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Rollo Tomasi wrote:See link below to Tribune article about GBH and other Church leaders attending a screening of "Amazing Grace." GBH wisely decided to forego the free "Coke products." ;)
http://www.sltrib.com/LDS/ci_5099991
The hushed crowd at the Gateway Theaters in Salt Lake City rose to their feet as the 96-year-old Mormon leader walked slowly in, but he laughed and said, "Sit down." He didn't seem to have grabbed the free popcorn and Coke products provided in the lobby, although many others did.
He then introduced "Amazing Grace," produced by Walden's sister company, Bristol Bay Production and set to open nationwide on Feb. 23. It tells the story of William Wilberforce, who spent two decades in the House of Commons working to end the practice of slavery in the British empire. The film takes its title from the stirring abolitionist hymn, "Amazing Grace," written by John Newton, who was Wilberforce's childhood pastor. For years, Newton (played by Albert Finney) worked for the East India Company, but abandoned the slave business after he converted to Christianity in 1764.
“Only God's amazing grace could and would take a rude, profane, slave-trading sailor and transform him into a child of God,” Newton declared in a sermon from which he drew the lyrics to the hymn beloved to Christians everywhere but not in the LDS hymnal. "I was blind but now I see."
The movie is part of a nationwide campaign to end modern-day slavery, said Erik Lokkesmoe, the project director at Walden. "It's a global awareness movement. Like William Wilberforce, we want to show how a band of people can change the world."
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