Being of this faith, I have to appreciate the nerves it took the producers, directors, writers and all involved in the making of these films and shows to be so forth coming with their message, if that were the case. I always hear of staying away from making films with messages so pronounced. Rather, Christian film makers have to be subtle with their delivery of the Gospel message in the way that they will not lose their mainstream audience.
I don't think it's so much a question of nerves as it is the shared passions between groups of people who seek to tell a specific message to a specific audience... versus those who desire to reach beyond their own groups with a message that can appeal to a wider variety of "faiths" based on themes that any human (versus any "insert religion here") can identify with... even if those "messages" originated from their particular views.
I think the reason people tend to stay away from making points that are direct is because a lot of people aptly refer to this as "preaching", which betrays a specific agenda and alienates people who do not agree with the sentiment... whereas for example, biblical themes can be taken to the general masses without having to make them so obvious... for example, morals like "Don't kill people" or "Treat everyone as you would like to be treated" are themes that resonate with human beings all over regardless of religion, and make for more universal story-telling... but making a movie where "Jesus wanders the desert teaching people in a Biblical adaptation" would appeal only to the "Jesus-crowd"... therefore you're now preaching to the choir and limiting your audience.... which might not be a bad thing, if your aim as a filmmaker is simply to renact scenes from the Bible with your buddies and entertain/indoctrinate some kids.
I guess it depends on your objective as a filmmaker. If your objective is to tell a story that you believe is important to as many people as possible, it might be better to try and relate to all of humanity rather than a religious niche. If your aim is to make the best movie about Jesus, then you'll most likely have to market that film to a Christian audience, but it can be done. Hey, you could even probably make a few bucks, and it's not like you have to pay royalties to the writers so you might even be able to carve a living out of The Book...
But more to the point, make whatever film you want to make... just be aware of who you're making the film for and how that will affect your distribution. Follow YOUR passions and then make it work.
Personally, I consider preaching (and making points in a non-subtle) way to be more of a bad habit in screenwriting and filmmaking for that matter. It makes the intelligent audience feel stupid, or like they're being told what to do... and with writing and making films that people pay to see, you have to convince all these people that paying money for your movie is worth it... and so when we all make movies that we intend to profit on, I think we should really try to think about the other aspects of movie-making- ie. the "Art" of it all... Films are the best possible means to tell a story (in this day and age) that could influence entire generations, create common cultures and help inform and change the world in positive ways through inspiration and example. Quite literally, films can change the world, and we should all be striving towards that goal and reaching out to people beyond our comprehension and communities... and by sharing our own individual stories, feelings and cultures, we can all find the commonness of mankind which lies beyond particular religions, races and genders.
Using religion as a framework to tell a story could be very effective, but I think you have to be a little more careful playing with the audience when you use it... because people get all sensitive and offended if you bring up religion. I bet you at least a few people will be offended by what I'm saying now, and that's a direct result of insecurity in the world that exists between fearful cultures caused by division. And while those divisions arguably caused the friction that forced mankind to progress to where it is now, it is also the cause of all the strife that exists in the world- war, greed, hatred, racism, genocide, cultural wars. And I firmly believe that film has the power to break down those insecurities by allowing so many people to experience the same story- something that art in any form does- and walking away with different interpretations. When 2 people walk out of "The Matrix" with 2 different opinions on what the symbolism of Neo's character is (eg. Jesus VS A Computer Virus), they engage in debate... and when people learn to talk about a subject and understand other people's point of view, then they bring those skills to their lives.
So with that point, I would rather urge you to make a "human" film with your Christian point of view as the subtle influence behind it, than to make a "Christian" film meant to be enjoyed in Church basements and drill in the point that's already been made in the countless other movies, books, rallies, sermons and action figures on the subject, not to mention The Book itself. Because you don't have to believe in the same things as other people without having a common understanding, yet it's hard to get along with someone who always says "I am right", and religious material tends to do that.
I love films that involve religion/philosophy, but at the same time extend beyond their subject matter to tell an interesting story- The Exorcist, The Ninth Configuration, Indiana Jones (lol), Dogma, Waking Life (though it's not very subtle at all, lol), Battlestar Galactica (tv), 2001: A Space Odyssey (for the philosophical musings within), and hell, I'll even mention Hamlet... most of these have strong Christian themes, and though I'm no man of any cloth (except maybe Jedi Ninja) I enjoy the hell out of them. Even though I'm not a "Christian" per se, I still identify with most of the values of Christianity (minus the groupthink) and thus identify with those movies. So I don't think that Hollywood just rejects Christian themes, but rather that they seek
intelligently designed content that the most amount of people can identify with.
And again I stress, make the movie you WANT to make and figure out how you can make it work. I'm just throwing my views out there (in what, a 700 word essay?) to give you some information to bounce off of. Religion and philosophy is a touchy subject with some people and they don't like to joke around... but I'm not one of those people... hopefully we can all understand that and not nail me to a cross or anything for my terrible puns like the aforementioned..
... I can already feel the burning...
