‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ embodies my own complicated faith and theology
Screenshot from the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes” starring Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, and Cicely Tyson—based on the novel by Fannie Flagg. Source: Universal Pictures.
When you asked me to recommend a movie that shows my understanding of Christianity, I didn’t hesitate.
“Fried Green Tomatoes.”
Your surprised reaction made sense. You were expecting something more traditionally religious, maybe a biblical movie or inspirational drama.
But this 1991 film about friendship, food, and small-town Alabama perfectly shows the kind of Christian love that shapes my faith.
My spirituality is complicated, yes. A pair of grandparents were Spiritists (Espiritista) syncretists with indigenous Ilocano animist beliefs. A grandmother was from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was married to and estranged from a bigamist Catholic.
I was educated by Jesuits and became a Presbyterian Church (USA) elder serving on a Commission of the Church shepherding candidates for ordination.
And let’s not forget I was born believing in the Hawaiian gods, demigods, and deified ancestral spirits called aumakua.
Yes, “Fried Green Tomatoes” can explain my faith despite all that mixture!
The movie’s brilliance lies in showing Christianity not as a set of rules or church denominations, but as love in action. You know, the kind of selfless, caring love that goes beyond social rules and changes communities.¹
Just as my own faith journey has brought together different spiritual traditions into something that makes sense but is still complex, “Fried Green Tomatoes” presents Christianity as a living force that works through ordinary people doing extraordinary things for each other.
When trembling hands need help
The most powerful Christian moment in the film doesn’t happen in a church, but behind the Whistle Stop Cafe when Idgie quietly takes the alcoholic hobo Smokey Lonesome outside.
His hands shake so badly from alcohol withdrawal that he can’t eat the meal in front of him: fried chicken, black-eyed peas, turnip greens, cornbread.
Rather than let him suffer embarrassment in public, Idgie reaches into her apron and pulls out a half-pint of whiskey, giving it to him without judgment or lecture.²
This scene shows what theologians call radical Christian love, caring that reaches out to people society has given up on.
Idgie doesn’t try to cure Smokey’s alcoholism or make him promise to get sober. She simply meets his immediate need while letting him keep his dignity.
The Greek word agape describes love that actively seeks another person’s highest good, and sometimes that good means recognizing someone’s humanity when addiction has made them invisible to others.³
The cafe becomes known to homeless people across Depression-era South as a place of welcome, with Smokey becoming their most frequent visitor.
When his body is found years later in a railroad car, his only possession is a photograph of Ruth, showing how life-changing simple acts of dignity can be.⁴
Family redefined through grace
The film makes its most radical statement about the nature of family itself.
When Ruth escapes her abusive marriage with baby Buddy Jr., she and Idgie create a household that breaks every social rule of 1930s Alabama.
The local newspaper matter-of-factly refers to Buddy Jr. as “Ruth and Idgie’s son,” showing community acceptance of their chosen family.⁵
This arrangement includes Big George and Sipsey, creating a multiracial extended family that works as one unit of mutual care and protection.
This vision matches Jesus’ own redefinition of family in the Bible, when he says that “whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.“⁶
The biblical idea of household extended beyond blood relations to include anyone connected through relationship and commitment.
Modern theology has reclaimed this understanding, especially in communities where traditional family structures have failed or rejected vulnerable members.⁷
The Whistle Stop household shows this perfectly, with each member contributing different gifts while sharing a common purpose.
When Buddy Jr. loses his arm in a train accident, the entire chosen family rallies around him, proving how spiritual bonds can be stronger than biological ones.
When lying serves love
Perhaps the film’s most morally complex moment (and one of my favorite moments) happens when Rev. Herbert Scroggins, the Baptist preacher whom Idgie had “bothered all these years,” lies under oath to save her and Big George from a murder charge.
He testifies that both defendants were at a three-day church revival when Frank Bennett disappeared, swearing on what looks like a Bible but is actually a copy of Moby Dick.⁸
This scene highlights the tension between legal truth and moral truth that has challenged Christian ethics for centuries.
Scroggins faces what theologians call a “moral dilemma,” a situation where competing moral duties can’t both be fulfilled.
His choice to lie protects innocent people from a racist justice system that would have convicted Big George simply for being Black.
Some Christian ethicists have argued that love must sometimes take priority over rigid rules.⁹
While many conservative Christians reject this approach, this movie suggests that sometimes moral law must override civil law.
The visual symbolism of swearing on Moby Dick rather than Scripture suggests that human institutions often fail to contain divine truth.
The complexity of who deserves compassion
“Fried Green Tomatoes” refuses simple categories of good and evil, instead presenting what liberation theologians call the complexity of structural sin.¹⁰
Frank Bennett is both perpetrator and victim, a domestic abuser and KKK member whose violence comes from childhood trauma of witnessing his mother’s death.
The film presents him as someone whose death brings relief rather than mourning.
This moral complexity reflects the reality that unjust systems create damaged people who then damage others.
Catholic social teaching emphasizes that sin operates through structures, not just individuals.¹¹
Bennett’s racism and violence are products of a system that dehumanizes both oppressor and oppressed. Yet this understanding doesn’t eliminate the need to protect his victims: Ruth, Buddy Jr., the broader community he threatens.
Sipsey’s killing of Bennett represents what theologians call defensive violence, violence used to protect the innocent rather than seeking revenge.
The entire community’s involvement in covering up the murder suggests collective recognition that some forms of violence serve love’s purposes.
A civil rights gospel
While set in the 1930s, “Fried Green Tomatoes” was made in 1991 and carries a strong anti-racist message.
The Whistle Stop Cafe operates as an early model of integration, serving Black customers at reduced prices and creating space for friendship across racial lines.¹²
This reflects what Martin Luther King Jr. called “beloved community,” a vision of society based on love rather than fear or hatred.¹³
The film’s civil rights themes connect to the Black church tradition that understood Jesus as liberator of the oppressed.
The African American church service that Evelyn attends represents authentic Christian community where spiritual power and social justice come together.¹⁴
Big George and Sipsey’s roles in the household challenge traditional racial hierarchies by presenting them as family members rather than servants.
Their protection of Ruth and Buddy Jr. demonstrates how mutual care transcends racial boundaries.
When the sheriff offers to release Idgie if she’ll blame Big George for Bennett’s murder, the racist logic of the justice system is exposed.
Hospitality as sacred act
Perhaps most importantly, “Fried Green Tomatoes” presents hospitality as a sacred act—a way that divine grace becomes real and touchable.
The biblical mandate to welcome strangers describes the obligation to offer food, shelter, and dignity to anyone who needs it.¹⁵ The cafe embodies this principle perfectly.
This radical hospitality reflects the Christian understanding that Christ is encountered in the stranger.¹⁶
When Idgie serves Smokey or protects Big George, she participates in what theologians call the “mystical body of Christ,” the ongoing presence of divine love through human action.
The cafe becomes a physical example of the kingdom of God, a place where love triumphs over division.
The movie’s hospitality extends beyond food to include emotional and spiritual nourishment.
Evelyn’s transformation through her friendship with Ninny demonstrates how authentic community creates space for healing and growth.¹⁷
A faith that crosses boundaries
“Fried Green Tomatoes” captures my sense of Christianity because it demonstrates how divine love operates through ordinary people willing to cross social boundaries.
Like my own faith journey through the lens of multiple traditions found in my family through generations, the movie suggests that God’s grace cannot be contained within denominational structures or conventional religious categories.
The movie’s theology aligns with themes emerging across Christian traditions: radical love that extends to society’s outcasts, inclusive community that transcends biological and social boundaries, and moral complexity that recognizes both individual and structural dimensions of sin and redemption.
Most importantly, the movie demonstrates that Christianity is not primarily about belief but about love in action.
The characters who most embody Christian virtues, like Idgie, Ruth, Sipsey, even the lying preacher, often operate outside conventional religious boundaries.
Their faith is measured not by doctrinal correctness but by their willingness to risk themselves for others.
This vision of Christianity speaks to those of us with complex spiritual histories who have found God’s grace operating through diverse traditions and unexpected places.
Sometimes the most profound insights emerge not from seminaries or church headquarters, but from small cafes where broken people find healing, outcasts discover belonging, and ordinary love becomes extraordinary grace.
Cover of the novel by Fannie Flagg. Photo: Penguin Books Australia.
Footnotes
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), directed by Jon Avnet, based on the novel by Fannie Flagg.
Scene analysis from “Fried Green Tomatoes (1992) - Movie Summary, Ending Explained & Themes,” What’s After the Movie, 2025.
“What is Agape Love? Bible Meaning and Examples,” Christianity.com, discussing the Greek concept of sacrificial love.
Character analysis from “Hey, Fried Green Tomatoes is one of my all time favorite movies,” Tumblr discussion thread.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe - Wikipedia, noting the novel’s treatment of family structures.
Mark 3:31-35, New Revised Standard Version.
“A theology of ‘chosen family’ liberates us from toxic relationships,” Unfundamentalists, 2018.
“Herbert Scroggins,” Heroes Wiki, character analysis.
“Situational ethics,” Wikipedia, discussing Joseph Fletcher’s ethical framework.
“Liberation theology,” Wikipedia, explaining structural sin concepts.
“Catholic Social Teaching,” Catholic Community Services of Western Washington.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe plot summary, eNotes.com.
“The Social Gospel in Black and White, Then and Now,” Canopy Forum, 2020.
“Liberation theology,” Encyclopedia Britannica, discussing liberation theology’s focus on the oppressed.
“How Did People Practice Hospitality in the Bible, and What Does Hospitality Look Like Today?” Faithward.org.
Matthew 25:35, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
“Biblical hospitality: How generosity can transform our communities,” Talitha Koum Community.
