DVR’s have changed the way I watch television. Janelle and I record our favorite shows throughout the week, and then watch them as we have time. One of our long-time favorites has been Law & Order. Since I’ve been battling bronchitis, I’ve been spending more time than usual in my recliner, and have taken the opportunity to clean out the DVR memory. At one time we would have watched Law & Order before anything else, but the series (and its spin-offs) must be sagging in our personal ratings because there were multiple Law & Order episodes dating back several weeks.
Anyone who has watched Law & Order over the years must have noticed its anti-Christian agenda… at least that’s the way the show comes off to me. Its stereotypical born again (they always emphasize “born again”) Christian is a gay-bashing abortion clinic protestor, who lusts for God’s judgment on fornicators, AIDS patients and anyone who believes in natural selection. Special derision is reserved for televangelists, pastors of mega-churches and those attending Christian schools.
My DVR memory included two episodes where gay-bashing preachers were engaged in on-going affairs with male prostitutes, and one where it wasn’t the pastor, but his adult son who just couldn’t repress his homosexuality any longer. In another episode, the defense centered on a father’s belief that God would somehow strike down his daughter if he didn’t kill her evolution-believing science teacher first (after all, the poor girl got an “F” on her intelligent design paper).
So my question is, do the writers of Law & Order perpetuate this false picture of Christianity because they want to tear down the church no matter what lies must be told in order to do it? Or are their perceptions of Christians genuinely that warped? Of course the scariest alternative is this, does Law & Order accurately reproduce the actions and attitudes of American Christianity? Say it ain’t so. I know those stereotypes don’t fit my Christian walk.
So I guess my question is this: Why would non-believers hold such inaccurate views of what Christianity is all about? Is it Hollywood’s fault? Or ours?
I appreciate what Perry Noble says. This is a vast oversimplification, but Perry asserts he doesn’t want the church known for its boycott of Disney, or for other things it's against, but to be known for loving and promoting Jesus. Let me add that the church must promote Jesus with their lives even more than with their words. Read this and this.
The church is a window to the kingdom. More on this in Part 2.
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