We previously reported Hollywood’s threats when Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a heartbeat bill, Living Infants Fairness and Equality [LIFE] Act, into law to protect the most vulnerable among us. Leaders in the entertainment industry threatening to leave Georgia overlook an obvious fact: without life, no other liberty exists—including the right to free speech, which Hollywood depends on to make movies . . . and money.
While much has been made of the state’s growth in film production, the $2.7 billion industry represents less than half of one percent of Georgia’s $602 billion economy. Netflix (one of the first producers to threaten to leave if Georgia is successful in protecting unborn babies) represents even less. If Georgia were its own country, it would be the 28th richest in the world. It doesn’t need Netflix economically (or even Disney, WarnerMedia, or NBCUniversal, which are making more muted comments about leaving). Even if Georgia had become financially dependent on Hollywood, at what cost?
Who Truly Stands with Women?
Initially, fifty actors signed a letter threatening to use their power to boycott Georgia. The entertainers used the euphemism “women receiving reproductive healthcare” to describe the act of a mother aborting her child after his or her tiny, beating heart is detected.
Actors, producers, and others have claimed the LIFE Act would be harmful to women while ignoring the stubborn truth—HALF of the children the bill would save are GIRLS.
In addition to arguing for killing very young girls in Georgia and elsewhere, much of the modern film and television industry promotes the false notion of “consequence-free” sexual behavior. It exploits and objectifies women (and men) with frequent (often graphic) depictions of sex outside of the covenant of marriage—all to make a profit. The entertainment industry is partially responsible for fueling demand for abortions in the first place.
Netflix routinely produces material that is pornographic, abuses the name of our Lord, and glorifies and encourages other sins. Their work in Georgia includes more of the same. Now they’ve publicly chosen to fight against the right to life.
We’re not calling for a boycott on Netflix, but their threat to leave may actually be a blessing for the state. As followers of Christ, we long for a day when children are no longer sacrificed on the altar of fear and selfishness and women (and men) aren’t exploited for money.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught two promises and two warnings relevant to the situation in Georgia—one about what we take into our minds and the other about where we place our loyalties.
Jesus proclaimed, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23). He then followed it with, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon [Aramaic: riches, money]” (Matthew 6:24).
With Hollywood pouring much of its profits from Georgia into the misnamed American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to defeat the LIFE Act, we must continue our fight for life and true liberty.
Please pray that Christians in Georgia will winsomely witness to the actors and staff working for Netflix and other entertainment companies in the state. And continue praying for an end to the callous, pervasive murder of unborn children in Georgia and throughout our nation.
