Film: Same God

The documentary film Same God explores the polarization taking place within the evangelical community over issues of race, Islam, and religious freedom.

In December 2015, the political rhetoric against Muslims was escalating. Dr. Larycia Hawkins, an African- American political science professor at Wheaton College — a prestigious evangelical school outside of Chicago —wanted to show support for Muslim women. She posted a photo of herself in a hijab on Facebook. "I love my Muslim neighbor,” she wrote, “because s/he deserves love by virtue of her/his human dignity...we worship the Same God."

Within days, Wheaton’s Provost suspended Hawkins, eventually moving to terminate her tenure. Were the school’s actions a move to protect its Christian theological purity, as it insisted? Or was it, as some suggested, the result of racism and Islamophobia? Same God, directed by Wheaton alumna Linda Midgett, explores the polarization-taking place within the evangelical community over issues of race, Islam, religious freedom...and Donald Trump.

Midgett will participate in a Q&A with the audience following the screening.

About the filmmaker:
Linda Midgett is a two-time Emmy-award winning writer, producer and documentary filmmaker with more than 25 years of experience. She has been a showrunner for more than 600 hours of TV for networks such as the History Channel, Discovery, A&E, NBC, and PBS. Midgett began her career at CNN International as a writer/producer. She helped create The Weather Channel’s longest-running series, Storm Stories, and showran hits like History Channel’s documentary series Gangland and NBC’s Emmy-award winning reality series Starting Over. Midgett has been commissioned to direct several documentaries. Same God is her first feature-length, independent documentary. She lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with her husband John and two children. (https://samegodfilm.com/filmmakers/)

Oxford is one of the hosts of the 2019-20 Southern Circuit tour of independent films. An initiative of the Atlanta-based arts organization South Arts, Southern Circuit brings the best of independent film to communities across the South. Audiences have seen over 300 films and have engaged filmmakers in post-screening discussions in more than 100 communities across the Southern United States. The tour connects audiences with independent filmmakers.

This is an Oxford Studies event.