Narnia Unhinges Atheist Clergy
I'm half enjoying / half mystified by the not-so-underground "militant atheist" reaction to the new Narnia movies.
The enjoyment is a guilty pleasure: pure schadenfreude seeing unpleasant people make fools of themselves in public. The mystified part comes when pondering the source of the emotional power fueling their irrational foot-in-mouth behavior. It's not like the Narnia books are new. Nor is their popularity a flash in the pan.
And, of course, the Christian allegory contained within the books (as it undeniably is) runs in only one direction. I don't know of a Christian child anywhere who learned Christianity via Narnia. For the most part children reading the books entirely miss any Christian allegory unless an adult explicitly draws it for them. They're really just gripping tales told within a framework compatible with Christian belief.
Yet much of what is being objected to by the "militant atheists" seems less about Christianity than about other issues. From the link above:
Can I get an Amen?!!
Seriously, some of the best fire & brimstone preaching today comes from sermonizing atheists. Lacking an objective Hell, they seek to inflict one upon those fallen from the Truth in rhetorical form. Pity their poor congregations, whipped into ethical line by preachers offering plenty of Hell to avoid, but no Heaven to speak of.
For the record, I'm seriously looking forward to the upcoming film release. If enough atheists blow a gasket over it, I might even go twice.
The enjoyment is a guilty pleasure: pure schadenfreude seeing unpleasant people make fools of themselves in public. The mystified part comes when pondering the source of the emotional power fueling their irrational foot-in-mouth behavior. It's not like the Narnia books are new. Nor is their popularity a flash in the pan.
And, of course, the Christian allegory contained within the books (as it undeniably is) runs in only one direction. I don't know of a Christian child anywhere who learned Christianity via Narnia. For the most part children reading the books entirely miss any Christian allegory unless an adult explicitly draws it for them. They're really just gripping tales told within a framework compatible with Christian belief.
Yet much of what is being objected to by the "militant atheists" seems less about Christianity than about other issues. From the link above:
Narnia is the perfect Republican, muscular Christianity for America — that warped, distorted neo-fascist strain that thinks might is proof of right. I once heard the famous preacher Norman Vincent Peel in New York expound a sermon that reassured his wealthy congregation that they were made rich by God because they deserved it. The godly will reap earthly reward because God is on the side of the strong. This appears to be CS Lewis's view, too. In the battle at the end of the film, visually a great epic treat, the child crusaders are crowned kings and queens for no particular reason. Intellectually, the poor do not inherit Lewis's earth.
Can I get an Amen?!!
Seriously, some of the best fire & brimstone preaching today comes from sermonizing atheists. Lacking an objective Hell, they seek to inflict one upon those fallen from the Truth in rhetorical form. Pity their poor congregations, whipped into ethical line by preachers offering plenty of Hell to avoid, but no Heaven to speak of.
For the record, I'm seriously looking forward to the upcoming film release. If enough atheists blow a gasket over it, I might even go twice.
Posted by Doug Williams on
Sunday December 4, 2005 at 10:10pm
