   
IRC Nickname: Wayne|Eregion2 Group: Emeritus Posts: 3087 Member No.: 156 Joined: January 25, 2008 Total Events Attended: 8    | I wrote an essay-type post on the previous forums a while back. Since I can't log in to those forums anymore, I'd like to save a copy.  If someone could copy-paste it for me quick I'd be very grateful; the title of the thread was "Fantastic Religion".
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IRC Nickname: Zlat Group: Clan Friend Posts: 2781 Member No.: 9 Joined: December 29, 2007 Total Events Attended: 60 | | QUOTE | Dear God, I'm writing an unassigned essay during Christmas break. :emo2: Maybe I'll be able to use it for something down the road; in any case though I thought it might prove to be an interesting read for many of you. I posted most of this on another forum several weeks ago during a debate concerning The Golden Compass, but since then I've been mulling over it and got it into a good essay form this morning.
[align=center]Fantastic Religion
An Analysis of Modern Christian Culture and Fantasy Literature[/align]
There is an inherent connection between religion and modern fantasy. Even as a Christian I am willing to admit this fact. Neither the existence of elves or of angels can be proven in today's world, yet both Christianity and many elements of modern fantasy carry their meaning not in reality but rather through theology and philosophy, by making moral judgments of what is right or wrong in society.
Because of this inherent connection, religion can often be defined as a sort of extreme fantasy which claims to be literally, as well as metaphorically, real. Because religion often finds itself appealing to individuals in the same way as fantasy, many partakers of various religious ideological backgrounds feel threatened by any mainstream fantastic ideology which conflicts with their own beliefs.
However, the issue does not stop only at the message of the fiction itself, but often first involves the perceived perspective of the writer. If the originator of a fantasy is a member of a religious group or sect which is respected by the mainstream religious community, his or her works are more likely to meet with little to no criticism, and to actually receive praise from the religious community at large.
This duplicity can easily be seen in a comparison of the cinematic representations of The Bridge to Terabithia and The Golden Compass. Katherine Paterson, the author of The Bridge to Terabithia, is a committed Christian and defined her work through her beliefs. Even though her two main characters are children who prayed to the forest spirits of Terabithia, and where one out-right questioned the existence of God on strongly atheistic grounds while the other has a very shaky standing for his own theological beliefs, there was no dramatic public outrage when her book as adapted into a children's movie with a PG rating because it was considered to be "safe" due to the author's beliefs.
Phillip Pullman, however, who wrote the His Dark Materials Trilogy which includes The Golden Compass, is a committed atheist who holds that the existence of God is not only improbable based on his views of world affairs, but also simply irrational. Despite the fact that he is a very well-mannered individual who speaks freely about his beliefs and has proven to be accepting of other peoples' personal beliefs time and again, he has been attacked relentlessly for the content within his books which is deemed to be anti-Christian, even after The Golden Compass earned a rating of PG-13.
In fact, both Katherine Paterson and Phillip Pullman are very similar in how they handle their own beliefs and respond to the beliefs held by others, with the key dissimilarity that one is a Christian and the other is an atheist. Although this point of view is somewhat justified, it removes the possibility of reviewing a book or movie on its own merits, and denies the possibility that a book written by an atheist could be just as truthful as a book written by a Christian.
The discontinuity in this frame of mind is dramatized even more when you consider the Chronicles of Narnia, written by a C.S. Lewis. The series is revered not only because of its strong Christian theme, but also because its message is perceived to be appropriate in introducing those Christian themes to a young audience in a way which is both easily understandable and enjoyable. Yet, if you are familiar with the life of C.S. Lewis, you will know that he spend thirty years living with a woman who was not his wife.
During an interview, Katherine Paterson was asked "What do you make of the idea that children's books should be "safe"?" In response, Paterson replied: "Well, don't give them the Bible, then, because it's certainly not a safe book. Safety and faith are different things. If you want everything to be safe, then you can probably just totally do without the imagination. If you're so afraid of your imagination that you stifle it, how are you going to know God? How can you imagine heaven?"
This connection between religion and the imagination is probably the most threatening to modern Christianity, not because it is true or false but because many Christians feel that it is an absolute sin to imply imagination has any place in religion. Yet, how can we believe in something we cannot see or experience without imagining it? How can I profess to believe in the existence of real angels and demons if I cannot imagine their existence? In this respect, the tenants of Christianity have been around so long that they have been adopted as fact, and the aspect of true belief is overshadowed by generations of dogmatism.
During the Renaissance Era in European history, the church at large earned a reputation for supporting the arts and damning science. Now, however, the conflict has shifted from reality to fiction, and is now a battle over not what people necessarily think, but what they profess to believe. This is ironic in a world where religion is becoming a political rather than a personal sphere of influence.
Pullman and others are not being attacked because their fiction is at odds with Christianity, but rather because Christianity has been subverted by a political-style ideology. Instead of using these opportunities to enhance healthy and open-minded debate on theological and philosophical issues tied to the inter-twining of religion and modern fantasy, mainstream religious groups would rather crucify authors like Pullman rather than admit there is any possible basis for their work. In this respect, they are not acting as disciples of Christ but rather as the Pharisees who paid the Judas Price, and are effectively damning their own ability to appeal to modern society |
Do you want more , that is just from your first post ^? --------------------   |
IRC Nickname: Wayne|Eregion2 Group: Emeritus Posts: 3087 Member No.: 156 Joined: January 25, 2008 Total Events Attended: 8 | That's what I was after, tyvm Zlatan. 
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