Christianity Monitored By MPAA

[Afgncaap5]

Again, I don't think that anything's been made illegal yet. So far, all we have is social conditioning in a few basic ways: schools here and there occasionally try their hand at making it harder for prayer to take place in public or for teachers to cite the Bible in literature classes, etc.

Rare events, and they're almost always struck down pretty quickly, but it's the type of thing that it's not a bad idea to be on the lookout for. The bad news is that it leads to a lot of folks jumping the gun on a lot of issues that they really shouldn't be concerned about.

[In_Stereo]

admin said:

To me, anyone who tries to censor Christians are the same people as those who want to force Christianity on everyone. Christianity is not becoming illegal in this country, except in the mind of Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly. You could say, "Oh no the Christians are trying to make Halloween illegal" becuase many Christians have protested against Halloween as a pagan, Satanic holiday - but seriously, NEITHER Halloween or Christian holidays are becoming illegal.

That's why In-Stereo is exaggerating. Maybe if he said there is an increase of millitant atheists trying to remove religion from the public square, I might buy that, but not the illegalization of his religion.

I was about to agree with you, but then an autoimmune response kicked in and told me to think a little harder.

First of all, for someone who disassociates himself with liberals so much, you have a very liberal reaction to a lot of these issues. What I mean is, you have a very nasty tendency to let your immediate emotional reaction dictate most of your opinions, whereas I always find within me the wherewithal to say "Well, hang on a minute." Like the Alex Jones thing. Just because someone gets up there and shouts and argues passionately (well, I haven't watched the video, so I don't know about the shouting, but I do know Alex Jones does a lot of that), you're all set to give him credibility, while I can step back and realise that the volume of someone's voice doesn't make untrue things true.

(And before you accuse me of dragging that into this thread unnecessarily; if I hadn't put an example, you would have asked me "Like when?" anyway.)

Now, to this post...

You don't get out much, do you, Forrest? No Christian has ever tried to "force Christianity" on everyone. I mean, I can understand not wanting to join in a prayer at a graduation, but the fact that we're saying one doesn't mean we're trying to "force" it on anyone.

And how can you say that Christian holidays are not becoming illegal? It's illegal to have a creche on display in public, it's considered more and more inappropriate to say "Merry Christmas," and it's now forbidden in schools to teach anything remotely related to Christianity in December-- we can't say "Jesus" or sing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," but we can hand out dreidels and lead students in "Celebrate Kwanzaa" chants. I mean, sure, every now and again a court will yell at some Jews to feign consistency, but then they'll get right back to the Christian-bashing as quickly as they can. As much as I hate to sound like a right-wing conspiracy theorist, it really does very often feel like the legislation is right around the corner. (you must understand where I'm saying this from; I live in New Jersey, a.k.a. The United States Center for the Confused and Helpless.)

But I guess it's a perfectly plausible argument: someone wants to display a creche or say a prayer, so that obviously means they're trying to establish Christianity as the national religion. Yup, a "Happy Easter" here, a picture of a cross there, and you might as well start calling this country "Jesusland."

"But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother." -George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

[Unsavory]

Forrest, the episode you're looking for is The Death Camp of Tolerance. Season 6, but I don't know the specific episode number. Disc 3 if you have it on dvd.

Further than that, I don't know what more to add to this argument. Forrest is covering me pretty well.

[spacechief]

I think movies should be rated by their content, not their message. "Passion of Christ" definitely deserved an R rating, because it was violent not because it was Christian. "Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie" deserved G because it was totally harmless and are you really going to rate something higher because of teaching about compassion and mercy?
On the flip side I think the "Left Behind" movie got underrated. It was PG as far as I could remember but I thought it was way too intense for younger kids, and there were some violent scenes like the bloody guy after the rapture and Nikolai Carpathia killing his two friends.
In the end I don't think its a major issue.... yet.

[Chuck]

What do you think the MPAA would rate the old Tom & Jerry cartoons today?

[Unsavory]

spacechief said:

I think movies should be rated by their content, not their message. "Passion of Christ" definitely deserved an R rating, because it was violent not because it was Christian. "Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie" deserved G because it was totally harmless and are you really going to rate something higher because of teaching about compassion and mercy?
On the flip side I think the "Left Behind" movie got underrated. It was PG as far as I could remember but I thought it was way too intense for younger kids, and there were some violent scenes like the bloody guy after the rapture and Nikolai Carpathia killing his two friends.
In the end I don't think its a major issue.... yet.

I know nothing about the Veggie Tales movie aside from what I've read here, but compassion and mercy are one thing. Christian values are great, and of course they have a place in G movies. Aggressive attempts at conversion are totally different though, and I don't see a problem with pasting a mild warning label up there.

[spacechief]

intestinal said:

spacechief said:

I think movies should be rated by their content, not their message. "Passion of Christ" definitely deserved an R rating, because it was violent not because it was Christian. "Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie" deserved G because it was totally harmless and are you really going to rate something higher because of teaching about compassion and mercy?
On the flip side I think the "Left Behind" movie got underrated. It was PG as far as I could remember but I thought it was way too intense for younger kids, and there were some violent scenes like the bloody guy after the rapture and Nikolai Carpathia killing his two friends.
In the end I don't think its a major issue.... yet.

I know nothing about the Veggie Tales movie aside from what I've read here, but compassion and mercy are one thing. Christian values are great, and of course they have a place in G movies. Aggressive attempts at conversion are totally different though, and I don't see a problem with pasting a mild warning label up there.

Well then the question becomes who decides what deserves warning labels? Would you give one to "Shark Tale" because of it's homosexual undertones or are these warning labels on kids movies only for Christian movies?

[Unsavory]

Wasn't Shark Tales PG to begin with though? If an otherwise G rated movie has homosexual undertones, then yes. It should absolutely get the same treatment.

[spacechief]

OK then as long as everyone gets the same deal I'm fine with it.

Oh and yes, Shark Tale was PG, but for mild language and crude humor.

[themanosguy]

I think these people are unfairly crying "OPPRESION" when if you look at both sides of the spectrum, movies that would be given G are given PG or sometime PG 13 for homosexual themes.

ANY preachy themes are "thematic elements" and the PG rating is given. Be it Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, if it has a religious theme, it's controversy, it gets PG or PG 13. That's how the MPAA works. If it's not friendly to EVERYONE it gets PG.

I hate our society for poopie like this. We know this group would not stand by when a good natured non christian religious film is given a PG, but when they are the victims, it's oppression, when the fact is there is no unfairness here, just a chance to bitch.

[Afgncaap5]

Man, this conversation opened up a can of worms I wasn't quite expecting. Still interesting to read, though.