Today’s specials:
- My Reel News at CT Movies focuses on the end of the Disney boycott, but there are a lot of other news links as well.
- Peter Chattaway takes a look at Mr. and Mrs Smith AND Howl’s Moving Castle.
- Some folks who are fed up with “Christian-defamation” in Hollywood are teaming up with Ted Baehr to try and stop it. When Christians are criticized in Hollywood films, what do you think our primary response should be? To turn defensive and protest? Just curious. (Personally, I find that a lot of the criticism leveled at Christians at the movies is actually criticism we’ve earned, and would do well to keep in mind as we consider our response. Wouldn’t it be wise to focus our efforts on cultivating behavior that makes such criticism irrelevant and clearly ridiculous? How about helping people to see that criticism of Christian behavior is not necessarily criticism of Christ? And how about making some films of our own that portray people of faith as flawed, but the faith itself as blameless?)
- McSweeney’s has a whole new idea: “Reviews of DVDs that may or may not be pirated but were definitely bought on the streets in Shanghai for about a dollar.”
A Christian Anti-defamation league is one of the most depressing ideas to come along. To reduce Paul’s admonition to always be ready to give a defense of the Gospel to this is beyond my comprehension.
Christians being the brunt of mean spirited pokes by Hollywood seems to me to be less of an issue than Christians being the brunt of a firing squad in other parts of the world.
That said, I think the portrayal of Christians as wackos, nutjobs and flakes–while sometimes deserved (as you point out) is more insidious, and often more damaging, than out and out persecution. “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” Now for his next stunt, convice the world that God doesn’t exist, and those who believe in Him are a bunch of Loons.