Angel Studios is facing backlash over its upcoming Animal Farm Adaptation. Today we're going to talk about casting directions and Angel's roles as a distributor. It has sparked confusion and concern among Christian readers. All this and more coming up right now on the TV Today Show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr.
Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Welcome to another great episode of Clearview today. Got a great conversation.
Something that a lot of people online are talking about right now. A lot of things that Christian media is kind of up in arms about and concerned. But before we get into that, I want to introduce our host for today, Dr. Abadan Shah. If you've never listened to the show before, today's your first time.
First and foremost, welcome to the show. Dr. Shah's PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. Dr. Shah, welcome.
Good to be here. Amen. Amen. Good to see you. You know, in Christian media and in broadcasting and just in, I guess, in content creation as a whole, usually we'd call it entertainment or we call it just broadcasting, but really it's just media, right?
You got to be careful, especially with Christian media, who you align yourself with, what kind of message you put out there, because the lines between Christian media and secular media are starting to blur. Yeah. And it's a really, really weird thing. And we want to talk about this today. Dr.
Shah, let's start from the very, very, very beginning. Have you ever heard? I have a little man named George Orwell. Yes.
So, joking aside, did you guys read Orwell in school, or was that something that once you came to America? Once I came to America is when I was exposed to. Um, Animal Farm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Animal Farm was one of those books that, like, you read it when you're like 15, 16, and then suddenly you think you're deep.
Like, you think you're a philosopher. It's like, wait a minute. Can I make an on-air confession? Yeah, go ahead. I've never read Animal Farm.
Never read Animal Farm? Never did. Oh, my goodness.
Okay. It was never an assigned reading for us in school. Do you have any clue what it is? No idea.
Okay. It's a novel that's basically like communism equals bad.
Okay. That's kind of the concept I had in my head. Yeah, yeah. It's told on a farm. It's told like on this farm where all the animals are.
Um, are like characters, and they decide, hey, the humans, the farmers, they're overlords. Let's get them up out of here. And they do, they run the humans off. And then slowly over the course of the novel, the pigs take on the role of the humans.
So it's like, hey, Power is bad, communism is bad, don't trust communists. That's animal form.
So Andy Circus. Who was Gollum in The Lord of the Rings? Decided that this is gonna be a fun, animated, like family-friendly movie. And it basically looks like an illumination like Minions Despicable Me Project. They made Animal Farm into...
A kids movie. An animated movie. Yeah. Yeah, it's probably not for kids, but it's an animated movie. And so Seth Rogan is in it.
Glenn Close is in it. Woody Harrelson is in it. Jim Parsons is in it from Big Bang Theory. And then Laverne Cox is in it.
Now... If you don't know who Laverne Cox is, it was the transgender actor From Orange is the new black. Back in 2014. I have no idea.
So back in 2014. Orange is the New Black was about a show who went to or about a woman who went to prison, and then there's a transgender character on the show who presents as a woman but is really a man, but she's in a woman's prison, because that's the message that that we want to get out to the young people in the field.
So Laverne Cox basically became this transgender icon. Like she's one of the f she, he is one of the f I don't even know I I suppose it's a man presenting as a woman. Right. But they are one of the first like transgender icons. And so all this to say, Angel Studios.
Who Distributes the chosen.
So yeah. Is distributing this movie. That was my question. Yes.
First of all, Animal Farm does not feel like a movie that should be coming from Angel Studios. Right. And again, this is coming from somebody who's never read Animal Farm, so perhaps that's true, and I don't know that. But just at first glance, that does not feel like subject material that should be kicked out by Angel Studios. I've read Animal Farm a few times, it has zero to do with Christianity.
Right. Zero. It's not a bad book. And I mean, it's, yeah. It's kind of like 1984.
Yes, exactly. Same idea. Exactly. Different, but yeah, same. Same author.
Yeah, same author. Same author. And pretty much the same idea. Communism bad. Western civilization good.
Right. Total authoritarianism. Democratic socialism is not good for society. Correct. Those kind of things.
Yeah. But it's a weird move because Angel Studios is distributed. They're not making it. It's produced independently, but they're distributing it. It has nothing to do with Christianity.
Um and A lot of people are concerned because it has a transgender cast member. Also, Jim Parsons is openly gay. And there are several others of those names who have been, at least in the past, have been antagonistic about Christianity. Yes.
And so Angel Studios is saying, yes, absolutely. If you pay us a ton of money, we'll distribute this movie worldwide. And that's exactly what they're doing. And so all of that to say, a lot of people in the Christian community are unhappy about it. And Dr.
Shah, I wanted to get your take on this as Christian broadcasters ourselves. We have a responsibility to the people that we minister to. Absolutely. You know, that's where the problem comes in. It's when you begin to work with people who have don't have the same convictions, that's when compromise begins.
That's where you have to say, Yeah, I heard about that.
Well, it's I guess it'll be all right. Let's move forward. There was another movie that came out back in the 2000s. End of the spear. Where there was one of the actors who played, I think he played Nate Saint, if I'm not wrong, I may be wrong, but he was homosexual.
And I don't know if it was the same situation where. It was known that this person was gay and he was playing the part of a. evangelical Christian missionary who was martyred. We don't know for sure what what if they knew or not. It seemed like they knew.
But they sort of found out A little further into the project. I don't know. I'm reading the article now, and it looks like that's exactly what happened. Yeah. Yeah.
And so when that happened, you know, it was. it was heartbreaking for me because I was like, oh, Because it was a great movie. It was a great movie. But then you have this part of it where you go, well, does it matter? Does it matter?
You know, people would say that. It doesn't matter as long as the person is acting. It doesn't matter.
Well, It doesn't matter because we want to endorse a movie like that wholeheartedly to youth groups. Right. Now, I know there's violence, so we got to be careful how we say that, but we want to be able to endorse that. And play it in places. But then if people watch it and go, Oh, that actor, I think somebody said his name was Chad Allen.
Oh, yeah, that he's also in this. I want to watch that movie. Oh, wow. That's That's terrible. What is this?
Why would.
Somebody who made end of the spear would also support You know, an actor who has a very gay lifestyle. How is that possible? And so now, all of a sudden, instead of having a clear message, Instead of having An encouraging or a challenging message to our young people.
Now we are sending them mixed messages. Yeah, because now you always have to have this asterisk of, yeah, it was a good movie, but I don't approve of that. But overall, it was kind of okay. Whereas before, you could have just said, Yeah, it's a great movie, and we wholeheartedly support it. Yeah, every youth group should play it again with some.
Being careful because of the violence or whatever, but overall, we would recommend that. I don't know if I can do that. That's why I never showed it in our church. That's where you run into some difficulty with the actor's catalog of works because you're then tied to that person as an actor and the other projects that they've been involved in.
Now, God can change people's hearts, and there are actors who have been in secular Hollywood and now are exclusively Christian media. There's many different examples of that. But you know, by and large, people who kind of dabble in both worlds, you've got to, you have to put that qualifier on there. And it's uncomfortable as Christian leaders and Christian parents, even to say, I don't know if I can fully support this.
Well, it's not just Christian parents. I was, or it's not just Christian parents. I was very surprised by the. Uh backlash to light year. Lightyear had a scene uh Lightyear had a scene where it was the movie based on like that the Space hero that Buzz Lightyear, the toy, is based on.
But it had a scene where I think it was two women, or it might have been two. It was like two women, they just kissed each other goodnight. And there was. Torrential backlash over that, even from people who I thought weren't even Christians. And I think that's what people are.
Trying to communicate is we don't, whether we're for it or against it, we don't want this in our children's movies. Right. Right. Yeah. Because it's an agenda, it's a and it does not need to be.
Uh broad. to children. Just just leave kids out of it. You know, that's what I would say. Just leave kids out of it.
Let's focus on Entertainment, let's focus on a good time instead of now you're trying to program the minds and the hearts of children. Just Stop. Yeah. Stop. And I think one thing, maybe if you want to talk about this as well, is that, you know.
Hollywood Studios, their only interest is to make money. And if, and if pushing that LGBTQ agenda is going to make the money, then they'll do it. No problem. They won't lose any sleep over that. Can we apply that to Angel Studios, though?
That's what I'm saying. And I guess that's what the episode is today. That is the question. Does Angel Studios fall in the, hey, we are a Christian company? Or, hey, we're going to make money.
Because everybody's money spends for the sake of the gospel. Everything they've put out before this has been Christian media. And I think maybe that's something that we can talk about: the responsibility that Christian broadcasters and Christian media. The responsibility they hold and they take when they talk to people.
So, you know, that's one of the things that. people who are in a in a secular limelight, they need to really consider if you're going to be out there and you claim the name of Christ, just know that you will be asked to endorse or work with or support Causes that are completely contrary to the word of God.
Now, what are you going to do?
So if you take um Proclaim the name of Christ, then you have to take the narrow road and you have to decide beforehand what is acceptable or not. Right. And those are your limits. Like we kind of established at the beginning of the show what our limits are, what we would do, what we wouldn't do. And maybe there's place for compromise here and there, but not on something that, like you said, contradicts the word of God.
Right. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely.
You know, you think about other writers like C.S. Lewis. J. R. R.
Tolkien, who were Uh very You know, overtly Christian. I mean, people knew they were believers. But then they wrote books, whether it is. Uh Lord of the Rings. Mm-hmm.
or Land the Witch in the Wardrobe, where they are Talking about witches, and they are including them in their compositions. And Yeah, I mean, the secular world celebrates that.
So they were able to find a way to connect. Connect with the audience, connect with people and say, Hey, I'm going to use The very elements that you Exalt or you enjoy, but I'm going to put it this way. I don't think that's what's happening here with Angel Studios. No. This is a lifestyle issue.
This is an agenda that is. Um You know, purposely trying to get to children when they're young to kind of. brainwash them into thinking Uh Homosexuality or transgenderism and all these other things are okay. This is the MO, though, Dr. Shah.
You shared this before that for people with the agenda of homosexuality, transgenderism, that LGBTQ movement, the agenda is to. Prey on children is to capture the minds of children to then raise them up in believing that this is normal and good. Yeah, you want to get to them before they're young, before they have a chance to be raised in the right way. Right, of course. Because those are the formative years.
That is the problem there, how I see it. Uh so yes, Land the Witch and the Wardrobe was also geared towards children in a way, but the storyline is very different. Yeah, well, you've got then you've got these these uh in independent filmmakers, you've got these Hollywood studios who are seeing, hey, this is a Christian company who uh or Christian distributor distributor who's had a lot of financial success. And I bet you if if we throw enough dollar signs at them, We will distribute our movie for them. They will do that.
Sure enough, they were right. You know, similar thing also happens with musicians, singers. A lot of times, Christians, you know, there was a time when we had a problem with a certain female singer. If I mentioned the name, you would know right away. She's Very good.
She came out as a Christian singer, and the Christian world just like we're so happy to have her and just praised her, all of that. Then all of a sudden, she comes up with a very secular song. Not a bad song, great song. But it was all of a sudden she's very s She's a secular star, and it really hurt a lot of people. It's like, wait, so you used us to get popular.
And now You are selling a secular music and you are You don't even mention Christianity out in your comments. There are Christian rappers who do the same thing. Yeah, so Christians. Helped Popularize her, but then she abandoned the Christians. And went into the secular world, became a famous, I mean, a famous, famous singer.
And uh and then she had some Moral issues that happened there. You know, some crazy things happened. I think she lost her marriage, or she, I mean, she actively worked towards that. And then at the end of the day. She's a secular star, but then she still tries to dabble in Christian music.
And then Christians, of course, you know. Yeah, yeah, they're not playing that. Yeah, well, some actually were like, oh, I missed her. Welcome back. Welcome back.
I knew she was our girl. Yeah, you know, got a story for everybody. Christmas music album. I love your Christmas music. Forget about all that.
You know, everything is in the past. Let's listen to your Christmas music. Wow.
So.
So it's kinda like, oh, okay, all right. I guess. Welcome back. One of the things you talked about, Dr. Shah, is the goal of finishing well in your life, at the end of your life.
to rest, to put your ministry to bed scandal-free. Uh, controversy-free, you know what I mean? This idea that throughout my ministry I may have made mistakes, but I didn't compromise, I didn't. Go the way of, I didn't go the easy way for popularity or for money. And I think that that's a value that's missing, especially in media and entertainment today.
And unfortunately, even in Christian entertainment, in Christian. Yeah. We don't see that. We don't see this idea of finishing well. Yeah, I think people are just more concerned about the immediate.
They're more concerned about the right now. And no one's concerned about the long term. What kind of legacy am I leaving? What kind of impact am I going to have? How will my children remember me?
How will the world remember me? Yeah. Versus like, what can I do to be the most successful right now? Right, right. And then in 20 years, if no one remembers me, hopefully I'll be doing some podcast in some dude's basement.
You know, I don't know if that, if that's, I mean, I'm not. making fun of them because it's actually kind of sad, but it's really, really funny to see all these celebrities who were so huge 10 years ago just well, just have a podcast or just being guests on other people's podcasts. Like, golly, you were on top of the world and now you're like going around doing podcasts in these little studios and people's basements and stuff.
Well, you know, there's a passage on discipleship that I want to read for us because I think it's something that we all struggle with because it's not just Angel Studios or this famous musician or end of the spear. It also happens to us because. Yeah. In church In between those four walls on Sunday morning, man, we are on fire for Jesus. We are full of convictions.
But when we get to work, When we get around the water cooler or when we get into the break room or when we are hanging out in the neighborhood, We don't have the same convictions. where we become very soft and compromising. And And um Yeah. We don't want to make any enemies.
So I want to read for us from Luke chapter nine, verse fifty seven. It says Now it happened as they journeyed on the road that some one said to them, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. means if you're gonna go and follow me, just know Life will be uncomfortable. This is not A life where since you follow me, I'm going to take care of all your needs and you'll never have any problems.
No, life may get uncomfortable. Right. Then he said to another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. As a m you've heard in preaching before and In Bible studies, it does not mean that his dad was lying there in state.
He was not just. You know, ha s lying in a coffin waiting to be put into the ground, it simply means that his parents were aged and he was saying, Let me first. Take care of them in these final years of their lives. And when they die, then I will be free to now follow you. But what did Jesus say to him?
Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God. Wow.
Don't sit there and wait. Until your parents or whoever Feel like, man, okay, now you paid your dues.
Now you may go follow this Jesus.
So, what does that mean? It means sometimes when you follow Christ, you may disappoint people. That's a difficult pill to swallow, especially for people who like everyone to like them. Who want to be on everyone's good side, the people pleasers, the one who wants to be good with everybody and be accepted.
Sometimes people are just simply not going to like you. Right. They are disappointed in you. Because of this life that you've chosen. Yeah, because you're choosing to follow Christ, because you're choosing to make him first in your life.
I mean, this is a lesson not just for angel studios or for Christian musicians who step into the secular world and leave. No, this is for us. Mm-hmm. Us as well. Same principle applies.
And then we come to the third.
so-called disciple, And he comes in verse 62, but Jesus said to him, I'm sorry. Verse 61. Another also said, Lord, I will follow you, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house. But Jesus said to him, No one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Right.
Looking back means you're ready to work for me, but you're looking back. Not only did the studio look back, To the prophets.
Well, we do the same thing. We look back and say, oh. I don't want to lose that friend. Oh, I don't want to make that boss angry. Oh, he's my neighbor.
Oh, he's my family member. I just don't want to burn any bridges. And I understand that. I would never say, go out there and just purposely pick fights with people or purposely goad them. on political or religious or moral issues.
But don't back down. Right. That's right. Would you say that there are some bridges that are? acceptable to burn.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. One of the things I learned from you and from Nicole as well is when you started this church, this like there is no plan B. You know what I'm saying?
This is my life. If I'm truly choosing this life, if God has brought me 3,000 miles from my home with an entire ocean between everything I know. And I'm marrying this woman, and she's leaving her home in Georgia to come to North Carolina. Then there is no, like, hey, if this doesn't work out, we'll move back to India, we'll go back to Georgia. This is our life, and we're going to make this work no matter what.
And I think I saw that in you guys, and it has inspired myself and my wife to do the same thing and say, there is no plan B. This is what we're going to do, and we're going to devote our lives to this. Right. And I think that's very well put because that's that's the application when it comes to us as individuals, that we're also uh to uh because I'm I think about my own dad. He came from a Muslim home, affluent home, successful home.
Loving home. I mean, everything was there for him. But then when he found Christ, he gave all that up. And I often think about that: man. to know that You don't have to worry about money any more.
To know that you have people, I mean, tons of people backing you up. To know that your life is set, you are going to have all the pleasures of life. I mean What will you do? I mean, if you really think about that, what will You do. If you Could have all these things Will you really even consider following Christ?
Will you even Consider the Stepping out of your traditions, your family support. your settled future and say, Okay. I'm going to leave all that. and go after someone I've never seen in real life.
Someone that I've read about in a book called The Bible.
someone that promises, forgiveness of sins. and reconciliation with God. and vision and purpose and life and eternity. Forever. He's promised that.
I'm going to take him at his word. When did he live? Oh, two thousand years ago. Will you do that? I mean, if we're really honest, many of us would probably not.
Yeah. No. That's true. Your dad's story always reminds me of the passage that talks about, you know, and I'm not saying the exact words here, but what good is it if a man gains the whole world but loses his soul? Yeah.
Because he had everything. He had every opportunity laid out for him. His future was secure. He didn't have to want or need for anything. I mean, he had a huge safety net, every surety.
And he left. He left because Jesus was more valuable. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
And I think about like the people who are listening to this, like in the context of like Angel Studio, like you, you may never get to it. You might not have the same like drive and ambition as we have or people at Angel Studios have where it's like, I want to do this through the lens of a movie or a radio show or a podcast or YouTube or whatever. You may not have the drive to create content for Christians, but your life is doing the same thing. I mean, if you're a Christian, you should have at least the desire to bring the gospel to other people. You know, we're choosing to do it through this medium, and we do that through Truth Network.
We do that through Pray, through TBN, through whatever platform we can utilize. But even if You don't have the desire to create digital content for people. That doesn't mean that this conversation isn't for you.
Well, the disciples that we just talked about from Luke chapter 9, the ones who Jesus was calling, or the ones who came to Jesus and said, I want to follow you. They weren't making a movie. They weren't establishing a podcast. They weren't writing a book. They were just saying, Hey, I want to follow you, Jesus.
And then Jesus lays out, Here's the cost. Are you prepared to pay it? And they were not. Compromise. willing to pass up on Christ so that you can have success.
So you can have Family, so you can have friendships. in this life. You know, it's not just For a studio, a million, billion-dollar studio, it also is in our personal lives. What are you willing to compromise?
so that you can maintain Your life. I may try to find a way from Christ. Yeah, amen. I may try to find it and put it in the link of this show. But there was a great episode we did based on a Bible study that you gave.
With Stu, with Stu Epperson one time, I think it was when you wrote for him about the good that Jesus calls you to surrender. You know, when you come to Christ, we often think, okay, I've got to give up my vices, I've got to give up. My swearing and my drinking and my smoking and all that fun stuff. But a lot of times, Jesus calls you to give up the good stuff too, those friendships that aren't aligning with him, or the relationships with family, or relationships with friends. A lot of that stuff can be compromised.
Yeah, absolutely. Or can come to compromise your relationship with Christ. I might try to link that episode. I think it'll really help people. Absolutely.
We're still in the first few days of 2026. I mean, we're still kind of in the still beginning rumblings of the year. And maybe somebody who's listening to this is thinking, you know, I made a resolution this year that 2026 was going to be different. I was going to be more serious about my relationship with God. I was going to follow Him more as a more dedicated believer.
What encouragement would you give them? When you choose to follow Christ instead of the world, Just know that you are standing in line with many, many great men and women of scripture. Men and women of the world who followed God, who followed the living true God. I mean, I think about someone like Abraham. Abraham and Sarah left their.
comfortable home. In Ur of the Chaldeans, or maybe they were up in Heron. Either way, both places they had to finally leave. comfortable lives. But they're left to follow Wherever God was leading them to a land that I will show you.
Means they didn't know. But when they would come. And they they followed, they obeyed. Think about Moses. The book of Hebrews talks about Moses being The Prince of Egypt.
He was a next in line to be a pharaoh. Think about it: a Hebrew slave child, next in line to be. The Pharaoh of Egypt And the Bible talks about He gave up the passing pleasures of sin. And because the reward was that he would see Christ. And he walked away from that.
uh you go down the list to someone like Paul. Paul was working so hard to to be a the next next great Jewish leader of his times. The next great theologian. A student of Gamaliel. I mean, he was He was he had a set Um uh um You know A resume.
And he even lists that resume several times in his letter. He said, I was this, I was this, I was this. Why does he do that? To let us know that hey I walked away from all that because I have found the reproach of Christ far greater Treasure than anything else. Amen.
Just know, and of course, there are so many other examples of men and women of God throughout the ages who left everything and followed because they found him. and so don't be afraid. Of um walking away from from the world and what it offers you. Because what God offers through Christ is so much more. Amen.
Amen. Guys, make sure you join us tomorrow, same time, same station. We're going to be diving into another great topic here on the Clearview Today show. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible. And don't forget that you can support us by subscribing to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pray.com, TBN, wherever you get your podcasting content from.
And you can always support us financially at Abadanshah.com forward slash give. That's right. NRB 2026, we are coming to Nashville, Tennessee, as fast as we can. Unfortunately, it's going to have to wait until February the 17th through the 20th, but we are going to be there. We'll be there with Truth Network, and we're going to be there with Pray.com.
So make sure you come by, tell Dr. Shah hello. We'd love to sign any of your books or anything that you guys have. Also, big apologetics conference is happening here at Clearview Church, March 28th. We've been talking about it a lot.
Tickets are on sale now. You can register in the description of this. And if you use promo code today, T-O-D-A-Y, you're going to get 20% off at checkout. That's a very, very good deal. I would suggest you use that promo code.
That's right. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clear Read today.
