I know I've brought this up before, but for the life of me, I still don't "get it." Why is it, exactly, that so many Christians are utterly convinced that they and their faith are being "attacked" or "persecuted" in our society? Especially in this post-nine-eleven period, where "God Bless America" is still plastered on cars, billboards, etc. all over the place.
Here's a quote from a website called the ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture. This is a small part of their assessment of a wonderful movie:
There are inevitable comparisons being drawn between Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by the secular worldview and the Christian faith. Comparisons are not being drawn between the two movies under any other "religion" I am aware of, not the Muslim or Tao or Jewish faiths or any other faith, just the Christian faith which is under more attack than any other faith. Maybe the Christian faith is under more attack [by the adversary through the unbelievers] than any other faith because it is the "right one": the one faith that poses the greatest and maybe the only real threat to the adversary.Such a comparison follows since both movies present wizards, sorcery and evil magic and both titillate the skyrocketing popularity of mystical occult in movies in the shadow of the attack on Christianity, feeding on it and nurturing it at the same time. Both movies use evil as good: "white magic" to fight dark and evil occult forces. Both present fine personal qualities in characters with heroic missions to defeat evil. And both present the use of evil, namely witchcraft and sorcery, as a tool for good. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is targeted at the preteen and the early teen and thus boasts a less complicated story. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is much more sophisticated and requires deeper thought to fathom its story, thus making the older teen and young adult its target audience. The Christian faith is being hit at all impressionable ages, folks. And there is more coming.
The full assessment (it's not really a "review") can be seen here.
Now, look at what's going on here. Are either of these films any sort of threat to Christians or Christianity? Of course not. But these people are so hell-bent (if you'll pardon the expression) on having an "adversary" that they make the movies into a threat. They want to be perceived as being attacked.
Why? Damned if I know.
The only thing I can even think of (and it's not a satisfying answer) is that their approach to religion pretty much demands it. Go to the page above and scroll down about two-thirds of the way until you see the section heading "ISSUES." You'll see what I mean.
They set out to be judgmental, by design. And they believe that anyone who's not with them is automatically against them. It's akin to the whole First Amendment issue. The First Amendment essentially dictates that government should neither be supportive or restrictive of religion… that it should, in effect, be ambivalent toward religion. But to these kinds of people, ambivalence is the same as hostility. There's no such thing as neutrality in their perceptions.
Now, I'd like to add that, although I've been saying "they" throughout, this site appears to be the work of one person. Frequent references to "I" and "me" on the site indicate this. Nevertheless, this person surely isn't the only one who has this mindset.
More's the pity.
