Comfortably Numb

Written by: Jeff

I have been thinking a lot about the role of media, television, movies, sports, etc. in our walk, culture, and our lives. A theorist that I have been studying, Theodor Adorno, makes the argument that the culture (think of pop-culture) industry is the opiate of the twentieth (and now twenty-first) centuries, and that we easily accept injustices because of its dominance. In other words, we see suffering on our televisions, in the newspaper, internet etc., but it becomes easier to ignore because we can lose ourselves in a movie, sporting event, or television.

I have been thinking a lot about this, and about how if Americans boycotted the movie industry for one week a year, or sporting events for one week, and instead donated that money to the poor, we could easily solve global poverty, the lack of clean drinking water, AIDS, and many other problems. Of course, this will not happen any time soon because we live in a fallen world where it is easier to numb ourselves through entertainment, than to fight for justice for the “least of these.”

I also have been thinking about a different aspect of the affect that the culture industry has on us on a daily basis. Recently, I read a story on how the amount of scenes of torture on television each day has risen dramatically over the past five years. I am ashamed to admit that even I, who refers to myself as a pacifist, often watch television that show torture in irresposible ways: 24, Alias, and Lost are the shows that jump immediately to my mind. So, I began thinking about the way that we are beseiged with these images on a daily basis in the movies, television, etc. and how this numbs us to the reality of the situation.

Matter of fact, recently, the army has admitted that they had to discipline soldiers that were caught torturing prisoners and when they were confronted, the soldiers said they had learned their techniques on the television show 24.

Then, in the recent Republican debates, the candidates were given a scenario where there was a ticking bomb and asked what they would do to find out information. Every Republican nominee, with the exception of John McCain, answered in some outrageous manner that they would torture prisoners in any way they could to obtain information. One of the candidates even mentioned needing to find a Jack Bauer (main character on 24) to do their dirty work. Interestingly enough, John McCain who was the only person to be against torture in these debates was the only person that experienced torture first hand (in Vietnam). That is, unless you consider being a Republican in itself torture.

I think that when there is a specific instance such as this, where entertainment is not merely reflecting culture; instead, culture is following the lead of fiction, we really have to consider the impact that the entertainment industry plays in our lives. Especially as Christians who are supposed to “seek justice.”

Another example of this problem occurs with violence itself. While I have to admit that I am an advocate for the first amendment and that violence should be on television if people want it, i am extremely concerned with the affect that it has on us as individuals and a society as a whole. I guess my biggest hope is that we will stand together as a society and call for less violence, not by law, but by not buying products that promote violence and making shows with less violence.

Think about your weekly consumption of violence – do you watch violent sports (football, hockey, boxing, wrestling), violent movies, violent television, etc.? What impact do you think that this has on you? In a culture that has horror movies that make tens of millions of dollars, and even action movies filled with violence that make houndreds of millions of dollars, what does our spending say about us? What about the nightly news? If the first ten minutes of the news were not filled with murder, murder, rape, drugs, suicide — would you still watch? This is not the nature of the news everywhere in the world. Many other nations start their news with local politics, world politics, and calls to be active in the world to promote change.

I think that as Christians, we need to ask ourselves these important questions on a daily basis and continue to seek ways that reflect the way Jesus walked in our world.

Articulating Justice

Written by: David

I’ve recently blogged at www.xanga.com/Beloved_Spear about the crushingly aggressive misrepresentation of a recent study on Islam by Fox News. This study, which showed most Muslims in America to be moderate and well assimilated, got spun by the “Fair and Balanced” folk to focus on Muslims as open to suicide bombing. As a Christian who’s in an unusual position when it comes to interfaith relationships, I find myself wondering about our responsibility when we’re confronted with obvious bias against people of other faiths.

Though I can affirm unabashedly that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and am perfectly willing to argue for the merits of the Way, I’m also well schooled enough in the world’s faith traditions to completely reject the unfounded slander of other religions that seems to pass for apologetics and evangelism in some quarters.

Jack Chick notwithstanding, Wiccans are not Satanists and Muslims are not all Wahabists, any more than every Christian is a member of Westboro Baptist church.

I think that as more Christians commit themselves to expressing God’s Kingdom of justice and equity in the world, speaking justly and fairly in our exchanges with those who have committed themselves to other faith traditions is imperative.

The War on Atheism: A Christ-Like Way to Reach Non-Believers?

Recently, I read a great article on God’s Politics by Becky Garrison entitled “Christian vs. Atheist: Celebrity Death Match” that was both entertaining and insightful. It described a debate on the existence of God between Atheists and a God Squad including Kirk Cameron, Ray Comfort, and others. Garrison pointed out the flaws in the reasoning of the debate and then went on to come to a great conclusion where she quotes Brian McClaren in saying: “much of the appeal of today’s popular atheists – from Richard Dawkins to Sam Harris – lies in the corruption of religion.”

Garrisson explains this notion in a powerful way:

Through my travels and travails covering this unique phenomenon called Americana Christianity, I’ve learned that many of those with a deep hunger to be fed spiritually are those souls for whom “church” is not in their vocabulary. Often they’ve been burned by one too many toxic church settings, or they grew up in a household where religion was inconsequential at best. They can embrace the universal message of Jesus but they balk at how his teaching gets corrupted by those prayer warriors who are engaging in some very public and tawdry biblical battles waged in the religious-political arena.

I think that this is a powerful argument, basically, that many people are pushed away from Christianity by those that act as prayer warriors ready to fight “celebrity death matches” to prove Christ’s love. That instead, we need to live a life that reaches out to those people in a kind, merciful and Christ-like manner. Of course, I do want to make the caveat that there are many prayer warriors that are not confrontational and do immitate God’s loving nature, but I am referring to those that are both confrontational and often make use of false doctrine.

In regards to this, I recently heard an interview with Richard Dawkins, reknown physicist and Athiest and author of the “God Delusion”, on Fresh Air. He discussed his new book with Terry Gross and explained that before 9-11 he pitched it to hundreds of publishers and had absolutely no interest. The publishers did not think that a book about atheism could sell. However, five years after 9-11, there is an increasing backlash against the pseudo-religious fundamentalism that pervaded our society for these years. The Pat Robertsons, Jerry Falwells, George Bushs, and others had exploited a false Christianity to sell a war and push other horrific agendas, to the point that atheism seemed a much more rational idea. In other words, the false teachings of these prayer warriors actually pushed people away from Christ.

I think that this is a major reason why blogs like God’s Politics, ChristianityisMore, and many others are important. We need to demand truth, uncloak the false prophets, and create a dialog. Most importantly, this needs to be done in love and with humility – or our message will be lost. We need to trust in Christ and the grace he gives us that through our love and humility the Gospel will be spread, instead of resorting to our own selfish, confrontational, self-glorifying methods.

For instance, I mention Jerry Falwell in this entry as in many other entries. It is because I feel that his message was off-base, not because I disrespect the man. I especially would like to make this a point as he passed away two days ago, because while I write against his teachings, I love and pray for the man. I hope and pray that he found his way to peace and is with God as I write these words.

ChristianityisMore at WordPress.com!

Welcome to our new blog site! We are a group of 10 writers that mostly write at the website ChristianityisMore.com. However, in an effort to reach more people, I have decided to both crosspost here on wordpress and offer some posts exclusively here. We do hope that you will visit our official site, but mostly, we would just love to hear from you! What follows is a little bit about us.

Our Mission: Through discussion, action, and faith we hope to build bridges across differences in denominations, political ideologies, and life philosophies. While the media tends to focus on divisive polarization for ratings, our goal is to find an informed middle ground. Hopefully this middle ground will create a space where we can work together towards a more action-based faith.

On this site, we have gathered 10 writers (with more to be added) that will write about and debate complex ideas relating to Christianity in the twenty-first century in the Christianityismore Blog. We will soon offer a Calendar where we will organize leaders to inspire action and encourage service in the community (Please e-mail us with ideas and/or offer to volunteer). Also coming soon we will make available the Christianityismore store, where we will offer many different unique items for sale, in order to generate revenue for different charities that fit Christian values.

Most importantly, we want this site to be interactive! So please respond to the blog entries, introduce new topics to be discussed in the forum section, sign up for our free monthly newsletter (e-mail jessica@christianityismore.com with “newsletter” in the subject line and your name and where you live in the body) and continue to check back as we introduce more features all the time!