And all of her causes are, it’s suggested, rooted in her faith. She’s Reed’s hyper-progressive conscience-throwing herself into all manner of causes ranging from the evils of bottled water to the horrors of poverty in India. Then there’s Penny, Don’s friend/love interest. An Episcopal priest shows Christ-like patience with the wayward Don. The most laudable, lovable characters are also Christians. We might even feel a little convicted.īlue Like Jazz storms into the world of Christian faith and blasts away at it, showing Christians doing some pretty ungodly things. But in Don’s imperfection, I think we might all see echoes of our own stumbling journeys: our insecurities, our hypocrisies, our pain. He isn’t all that likable, quite frankly-not for Christian audiences, anyway. He’s lost and insecure and pompous and shallow and phony-a guy who sheds his faith, in part, to fit in. When a fellow student talks about how his grandfather was killed smuggling a religious icon out of communist Russia-trying to preserve a way of life-Don laconically says, “I think if it weren’t for religion, Grampa Topa might’ve preserved his own life.”īut what of Don’s life? Is there enough deep down faith left to save his? Before long, Don’s religion is buried under booze and cynicism and snark. It’s a land of fake popes who burn books, lesbians who use urinals and bumper stickers that say, “Abstinence makes the church grow fondlers.”Īnd Don’s Christian faith? “You probably want to keep that quiet around here,” advises Lauryn, his new urinal-using lesbian friend. Instead of enrolling at Trinity Baptist, he heads northwest to Portland’s Reed College, a prestigious liberal arts institution and one of the most secular campuses in the country. But when he suspects that his mother is having an affair with his youth pastor, Don switches tracks-almost out of spite. So when his tiny congregation prepares to send him off to a local Baptist college, he gamely straps on the plastic “armor of God” they’ve given him. The question is: Does Don Miller (really) learn all that?ĭon was raised to be a good Southern Baptist. That’s when we truly hear the whispers of truth-the music in creation and eternity-that no one and nothing can make us forget.
When we stand alone and the hard questions come, that’s when we discover who we are (really) and what we believe (really). Adhering to a god we cut from Sunday school construction paper doesn’t salve. Believing out of habit doesn’t cut it anymore. There comes a time when all of us must make our faith our own.
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