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In anticipation of his upcoming film about Nat Turner, a slave who led a rebellion against the system, its filmmaker and star, Nate Parker told CT that he hoped the movie would unsettle American Christians. \u201c[I hoped] Christians would be put at a crossroads, that this would be a moment where they have to ask themselves, Wow, this is the Word, but it's very clearly being used to oppress\u2014Where is the line?\u201d the Birth of Nation creator said in an interview with CT earlier this month. \u201cI ask myself: if Christ was here, how would he react to the misuse and misrepresentation of his name and his actions? How might we be more effective in holding ourselves as Christians accountable to his actual word? I, for one, believe that partisanship should have nothing to do with the actions of Christ. You're either Christlike, or you're not.\u201d In the past two weeks, however, Parker has come under scrutiny after Variety reported that the woman who accused Parker and his college roommate of raping her while they were students at Penn State in the late 1990s had committed suicide. That accusation had led to Parker\u2019s arrest and trial. In 2001, he was acquitted of the charges of sexual assault, and has maintained recently that what happened was consensual. His roommate\u2014who is also the film\u2019s co-writer\u2014was convicted, but the conviction was later overturned on appeal after the accuser declined to testify for a retrial. Along with Parker\u2019s faith and race, the nature of the accusations and the fact that Birth of a Nation also features a sexual assault scene has caused a maelstrom of angry, sad, and conflicted reactions. Alissa Wilkinson, Christianity Today's chief film critic, has been a fan of the film since she saw it at Sundance. \u201cI certainly believe that his faith is sincere. I believe people change and mature and grow in their faith and they often look back on things that they did when they were younger in horror,\u201d said Wilkinson. But she\u2019s been disappointed with Parker\u2019s reaction--largely because Birth of a Nation\u2019s deep understanding of systemic oppression doesn\u2019t seem to have mirrored in the filmmaker\u2019s responses about sexual assault. Christians asking why Parker \u201cshould own something he did not do,\u201d have an incomplete understanding of what Christians are called to in these situations, said Ekemini Uwan. \u201cI think a lot of Christians are calling for cheap grace, which is grace without truth, which is unacceptable,\u201d said Uwan, a recent graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary. \u201cYou don\u2019t receive salvation unless you confess sin and live in the light.\u201d Uwan and Wilkinson join Morgan and Katelyn this week to discuss how Christians should make sense of the allegations against Parker, how we understand the complicating role that race plays in our reactions, and whether or not we can separate the artist from his or her art.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices