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The Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese and Sioux Falls Christian Schools are on a great crusade --
Stop right there. If you were a powerful, influential religious organization and could marshal your human and financial resources to do some good at Christmastime, what would you do? What societal ill might you choose to combat? How would you spread some Christian (or Buddhist, or Muslim, or Jewish) love? Feeding the hungry? Healing and comforting the sick? Consoling the grief-stricken? Sheltering the poor? Fighting the corporate killers of Christmas? Oh, so much to do, so many people in need, so much love we can give....
--The Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese and Sioux Falls Christian Schools are on a great crusade... against a movie. The Golden Compass opens tonight. To hear some describe it, this movie, based on one book by one cranky British atheist who got a bee in his bonnet over CS Lewis and organized religion, has the power to shake stones from the cathedrals and the faithful from their creeds.
I remember back in high school when The Last Temptation of Christ hit the theaters. There was a similar uproar among the faithful. Madison's West Twin Theater bravely announced in the paper, "We will not be showing The Last Temptation of Christ."
A friend, fellow Bulldog debater, and good churchgoer, Martin, wrote a letter the editor about the fracas. He thought all the ruckus from his fellow believers over the movie was nonsense. "My faith is stronger than any piece of celluloid," he wrote. I remember that line and Martin's letter as the first piece of Christian writing that really rang true with me, that I really respected. Here, in the face of quite possible public criticism, was a bold declaration of a faith more enduring than any fleeting product of the entertainment industry.
Martin's a pastor now. I hope he'd respond to this silliness over The Golden Compass the same way. The confident, level-headed faith he expressed at age 17 would be a much better example to our young people than the fearful response of the adults running the diocese and the Christian schools.
By the way, that Sioux Falls paper notes that Chris Burgwald, diocese podcaster, said "he felt a sense of urgency to get the message out that, unlike authors C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Pullman is not Christian" [Jonnie Taté Finn, "Christian Schools Warn About Film,"that smutty Sioux Falls paper, 2007.12.07]. Wait a minute: so is the Catholic diocese saying that its parishioners should only interact with media composed by Christians? Uh oh -- better put down the blogs! The Madville Times is definitely faith-challenged, and that SD Watch character digs the Buddha. For that matter, better put down the Old Testament: I hear Jews wrote that.
And movies -- you can probably take any movie, even the greatest works of the Kirk Cameron oeuvre, and find some secular humanist or Zoroastrian or someone whose beliefs don't square with yours who worked on the project and thus got some anti-faith cooties on the film. You can still pick and choose what you watch and what you let your kids watch... but recognize also that films like The Golden Compass, The Chronicles of Narnia, heck, even Star Wars, might present a great opportunity to watch a movie with your kids, talk with them about it, teach them media literacy, and help them realize your faith and theirs is stronger than one piece of film.
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3 days ago
It's pretty sad when religious groups get offended by literature or entertainment films. But it's not the first time. Way back, schools attempted to ban certain books because of their topics.
ReplyDeleteAnd in recent history books like The DaVinci Code and Harry Potter have stirred controversy. One because it explores the possiblity of the concept of Mary Magdelene having a relationship with Jesus and the other because it deals with witchcraft.
Ironically, the controversy, however, works to the advantage of the publishers. In both cases, I probably wouldn't have heard about either book, had there not been the controversy. And, yes, I have read them. I found the DaVinci Code very interesting, and learned a lot about art. I even found myself wanting to read more books by that author.
The Harry Potter series also spins a great tale.
But, what gets me is the closed-minded who form an opinion about something before they read the book or see the movie.
I think the concern for many Christians like myself isn't so much my own faith but others who might not really know what they believe or why they believe what they believe.
ReplyDeleteI plan to watch the movie at some point because my faith is solid. However, that's not the case for children who are still developing their belief system, nor is it the case for the vast majority of Americans who simply haven't taken the time to fully explore their own belief systems.
From what I've read about these books, they present a direct and intentional challenge to the Judeo-Christian worldview from an atheistic perspective. I believe that is not only wrong, but a dangerous worldview which is devoid of absolute truth. And a world devoid of truth essentially becomes an environment where the strongest person or group gets to decide what's right and wrong, as opposed to an objective set of standards given to us by God.
Ultimately, if this movie and the books convinces people to abandon a worldview based on absolute truth, then that moves us considerably closer to the kind of dog-eat-dog environment we see in other parts of the world. This is characterized by diminished freedom, lack of respect for human rights, lack of respect for human dignity, and oppression of the masses by those with the most power. The remaining communist countries and other despotic Third World regimes are good examples of this type of environment. That type of environment invariably produces the hunger and poverty of which you spoke.
So in the end, it's not just a theological concern about an attack on the faith (serious enough in itself), but a concern about the end result of the loss of faith in the worldview that has produced Western civilization and the United States.
To sum it up: religious views and moral choices have real-world, practical consequences.
"I plan to watch the movie at some point because my faith is solid. However, that's not the case for children who are still developing their belief system, nor is it the case for the vast majority of Americans who simply haven't taken the time to fully explore their own belief systems."
ReplyDeleteHey, look everyone! Bob's faith is better than yours! The "vast majority" of the rest of you haven't fully explored your faith (i.e., haven't come to believe Bob's peculiar brand of fear-faith) and need Bob to protect you.
My beef is that a "double standard" exists in terms of being critical of other relgions.
ReplyDeleteIf you're critical of Islam, you get a fatwah issued against you.
If you're critical of Judaism, you're labeled an "anti-Semite".
Poke fun at atheists, and you're called "closed-minded."
Criticize Christianity or even Roman Catholicism, you're labeled "bold" and "brave".
Gee, if that's not a double-standard, I don't know what is!
I didn't say my faith was superior, only that I've explored my beliefs and WHY I believe them. It doesn't take a superior person to investigate your own beliefs, just some time and effort. The sad thing is, most people just don't bother.
ReplyDeleteEvidence that the vast majority of people haven't done so is evident in a number of polls where several questions about an issue are asked, and glaring dissonance is revealed. For instance, I recall a poll from earlier this year where a majority said government should run health care, but from that same pool less than half of that majority thought the government could do a better job than the private sector. Or there was a poll last year where the majority said they believed abortion was murder, but similar numbers said the woman should have the right to choose (to murder her unborn child). Murder is a pretty unequivocal term, so if they believe the mother should have the right to murder her unborn child, they should also hold the belief that a wife should have the right to choose to murder her husband, or a boyfriend should have the right to choose to murder his girlfriend.
Both of these polls--and they're not isolated incidents--demonstrate a dissonance in beliefs that indicates they haven't thought it through. If they had, there would be some logic and consistency, but there isn't. And when you haven't determined why you believe what you believe, you're open to any well-packaged lie.
And my faith isn't based on fear (sounds like you already ascribe to some of the suppositions in the books/film, Cory :-)). I know I'm going to be okay, and I know where I'll be 10,000 years from now; knowing God takes away that fear. But not having a firm foundation, a lot of folks are up for grabs, and I'd hate to see them suffer at the hands of a slick deception.
Well, I can't count how many people I have talked to that thought "The Divinci Code" was fact... As far as "better" faith? Meh, normative statements hurt people's feelings, so I stick with "mature" vs. "immature" when refering to the qualification for "faith". Is a mature faith "better" than an immature one? Well, we would have to explain what "better" refers to. Supposedly, both save you from the fires of Hell. Talk to your wife, she is into that whole "sola fide" Luther stuff.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the real reason that I am commenting, I am disapointed in your response. Where's the critical analysis? Or the constructive counter-arguement? Instead from the Ph. D. student, we get the straw man/genetic fallacy mudsling?
By the by, I have it on good autority that Star Wars contains elements of Zen Buddhism and is best to be avoided.
joe "wants to see Spock-like logic" nelson