Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
for thematic material involving sexual education and some suggestive material.
Uncorrected confusion about religions and misunderstanding of the true nature of God
Margaret’s mother is “Christian” (although clearly not born-again) and her father is Jewish (non-practicing). Margaret is being raised without an affiliation to either faith.
According to Margaret, God is not Christian, Muslim nor Jewish, or any other religious entity. He is just a Higher Comrade she can turn to, whenever she needs a slight push to keep going.
Why do so many people reject the real God of the Bible, Creator and Sustainer of the universe, and created a god of their own liking?
How can we know there’s a God? Answer
What is the SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD? Answer
What is “THE FEAR OF THE LORD”? and Why is it important? Answer
What is HUMILITY? and WHY is it important to be humble? Answer
What is the “FURY” of God? Answer
What is the “ANGER OF GOD”? Answer
What are Judgments of God? Answer
About God’s love and an answer to the questions: What is the true nature of God’s love? Is it biblically accurate to say, “God hates the SIN, but loves the SINNER”?
Girl coming of age, beginning adolescence in the 5th or 6th grade
Sexual education in schools and homes
Puberty and menstruation
Peer pressure
Desire for social acceptance
“I want to be like everybody else”
Mother daughter relationship
Plagiarizing her school homework from an encyclopedia
| Featuring |
Abby Ryder Fortson … Margaret Simon Rachel McAdams … Barbara Simon Kathy Bates … Sylvia Simon Benny Safdie … Herb Simon Elle Graham … Nancy Wheeler See all » |
| Director | Kelly Fremon Craig |
| Producer |
Gracie Films Lionsgate See all » |
| Distributor |
 Lionsgate (Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.)
|
The 1970 novel (of the same title) on which this film is based was written by Judy Blume, author of mostly juvenile fiction titles and a few adult novels. She has sold over 80 million copies. Her ideology runs counter to Biblical Christianity. She “wholly supports the trans community” and has earlier described herself as a ‘gender critical feminist’. This and some of her other books have been criticized and sometimes censored from schools beginning in the 1980s for being too adult in subject matter (age-inappropriate), and controversial in the way sexual and religious topics are handled. Some of her books for older children take a “decided turn toward Humanism and sexual promiscuity.”
Here’s what the distributor says about their film: “When her family moves from the city to the suburbs, 11-year-old Margaret navigates new friends, feelings, and the beginning of adolescence.
Margaret Simon is just eleven going on twelve when her family moves from New York City to Farbrook, New Jersey. Margaret’s mother is Christian and her father is Jewish. Margaret has been raised without an affiliation to either faith, and does not practice an organized religion, although she frequently prays to “God” in her own words, beginning by saying, ‘Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret.’ She is beginning to feel uncomfortable with her lack of a religious affiliation.
For a school assignment, she chooses to study people’s religious beliefs, hoping to resolve the question of her own religion in the process. Part of her study involves attending different places of worship to better understand religious practice and also to see if one of them might be right for her. She enjoys spending time with her Jewish paternal grandmother, Sylvia Simon (Kathy Bates), who loves her as she is, and hopes Margaret will embrace Judaism after taking her to her synagogue for Rosh Hashanah services.”
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