the fears that your elders grew by, in fact, the time is coming when And so please help them with your youth, anyone who kills you will think they They seek the truth before they can die. are offering a service to God. Teach your parents well, Their children’s hell will slowly go by, – Jesus Christ, John 15 & 16 And feed them on your dreams The one they pick, the one you’ll know by. Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry, So just look at them and sigh and know they love you. – written by Graham Nash. Performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young The targeting of Christians can never be justified in the name of any religion, creed or conviction. What we are witnessing is the uproot- ing not only of a religious minority, but of an entire civilization. The extermination of women and children for any reason whatsoever – much more so in the supposed name of religious conviction – is the elimination of the future. It must be characterized as nothing less Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence (Christian heroes and martyrs, 1895) than genocide. – Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew 3 IN GOD’S NAME Brief Summary hristianity was birthed in persecution. Yet who could have " Our mission imagined that the persecution of Christians in the twenty-first is century would eclipse that of any other century. Or that our to teach the children of Cgeneration would face mass genocide in the Levant—including Palestine our world how to foster where Christ was born; Antioch where the disciples were first called empathy, Christians; Anatolia where the embryonic Christian church flourished; and understanding and peace. " Damascus where Paul experienced his dramatic conversion. In the December 2018 cover story of Harper’s magazine, “The Vanishing: The Plight of Christians in an Age of Intolerance,” Yale’s Janine di Giovanni rightly noted that “virtually all Christians in the northeast [of Syria] have left, taking with them a rich cultural tradition that dates to the earliest days of the faith.” And that tragically, this vanishing not only in Syria but throughout the Levant—indeed the world—remains squarely in the blind spot of the West. What has remained largely out of sight will be brought to the attention of the world in the international feature film and media outreach projectIn God’s Name—moderated by Dr. Norris J. Chumley and Jonathan Jackson, both Battle Of Inab (also named Ard al-Hatim), "Passage outremer", 14th century, by Jean Colombe and Sebastien Momerot EMMY award-winning filmmakers. 4 IN GOD’S NAME Brief Summary The daily reality for Christians throughout the Holy Land, Middle East and in twenty countries worldwide is vulnerability, repression, intimidation, persecution… and genocide. Not just now, but these almost unknown yet ongoing Christian holocausts have continued for millennia. While Americans enjoy the gifts of freedom and security in the practice of their faith, Christians from Istanbul to Izmir, from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, from Antioch to Aleppo, face humiliation and annihilation. Yet, this story has largely escaped the attention of westerners. Until now. In God’s Name will vividly report and document the moderated by Dr. Norris J. Chumley and Jonathan Jackson, harrowing stories of Christian persecution and genocide both EMMY award-winning filmmakers and presenters. from multiple perspectives engaged in a filmed dialogue In five short sections, In God’s Name will cover the between five adults: an historian, a religious scholar, a history of the persecution and genocide of Christians, theologian/clergy member and one or two people who describe contemporary situations, and end with the have personally experienced persecution– and five young young participant’s ideas of what can be done for future people: ages 12-25. This moderated conversation will be generations. richly illustrated by film footage, historical animations and three-dimensional collages, as if the participants The persecution of Christians can be historically traced and viewers are in the actual locations. The dialogue will from the first century of the Christian era based on be filmed with multiple cameras in 5K high-resolution the biblical account of Jesus’ persecution and ultimate utilizing green-screen technology, and in VR (Virtual crucifixion, to contemporary times. Early Christians were Reality) for a totally immersive media experience. There persecuted for their faith at the hands of both Jews from will be elements of culture, geography and religion whose religion Christianity arose and the Romans who behind each moment of the story: music, art, poetry controlled many of the lands where early Christianity and prose. The film and VR program framework is being spread. Christian missionaries as well as converts to written by Hank Hanegraaf, known to millions of radio Christianity have been the targets of persecution ever since listeners and readers as “The Bible Answer Man,” and the emergence of Christianity, often to the point of being 5 IN GOD’S NAME Brief Summary martyred for their faith. The schisms of the Middle Ages In more recent times, the Christian missionary and especially the Protestant Reformation often provoked organization Open Doors (UK and USA) estimates that severe conflicts between Christian denominations to the approximately 215 million Christians face persecution, point of persecuting one another. In the 20th century, particularly in Middle Eastern countries such as Pakistan Christians have been persecuted by various groups, and Saudi Arabia, at the hands of ISIS and various Muslim including the Islamic Ottoman Empire in the form of the extremists. There is active persecution of Christians in the Armenian Genocide, the Assyrian Genocide and the Greek United States to this day. Christian academics, students, Genocide, as well as atheistic states such as the Soviet social groups, churches and outspoken religious believers Union and North Korea. During World War II members are regularly demeaned, debased and targeted. of some Christian churches were persecuted in Germany for resisting Nazi ideology. For seventeen centuries, The persecution, forced migration, denial of legal status despite the world-wide recognition of the status of His and extermination of Christians across the world is All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as the worse today “than at any time in history,” and Western spiritual leader of all Orthodox Christians, the government governments are failing to stop it, a report from the Aid of Turkey will give no legal standing and status, nor allow to the Church in Need organization states. The treatment property ownership to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the of Christians has worsened substantially in the past two historical Holy Center of Orthodox Christianity at the years compared with the two years prior, and has grown Phanar, in Istanbul, Turkey. more violent than any other period in modern times. “Not only are Christians more persecuted than any other faith group, but ever-increasing numbers are experiencing the very worst forms of persecution,” the report said. The last decade has had more than one-half of all persecutions, some 20 million believers according to Open Doors. The time is NOW to report the realities and to seek answers towards solutions. 6 IN GOD’S NAME Brief Summary Our goal in making this film is simple: teach the historic with an enemy and being empathic of their problems and and current realities of religious persecution of Christians life challenges. to children and youth, so that they can envision and actively create a new future. Learning history and the mistakes from the past provides a context from which to understand themselves and others. Historical critical context learning through real stories empowers young people to form their identity, improves decision making and judgment and provides models of good and responsible citizenship. The last one-quarter of the film will feature the ideas of the young people; their dreams and creative thoughts towards dialogue, understanding and peace. Gustave Doré (1832-1883), Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople We are designing the truth to be told utilizing all media: film, television, audio – and highly interactive websites, In God’s Name will be a highly emotional, experiential podcasts, and an app for iPhones and Androids. We will journey through the past and present of persecution – endeavor to tell the stories of many persecuted people, revealing painful stories and horrific truths that absolutely from multidisciplinary and multicultural perspectives must never happen again.