Hollywood: Taking Aim at Christianity

I have an argument to make.

Numerous platforms are often abused and ridiculed in many media outlets – Christianity is just one that has known its share of persecution over the centuries. This is something we do know. As if the debate circuit wasn’t already heated and crowded enough, there has been an extensive fall-out in the Christian – and more recently home school sphere about the new ABC comedy GCB. Also adding their voices to the controversy has been a presidential candidate, politicians and a conservative radio host plus a number of retailers are either pulling their sponsorship or adds during the show. To be upfront, most of you probably saw that I did watch its pilot episode, and being a Christian, I didn’t find it offensive enough to be enraged by it because I chose not to take the characters seriously. In no way am I meaning this post as a defense of the show because at its worst it does paint a horrible picture of Christians and those of us who are Christians should be able to recognize not just how blatant that picture appears but also to take it in stride and realize that this isn’t the only cultural issue that needs to be addressed.

Recently Michael Farris (a founding member of HSLDA) wrote an article on the show, much of which I have no wish to dispute but I would also argue if we are being asked to essentially “shun” this show because of its disrespectful manner, then we should in actuality stop supporting everything that comes out of Hollywood. Watching movies or television shows has never been something I’ve questioned in terms of giving up that small piece of delight all together – nor is it something I am contemplating. My family was always very cautious about what we saw growing up and in fact as a young girl, I didn’t watch all that many movies, period. My mother encouraged us to be outside and to be imaginative in our play time but with that said, as an adult, I have never thought, “I really should stop watching movies altogether.” I know a family who are very strict about what they see so they watch nearly no films and I don’t have a problem with that at all if it is a conviction and something they feel strongly about but then I’d also suggest to them to not watch anything: a.) because they always find something bothersome about the context of the movie, and b.) because there isn’t a movie out there that does not promote something you as a moral viewer will disagree with (even if it is only bad-mannered behavior).

It is true that not every production mocks Christianity as GCB does but every mainstream movie actually does by going against everything we condone and believe in, everything we teach our children is wrong. I get that is the real argument with this show. At the movies anything and everything is “acceptable” as is that same behavior almost expected in society. As a young Christian who still has a lot to learn, I am not going to be swayed by GCB’s message. Knowing that, I do realize that the audience this is targeting are non-Christians who already think all Christians are hypocrites. In his article Mr. Farris made the point that if this were any other religion being mocked there would be complete outrage, something I do agree with. Maybe I am just dense, but I did not view this as anything worse than any of the other PG13-rated movies I may have seen. Granted those don’t use the Christian faith directly as a dart board but they do disregard everything righteous and moral – in spades, and in fact, glorify it.

Blatant disregard of the marriage vows manifested in glorified adultery is just as big of a “problem” as anything as are numerous other “sins” easily and proudly depicted in movies or television and yet, there is not a crusade launched against them. In our world today, what are politicians doing engaging in a “debate” over something so trivial as a television show? Maybe it has the potential to have a long-lasting impact but I seriously have my doubts. There are so many more prominent and important issues plaguing our world than a show – our freedoms is just one such issue. I realize that most, if not all of you probably vehemently disagree with me, and that is okay; I respect that. However, I have been a bit annoyed at the outrage over this show when in fact there is a number of equally horrible programming out there: Where is the disgust for that? Has anyone protested the sexually promiscuous programs that air on Showtime Network? True perhaps this is the only one that currently has airtime and is using Christianity as its target but nevertheless, if we are going to protest one show, shouldn’t we examine and question the rest of what is airing on our televisions? 

Categories: ABC, Christianity, Culture, GCB, Opinions, Politics, TV Show

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