What Race Is God? Black Or White Debate Fueled By Christian Story 'The Shack' After Book And Ahead Of New Movie Release

The Bible tells Christians very little about God, including the deity's age, skin color or gender. But that hasn't stopped Christian leaders from protesting a new movie that portrays God as a black woman.

"The Shack" stars Sam Worthington and Octavia Spencer and is based on the bestseller by William P. Young. In the movie, Worthington is grappling with a horrible family tragedy, while Spencer, a black woman, portrays the Christian God who comforts him.

The movie has an interesting take on the Holy Trinity. Jesus is still the same Middle Eastern, Jewish carpenter from the Bible, while the Holy Spirit is a thin Asian woman who loves to garden. Spencer, who gained fame after starring as a maid in "The Help," is the maternal God figure. In the Bible, however, God doesn't have a gender, and the story's casting has angered some Christian critics.

"Young's pretentious caricature of God as a heavy set, cushy, non-judgmental, African American woman called 'Papa' (who resembles the New Agey Oprah Winfrey far more than the one true God revealed through the Lord Jesus Christ-Hebrews 1:1-3), and his depiction of the Holy Spirit as a frail Asian woman with the Hindu name, Sarayu, lends itself to a dangerous and false image of God and idolatry," Joe Schimmel, a California pastor and host of the documentary "Hollywood's War on God," told Christian News Network this week.

Meanwhile, James B. DeYoung, a professor of New Testament Language and Literature at Western Seminary in Oregon, and the author of a scathing critique called "Burning Down 'The Shack': How the 'Christian' bestseller is deceiving millions," said "The Shack" wrongly promotes "universalism," a theory that all people will go to heaven regardless of whether they accepted Jesus as their savior or behaved well. He called the idea "heresy."

"If the film is a faithful portrayal of the events and the theology of the book, then every Christian should be gravely alarmed at the further advance of beliefs that smear the evangelical understanding of the truth of the Bible," DeYoung told CNS.

A marketing campaign for the movie is moving forward despite the criticism. Country singers and husband and wife Tim McGraw and Faith Hill teamed up to record a new song for "The Shack." The spiritual duet "Keep Your Eyes on Me" has further stroked debate about the movie set for a March 3rd release.

McGraw costars in the film as a kind neighbor looking to help Worthington's character. The singers are expected to promote "Keep Your Eyes on Me" during the launch of their joint Soul2Soul Tour in April in New Orleans.

Before the movie was filmed, the book also was labeled as blasphemous by some evangelicals, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. The book sold 20 million copies and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly two years.

Young, who grew up a child of Canadian missionaries, has said he wanted Christians to push themselves to think beyond their assumptions about God. Young was inspired in part by the worship leader at his former church. She, too, was a curvy, black woman.

Spencer has defended the movie's portrayal of God to reporters. "It's like 'Oh, my God! Someone is playing God.'" she told USA Today. "But people have to remember it's a manifestation of God. How (the film subject) sees God. Not necessarily how or who or what God is."