Hello, and Happy September!
It was a wonderful day in the Uplands of South Carolina today, btw. Hope yours was good.
I just got around to reading "SciFi's Brave New World" by James A. Herrick in the Feb. '09 edition of Christianity Today. It's a mindboggling piece that'll make you really think of where we're going as allegedly practicing, believing Christians. (If you're sure, feel free to take out the "allegedly" reference.) How does that old SS song go? "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands"?
Jimmy boy is Guy Vander Jagt Professor of Communication at Hope College (sorry, never heard of it) and here's his central thrust via the CT article, in my own interpretation: The God's myth "mythology" that is the Christian Gospel (Note: not because, as CS Lewis pointed out, it is fiction, but because it is a story that gives ultimate meaning) is being rejected, thanks to virtually every stand-up comedian and prime-time media outlet and militant atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Kitchens, and this mythology is being recast. Into what? Into what Herrick describes this way: "Ironically, the universe that science stripped of the supernatural is being resupplied with deities and redemptive purposes by science fiction writers and movie makers. Apparently, we cannot do without myths."
You got that right! But why can't we live without our myths? Hey, I'm just a blog writer, but my guess is we desperately need to believe in redemption, and in some sort of greater power. So what's the new supernatural? Well, it's the advanced and benevolent extraterrestrials of Star Trek and Star Wars and Close Encounters and ET, for example. (Hey, I loved every one of those movies and TV shows; and I worried over the outcome of Battlestar Galactica long and hard, but I still liked the ending.)
Furthermore, major scientists like Stephen Hawking, Francis Crick, and Carl Sagan bought into some form of human contact with extraterrestrials, according to Herrick's article, whether it's panspermia (Earth was seeded with life from space), or space colonization, or highly evolved extraterrestrials, or genetically-enhanced post-humanity.
Apparently not worried about stepping on toes, Herrick also points out that SciFi author Ron Hubbard's Church of Scientology, Mormonism, and the Nation of Islam all incorporate interplanetary narratives in their various teachings.
Let's spin off from this excellent article for a sec. Do we really believe that God is not cool, nor his Creation, nor his Son, nor his Spirit, but that somehow some soulless ball of protoplasm or silicon has the moral, ethical, spiritual, mental, and physical answers about Life in the future? Do we really think that? Do we really think that some form of superhuman or extraterrestrial is going to give a damn enough to "come on down" and straighten out our rather screwed up lives?
It's one thing to enjoy SciFi on the tube and in the flicks and even in the comic books if that floats your boat. But if we really start believing this rather brilliant but flawed fiction mythology, we are really in a bad place. As Herrick concludes: "Among the myriad redemptive myths displayed before us, it is time to remind ourselves that only one has ever been God's story."
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Searching for Shalimar
What a revelation! According to Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper, Toronto's West Hill United Church, part of Canada's largest Protestant Christian denomination, will sing that traditional Easter hymn, Jesus Christ is Risen Today--Hallelujah, this morning on Christendom's holiest day, but it will be different. The words "Jesus Christ" will be excised from what the congregation sings and replaced with 'Glorious hope." That's because no divine anybody makes an appearance in West Hill's Sunday service liturgy, says the article. No petitionary prayers are found in this "church," no miracles-performing Jesus, no virgin birth or Resurrection references, no salvation themes, and no omnipotent God.
You see, their pastor, Rev. Gretta Vosper, has written a book in which she argues that the Christian church has outlived its viability. Her scorched-earth remedy is to admit that the Bible is just a flawed human project, pockmarked with errors and contradictions, and not some Divine emanation at all, and thus we need to jettison Holy Scripture with new language that is more to our liking.
How refreshing! Now I can proceed with my planned Easter ceremonies of sacrificing Shalimar the she-goat to Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of love and war. And since prostitution was practiced in Ishtar's name, I guess a visit to the nearest pimp or bordello is in order, too, don't you think? What a memorable Easter it can be, and that's all that counts in modern religion, feeling good! Let's stay away from human sacrifices, however, at least for now. After all, we have to keep up our standards! But that "temple prostitute" thing, now that has real evangelical possibilities!
You see, their pastor, Rev. Gretta Vosper, has written a book in which she argues that the Christian church has outlived its viability. Her scorched-earth remedy is to admit that the Bible is just a flawed human project, pockmarked with errors and contradictions, and not some Divine emanation at all, and thus we need to jettison Holy Scripture with new language that is more to our liking.
How refreshing! Now I can proceed with my planned Easter ceremonies of sacrificing Shalimar the she-goat to Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of love and war. And since prostitution was practiced in Ishtar's name, I guess a visit to the nearest pimp or bordello is in order, too, don't you think? What a memorable Easter it can be, and that's all that counts in modern religion, feeling good! Let's stay away from human sacrifices, however, at least for now. After all, we have to keep up our standards! But that "temple prostitute" thing, now that has real evangelical possibilities!
Friday, February 1, 2008
The Golden Compass and Other Controversies
By now, I assume you've heard about the rather bitter controversy between the Catholic League and the release of the feature film The Golden Compass, based on the works of English author Phillip Pullman, specifically the first book of a fantasy trilogy for children called His Dark Materials. (I've also seen it as The Dark Materials.) Apparently, not much ruckus erupted with the publishing of the books, but when the movie, starring Nichole Kidman, no less, came out around Christmas time, it was Whoa Mama!
The Catholic League put out a 23-page booklet, downloadable on the internet, entitled "The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked," in which they delve rather deeply into what this controversy is all about. One bottom line is published under Notice to the Readers:
"The film is being sold as an innocent children's fantasy, but in reality there is nothing innocent about it; the movie is based on a book that was written to promote atheism and denigrate Christianity."
Another fear of the Catholic League and others is that the film, which is being billed as child-friendly, would be watched by gullible children and their gullible parents, and this would lead them to buy and read His Dark Materials trilogy and all its supposed indoctrination; this would in turn encourage young children to embrace a more-than-healthy doubt in God, Christ, the Bible, the Holy Trinity, etc. In fact, the triology is apparently written (I say "apparently" because I haven't read any of this trilogy except for excerpts) so that the first book, The Golden Compass, is relatively tame on the theology-bashing, the second book The Subtle Knife is more blatant in its attacks, and the third book The Amber Spyglass is "the most overtly atheistic and anti-Christian of them all," according to the Catholic League publication. If in fact the books are written to shape and recruit young children to atheism, this sounds like a rather clever scam.
Let me say, as a fiction writer wannabe, that I believe that anything has the right to be written about. Truly, the sanctions and censorships brought down on the heads of authors by various governments and organized religions and theocracies have done much damage historically, and we need to embrace freedom of expression for what it is, a God-given ideal. Having said that, I also believe mightily in full disclosure, and it is highly questionable whether the marketing campaigns and the production of The Golden Compass, and for that matter the author Pullman, have been honest in their true agenda.
We'll dig in much deeper into this subject in tomorrow's post.
The Catholic League put out a 23-page booklet, downloadable on the internet, entitled "The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked," in which they delve rather deeply into what this controversy is all about. One bottom line is published under Notice to the Readers:
"The film is being sold as an innocent children's fantasy, but in reality there is nothing innocent about it; the movie is based on a book that was written to promote atheism and denigrate Christianity."
Another fear of the Catholic League and others is that the film, which is being billed as child-friendly, would be watched by gullible children and their gullible parents, and this would lead them to buy and read His Dark Materials trilogy and all its supposed indoctrination; this would in turn encourage young children to embrace a more-than-healthy doubt in God, Christ, the Bible, the Holy Trinity, etc. In fact, the triology is apparently written (I say "apparently" because I haven't read any of this trilogy except for excerpts) so that the first book, The Golden Compass, is relatively tame on the theology-bashing, the second book The Subtle Knife is more blatant in its attacks, and the third book The Amber Spyglass is "the most overtly atheistic and anti-Christian of them all," according to the Catholic League publication. If in fact the books are written to shape and recruit young children to atheism, this sounds like a rather clever scam.
Let me say, as a fiction writer wannabe, that I believe that anything has the right to be written about. Truly, the sanctions and censorships brought down on the heads of authors by various governments and organized religions and theocracies have done much damage historically, and we need to embrace freedom of expression for what it is, a God-given ideal. Having said that, I also believe mightily in full disclosure, and it is highly questionable whether the marketing campaigns and the production of The Golden Compass, and for that matter the author Pullman, have been honest in their true agenda.
We'll dig in much deeper into this subject in tomorrow's post.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
The dearth of judges
There's an amazing though little read book of the Old Testament called Judges. Believed to have been written around 1000 B.C., some 400 years after most of the events it describes, it is a book of extremes. Want to read about gang rape, mass murder, human mutilation, betrayal, theft, stark paganism, sexual abduction, superhuman strength, and warrior exploits that pit tribe against tribe and leave tens of thousands of dead and often innocent bodies on the plains of Canaan? Well, go no further than the 21 chapters of Judges.
And yet, more than the tabloid exploits, it is a book, written perhaps by the prophet Samuel or perhaps anonymously, that presents the sheer ignorance of mankind in graphic detail. And it is mankind that's screwing up here, not humankind, because the women and children are just pawns waiting for the macho males to get over it. For example, it is hard to imagine a new generation following the divine leadership of Moses and Joshua, and being given free land and prosperity by God and his earthly commanders in chief, that within one generation has chucked all pretense of following the laws of Yahweh and instead is, to a man, just out for himself. The Book of Judges' constant refrain is: "In those days, Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit." It proves to be a formula for disaster.
And what have we learned in the 3,000 years since Judges was written? Are we any smarter? Do we somehow avoid the foibles and pitfalls that all those temporary leaders of Israel fell prey to? Have we evolved past all that crap?
Obviously not. It is surreal to read Judges and realize that the sins and mistakes of that day are still with us on this day, 3 millennia later. And it is just plain sad to realize that we don't seem to ever learn, even with the aid of history. We still fall prey to naysayers and demagogues, we still get conned and duped, we still take what we want and flip the bird at our objectors, and we still, as they did then, justify our actions and thus assure ourselves of entry into the pearly gates of all that Heaven can allow. For those who might think that modern sins eclipse those of the biblical days, just read Judges. How stupid we still are!
Who are our enemies? Is it Hollywood and the West Coast? Is it the media of the East Coast? Is it all those university professors who are professed or closet atheists? Is it politicians of every stripe and creed? Is it the lukewarm pastors who stopped preaching the gospel years ago so as not to offend? Is it the red hot evangelists who wouldn't know God's word if it bit them on their collective asses? Is it every ''towelhead" and every "wetback" out there that's out to separate us from our homes and our homeland and our loved ones? Is it every right wing wacko preaching red white and blue, and every left wing capitulator seeking the path of least resistance?
Of course. All of those are sometimes our enemies. But the problem is, sometimes they're our friends as well. And the real problem is that our biggest enemy is usually ourselves. And as the misguided Israelites found out, for that you need God. Because governing ourselves just as we see fit is not a long-term solution, and never has been.
What do you think?
Micah the Moderator
And yet, more than the tabloid exploits, it is a book, written perhaps by the prophet Samuel or perhaps anonymously, that presents the sheer ignorance of mankind in graphic detail. And it is mankind that's screwing up here, not humankind, because the women and children are just pawns waiting for the macho males to get over it. For example, it is hard to imagine a new generation following the divine leadership of Moses and Joshua, and being given free land and prosperity by God and his earthly commanders in chief, that within one generation has chucked all pretense of following the laws of Yahweh and instead is, to a man, just out for himself. The Book of Judges' constant refrain is: "In those days, Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit." It proves to be a formula for disaster.
And what have we learned in the 3,000 years since Judges was written? Are we any smarter? Do we somehow avoid the foibles and pitfalls that all those temporary leaders of Israel fell prey to? Have we evolved past all that crap?
Obviously not. It is surreal to read Judges and realize that the sins and mistakes of that day are still with us on this day, 3 millennia later. And it is just plain sad to realize that we don't seem to ever learn, even with the aid of history. We still fall prey to naysayers and demagogues, we still get conned and duped, we still take what we want and flip the bird at our objectors, and we still, as they did then, justify our actions and thus assure ourselves of entry into the pearly gates of all that Heaven can allow. For those who might think that modern sins eclipse those of the biblical days, just read Judges. How stupid we still are!
Who are our enemies? Is it Hollywood and the West Coast? Is it the media of the East Coast? Is it all those university professors who are professed or closet atheists? Is it politicians of every stripe and creed? Is it the lukewarm pastors who stopped preaching the gospel years ago so as not to offend? Is it the red hot evangelists who wouldn't know God's word if it bit them on their collective asses? Is it every ''towelhead" and every "wetback" out there that's out to separate us from our homes and our homeland and our loved ones? Is it every right wing wacko preaching red white and blue, and every left wing capitulator seeking the path of least resistance?
Of course. All of those are sometimes our enemies. But the problem is, sometimes they're our friends as well. And the real problem is that our biggest enemy is usually ourselves. And as the misguided Israelites found out, for that you need God. Because governing ourselves just as we see fit is not a long-term solution, and never has been.
What do you think?
Micah the Moderator
Saturday, January 26, 2008
The perennially uneven playing field
January 26, 2008
There was a story circulating in my email yesterday about unequal disciplinary action toward first an actor on Grey's Anatomy last year,and second, toward an anchorlady on ESPN more recently. The gist of the story was that the actor was fired for an anti-gay remark he made during rehearsal, while the anchorlady was given a one-month suspension for publicly uttering a phrase that included "F---Jesus!" The sender of the email (supposedly The American Family Association, headquartered in Tupelo, MS--although you sometimes can't tell who sends something and how edited it is when you receive it) argued this amounted to unequal punishment, since ESPN is owned by ABC and the parent company should have used the same level of discipline for both offenses.
Now IF my version of the story is completely accurate, then I would have to agree, although most of us would want to know more details than what was provided. How could anyone argue that an anti-gay remark uttered in relative privacy was more serious than a public utterance of perhaps the most blasphemous remark possible, one that would offend literally tens of millions of believers? The two occurrences are simply not of the same severity, and yet both are harmful. Obviously, any remark that engenders hostility to gays must be disciplined, as is such a remark to the Christian community. I would argue that, if anything, the "F___ Jesus" remark is much more damaging, as it was reportedly a public statement and is so incredibly obscene and blasphemous.
Regardless, however, if this lapse in equal punishment actually occurred, it demonstrates one of the plights of today's Christianity--that anything, any offense or slur or punishment, can be discretely swept under the rug, if only it is aimed at what one might term "those stupid, bible-thumping hicks with their ignorant beliefs in this fantasy about an obscure carpenter being the Son of God, born of a virgin, if you can believe that crap, and then being raised from the dead. Give me a break!"
Of course, I do believe all that supposed nonsense, down to the last biblical detail. But so many people want to mock my beliefs. What do you believe?
Micah the Moderator
There was a story circulating in my email yesterday about unequal disciplinary action toward first an actor on Grey's Anatomy last year,and second, toward an anchorlady on ESPN more recently. The gist of the story was that the actor was fired for an anti-gay remark he made during rehearsal, while the anchorlady was given a one-month suspension for publicly uttering a phrase that included "F---Jesus!" The sender of the email (supposedly The American Family Association, headquartered in Tupelo, MS--although you sometimes can't tell who sends something and how edited it is when you receive it) argued this amounted to unequal punishment, since ESPN is owned by ABC and the parent company should have used the same level of discipline for both offenses.
Now IF my version of the story is completely accurate, then I would have to agree, although most of us would want to know more details than what was provided. How could anyone argue that an anti-gay remark uttered in relative privacy was more serious than a public utterance of perhaps the most blasphemous remark possible, one that would offend literally tens of millions of believers? The two occurrences are simply not of the same severity, and yet both are harmful. Obviously, any remark that engenders hostility to gays must be disciplined, as is such a remark to the Christian community. I would argue that, if anything, the "F___ Jesus" remark is much more damaging, as it was reportedly a public statement and is so incredibly obscene and blasphemous.
Regardless, however, if this lapse in equal punishment actually occurred, it demonstrates one of the plights of today's Christianity--that anything, any offense or slur or punishment, can be discretely swept under the rug, if only it is aimed at what one might term "those stupid, bible-thumping hicks with their ignorant beliefs in this fantasy about an obscure carpenter being the Son of God, born of a virgin, if you can believe that crap, and then being raised from the dead. Give me a break!"
Of course, I do believe all that supposed nonsense, down to the last biblical detail. But so many people want to mock my beliefs. What do you believe?
Micah the Moderator
Friday, January 25, 2008
My inaugural response
This is the inaugural//initial message I am sending regarding this blog site. I am concerned and downright worried about the incessant attacks against Christianity in the media and in the world at large. Since freedom of speech is a cherished American belief, I hope to use this blog in a open but compassionate way, to dispense what few wisdoms I have uncovered. Feel free to post whatever responses you wish, but be forewarned that I do tend to return fire.
Sincerely,
Micah the Moderator
Sincerely,
Micah the Moderator
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