LC: I am developing a project with Tim Leedom entitled The Main Man that dramatizes the plight of a fictional character, a biblical scholar of some renown, who is part of an archeological team making new discoveries, a la the Jesus Seminar group. Our character ultimately gets in over his head as he is put into conflict with the religious right. He takes them on in the court of public opinion and ultimately hits them where it hurts - in the pocketbook! It also deals with the end-time prophecy (the year 2000 is just around the corner), religious intolerance and importantly, it will shed light on some of the astounding discoveries that modern scholars are making relevant to the first 100 years of the common era. We want to separate the fact from fiction in a dramatic fashion so people can experience the Main Man of history as opposed to the Main Man of organized religion. When one employs a little critical thinking along with an examination of this new information available for the first time through modern science, it is an eye-opener, to say the least. The Main Man is an exciting project. We are now writing a screenplay on it and the book should be out in November. Tim is the executive producer and the driving force behind this project. He wrote a manuscript for The Main Man that I am turning into a screenplay.

TS: Once the script is finished, what will you do with the project?

LC: We will present it to studios and independent investors to raise the necessary production capital. Like the other projects I'm involved with, this one is highly controversial, perhaps even more so, and will surely be difficult to mount. But it is vitally important to expose people to something other than the point of view that necessarily requires a blind allegiance to interpretations of the Bible that have literally been written in stone for 2000 years. I mean, how does one effectively counter the notion that all that is contained in the Bible, and all that is endorsed by the church power structure, comes directly from the inherent word of God? That intractable position is impossible to argue against.

But there is a growing body of literature now in print that is the work product of a number of marvelous scholars led by the Jesus Seminar, an organization of over 150 academics from many disciplines. They are standing organized religion on its head. It is liberating and refreshingly thought-provoking to discover what really occurred in that watershed referred to as the first 100 years of the Common Era. One can begin to put the history of Christianity in the proper perspective. One can analyze the various forces that were at play as the tenets of Christianity were being formed. One can begin to discern what really took place as opposed to what has been written about what supposedly had taken place. For me, this is cutting-edge and vitally important material.

Unfortunately, I am not sure how effectively the current academic work will be able to communicate these issues to the masses. That's why an effective, dramatic film that uses this material as a backdrop is so vitally important at this time. It will certainly take more than one movie to cause individuals to begin to think for themselves and begin to question Important religious issues that are currently wrapped up in church dogma. Hopefully, this effort is one step in the right direction

TS: It looks like you have your work cut out for you.

LC: Well, win, lose or draw, I hope someday to at least be able to say I gave it my best shot. I'll go on attempting to communicate my interpretation of Truth, and keep learning along the way. Isn't that what doing philosophy is all about?