There will almost certainly be a room change for this, probably to the ESLC. Check back here, the calendar to the left, or on Facebook for details when we get ‘em.

I thought the film was very fair – I did not notice it being tilted in one direction or the other. Most of the students I spoke with after agreed (and, of those that did not, there was no consensus on which side it favored). I really did not have a sense of whether he was a neo-atheist, an agnostic, or a believer.

I am on the Veritas Press email list, and they had a blurb on the movie. Turns out the director (Darren Doane) is a Christian. Does not sound like he was raised Christian, but converted in his mid-twenties. I paste the whole essay he wrote for Veritas Press below.

His bio also explains something about the editing and the sometimes out of place music video style editing. Doane has made his name as music video director. That explains a lot.

Here is the letter that appears in the Veritas Press (a company that specializes in classical education materials, particularly for home-schoolers):
”
Collision

When I was asked to write a thousand words about my film, Collision, for Veritas I had two reactions. One, I have no idea how many words that actually is, and on the surface that seemed like a novel. Marlin assured me it was around a page and a half. Two, I would be writing to a group of people who take education seriously. Run that down and you probably end up taking grammar seriously. And things like writing a thousand words. And there is the actual fear. I have a public high school education. And it’s about to show as I begin to write this.

I came to Christ about six years after I graduated high school. I was a budding young filmmaker fully steeped in the ways of the world-Hollywood to be specific. That means I was a very bad man. Through God’s grace He grabbed me one day, threw me to the ground and claimed me as His own, and commissioned me to keep making films and talk about Him. (For those of you already assessing my potential run-on sentence, I would appeal to the Pauline epistles for my defense.)

Within the first few months of my Christian life I was given an audio debate between Greg Bahnsen, a Christian apologist, and noted atheist Gordon Stein. I was amazed at what I heard. Greg’s defense of the Christian faith was just music to my ears. I loved it. Some people love football or gardening or Halo3. I just loved hearing people argue. A mentor later in my life would say arguing is a virtue when done with respect and kindness. So back to that audio tape. Over and over I listened to it. It became my new Christian Led Zeppelin. This was my “Stairway to Heaven.” I would imagine what it would have been like to film the debate. How I would have done it. The music, the angles, the back-story. As the years rolled on I began to think about recreating the debate with actors. They do it with those Lincoln/Douglas debate things, why not this?

Fast forward.

About a year and half ago I was having dinner with David Hagopian. I had met David at a memorial dinner for Greg Bahnsen. We were at the same table. David was the moderator for the Bahnsen-Stein debate. So that put him in the rock star category for me. I knew his voice from those tapes, and now I knew his face. Around that time my wife and I began to have children. This led quickly to books on children, marriage, education, church, etc. I ran into Doug Wilson’s books and had my life shattered. But that’s another story. Then education. I knew David Hagopian had experience in this area and was the closest guy I could get some advice from. We met and started talking debates and how boring they are. I had suggested that a pure cross examination debate style would be really what people want. Get to the good stuff. See people defend their positions.

Jump Ahead a Few Months.

David and I keep talking about filming debates. We start talking about Doug Wilson and his online debate with Christopher Hitchens, and before we know it, we are all talking about making a film. Wilson, Hagopian, Gary Demar, Aaron Rench, and Nate Wilson quickly became the players. Aaron Rench had set up the original debate with Doug and Christopher and was continuing to develop a relationship with Hitchens. Aaron lays it out, and Hitchens agrees to spend three days with Wilson, debating, hanging out, eating, and traveling. So the film is ready to be made, and the players are lined up.

So what happened? And why is Veritas Press having me write this? What does this have to do with education? Where do Collision, Latin, and math manipulatives live together? (And why is a thousand words starting to seem really short?) When I began to edit the film, something happened. I found I was being educated. And not just with arguments. I was watching a Christian life. I was seeing a Christian man. I was experiencing interaction with ungodly men who want to see Christianity destroyed and exposed as ancient Stone Age myths. I could see Doug’s reactions, his temperament, his smile, his grace, his picking and choosing, and the outcome of what he did. I was being educated in a way that a book had never done. It was like meat being applied to bones. I did not have a Christian upbringing. A godly man to imitate was hard to find.

The triune Christian life is earthy and dirty. It is action. It moves and gets involved. It engages. And it takes dominion. I have spent more time with Doug Wilson by way of an editing bay and looking at footage of him living the Christian life than I have in person. But what has been captured in the film is Doug Wilson loving anti-theist Christopher Hitchens and looking to win the man, not the argument. And that is something I needed to learn-something I needed to be educated on how to do and what it looks like.

So here we are-back to education. And those involved with Veritas take education seriously. I would hope that this film can be used as a tool in the education of our children for God’s glory. What is the chief end of man? Doug Wilson glorifies God in this film and helps me to enjoy our Lord even more than I did before. Oh yeah, the film also has really cool music, is really enjoyable, and Hitchens gets a run for his money.

Darren Doane
Darren Doaneis a Christian, father, and husband who works as a Hollywood director. His work can be seen at http://www.level4.tv/.
“