Sam Childers arriving to the Book Signing Event of his book “Another Man’s War,” Beverly Hills, CA on May 5, 2009 - Photo by Glenn Francis of www.PacificProDigital.com Source: Wikimedia Commons

Hollywood action superstar Gerard Butler, whose recent high-octane roles include King Leonidas in “300” (2006) and Clyde Shelton in “Law Abiding Citizen” (2009), will soon be playing the role of real-life AK-47-toting Pastor Sam Childers in 2012’s “Machine Gun Preacher,” according to the Internet Movie Database.

A former bike gang member and drug dealer, Childers underwent a massive spiritual transformation in 1992, during a revival at an Assembly of God church and his pastor prophesied that Sam would one day travel to Africa.  Read more... (566 words, 3 images, estimated 2:16 mins reading time)

Dean Hamer and Joseph Wilson's wedding announcement, published in the Oil City Derrick newspaper. Photo access: "Out of the Silence" Press Kit

A 57-minute documentary which recently premiered at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York is taking a look at one small Pennsylvania town’s views on homosexuality, according to the film’s official web site.

Based on the true events surrounding the film’s Producer and Writer Joe Wilson and Director of Photography Dean Hamer, Out in the Silence dives into the rural life of Oil City, Pennsylvania, where “filmmaker Joe Wilson’s wedding to another man ignites a firestorm of controversy and a quest for change,” according to the movie’s official synopsis.  Read more... (614 words, 2 images, estimated 2:27 mins reading time)

Official theatrical poster for the film. Copyright: Downes Brothers Entertainment and Lucky Crow Films

This September, New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury, one of America’s leading Christian and inspirational fiction writers, will see the release of the first feature film based on one of her bestselling novels: “Like Dandelion Dust.”

Finished in 2009, the movie has already made rounds in several national and international film festivals, garnering over 30 awards, including the Audience Choice Award at the recent Stony Brook Film Festival. However, the film will release nationwide on September 24, 2010.  Read more... (421 words, 2 images, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Animated depiction of Jesus in Comedy Central's "South Park." Photo copyright: Comedy Central & Braniff Productions.

A new animated series currently under development for Comedy Central’s 2010-2011 production slate will feature the adventures of a cartoon Jesus Christ as he tries to escape the shadow of his “powerful but apathetic father,” according to “The Washington Post.”

After stirring controversy earlier this year with their depiction of the prophet Muhammad, Comedy Central writers are describing “JC” as, “a playful take on religion and society with a sprinkle of dumb.”  Read more... (410 words, 2 images, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Move over YouTube. Step aside Break.com. GodTube, the world’s largest and most popular Christian video-sharing and social networking platform on the Web, has risen from the ashes and is back with a whole new look.

After the site’s original launch back in 2007, over 2.7 million users have flocked to GodTube every month to upload, share and watch the latest in Christian music, sermon and inspirational videos from around the world.

And now, after the successful launch of Tangle.com in 2009 (formerly GodTube), the site has returned under its original moniker, much to the approval of millions of users and fans, at www.godtube.com. Users may now visit Tangle, separate from GodTube, at www.tangle.com.  Read more... (475 words, 2 images, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Human trafficking claims 100,000 girls annually in the U.S. alone. Photo credit: iStockphoto.

Human trafficking: it’s not a fictional plot device created by talented scriptwriters for Hollywood action flicks like Taken and TV dramas like 24.

It is a real, modern-day form of slavery in which individuals (women and young girls in particular) are taken hostage and forced and coerced into performing sexual acts for commercial profit, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

And it’s something more and more filmmakers are addressing.  Read more... (415 words, 2 images, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Charisa Coulter, left, and Laura Silsby are two of 10 missionaries accused of trying to take children after the Haiti earthquake. Photo Source: Getty Images

On Monday, the Haitian judge involved in the case of the 10 American Baptist missionaries who attempted to transport orphaned children out of the country declared that all charges still stand, according to several international news reports.

Although rumors had been circulating that the volunteers would soon be exonerated, Judge Bernard Saint-Vil denied ever suggesting he would drop charges against the group.  Read more... (302 words, 2 images, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)

The National Day of Prayer has been recognized and observed by every U.S. President since 1775.

The American Humanist Association (AHA) is at it again. The group recently embarked on a mission to replace the word “God” in the national motto “In God We Trust” with “Good” (see The Underground’s article Humanist Group Unveils “In Good We Trust” Billboards). Now they have set their sights on the National Day of Prayer, arguing instead for a “National Day of Reason,” according to CNS News.  Read more... (601 words, 2 images, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)

Billboards like these are popping up all over the U.S., representing the campaign of the American Humanist Association.

The American Humanist Association (AHA) has unveiled a new series of billboards that replace the word “God” in the national motto, inscribed on the surface of a U.S. quarter, with the word “Good,” according to their official web site. The revised phrase now reads “In Good We Trust.” The first billboards, which also feature the AHA’s official web address, went up last week in Moscow, Idaho.  Read more... (627 words, 2 images, estimated 2:30 mins reading time)