One of the "perks" of being in the media biz is every now and then we get a sneak peak at things before they come out. Such is the case with a new documentary to air on HBO called "Friends of God".
It's done by Alexandra Pelosi. Daughter of the new Madame Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She ventures out over a year-long period for up-close and personal encounters with some influential members of the evangelical community, from Joel Osteen, the most-watched TV minister in America, to pastor Ron Luce, the founder of "Battle Cry," a concert tour that has drawn more than two million young people to its events nationwide.
Pelosi also visits with a spectrum of others who embody a wide range of evangelical experiences, among them visitors at religion-themed parks, a Christian comic, creationist educators, Liberty University students and activists in Washington, D.C.
Sadly, one of the main people in this film is disgraced pastor Ted Haggard, who recently stepped down as president of the 30-million strong National Association of evangelicals - the largest evangelical group in the U.S. - following allegations that he had sex with a male prostitute and bought illegal drugs.
It's painful to watch. Not just because it's a far from flattering piece on evangelicals and Christianity in general, but because Pelosi holds up a mirror to those who proclaim Christ and I don't like much of what I see.
Some of it is just odd. The rock concerts for Jesus, the Christian wrestling and the Evangelical Elvis I could without. I know these are well intentioned people, but they make me want cringe and at times I'm embarrassed to be associated in any way with them.
I have no doubt that most non-believers will cheer this film as a hypocritical portrayal of evangelicals. With Ted Haggard as the frontman it's hard to argue that point. We as Christians do more damage to Christianity then any non-believer ever could. We build our own custom Jesus. We pursue our own desires, slap a "God" label on it and think it's great because we feel good and we are doing what we want "for Jesus". With the hyper praise festivals and mega-churches and endless "ministries" that do everything from tattoos to skate boarding, it not hard to see why someone on the outside looking in would think we are all crazy. At times the Evangelical circus is over the top and Jesus becomes more of a brand name rather than the focus.
There are some great Evangelical leaders that are not included in this film. Dr. James Dobson, Rev. Billy Graham and so many other would have been better representatives but that probably would not play as well for the HBO audience.
The one point this film misses is Jesus himself. There is not one perfect Christian out there. If you seek to know Jesus, the worst thing you can do is look at some of his followers. We should be cautious before we buy into a smiling Pastor or a great looking church or a purpose driven distraction.
It's not the greatest film I've ever seen, but it does make you consider how others view Evangelical Christians and many times it's not good.
Premieres Thursday, January 25 at 9pm/8c. on HBO
2 comments:
Your comments about the HBO program is right on in my opinion. Frankly, I came away with just a smidge of FEAR about Fallwell and (paraphrasing his own words) how his Trinity University robots are being programmed for "public service" in government. These kids may come out thinking that they are "serving Jesus", but they are doing nothing of the kind...they are serving a narrow viewpoint not to mention a REAL and INSIDIOUS politital agenda. The comedian fella didn't make me feel much better either. He was spouting the same phony rhetoric about going after "activist judges" and the like (Karl Rove's little brainchild thank you very much). One must think the comedian is another rightwing extremist shill, yet a tad humerous.
Then there are the huge auditoriums filled with children being brainwashed into believing that humans actually lived with dinosaurs! I've traveled through the church doorways of many a different Christian churches and even the Pentacostals weren't this dopey. Someone with a huge purse is funding this little brainwashing experiment, I gotta tell ya!
These so-called Christians (as profiled on the HBO program) are calling themselves patriots...for who? Bush? Blindly following a president (no matter WHO it is) doesn't make you a patriot, it makes you a blithering idiot!
When Pelosi was interviewing the children on their beliefs about "evolution vs creationism", it was painfully obvious that these kids have NO IDEA where the truth lies. Of course they could only repeat what their elders taught them (garbage in, garbage out).
"Creationism" is a religious myth that is told in a multitude of ways in nearly every culture in human history. In the ABSENCE of science, the human mind will develop elaborate theories on "how it all began". Yet, you actually have to look outside the realm of your own teachings to realise this. If everyone on the planet were Hindu, the earth would be riding on the back of an elaborately decorated elephant!
In my travels and studies, I've learned that myths only appear to be truth if one never takes time to learn alternate theories. In the backwoods of America, wing-nut "Christians" have the whole stage and all other messages are drowned out...intentionally. Unfortunately, this is very common all over the world. During the course of human history, religions (all based on myth) have been able to metastocize in a general area, usually seperated by geology or language, and slowly over time became "tradition" and then "truth". When myth becomes "truth", all manner of evil deeds can be justified...including the murder of a "non-believer", or worse...genocide.
Here is the bottom line: NO ONE SINGLE RELIGION has all the answers. They couldn't possibly. When each and every variation on a religion (and all of the major ones have hundreds if not thousands of variations) believes and instructs that they have "the answer" to life and heaven, that "our way is the only TRUE way", how can any of them be correct?
As a life long student of "Christianity" in all of it's forms from pre-Catholism to evangelicals, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, American Indian culture (and on and on), I've discovered some interesting principles that in the end casts a shadow on patriarcal religion period.
Firstly, religion is really a painfully exclusionary process. It teaches many good things about right and wrong (some call this morality), but it also teaches a distorted picture of human worth. For the big three (Christians, Jews and Muslims) you get a picture that anyone outside of your "view" is unworthy of God or your simpatico. A good example of this is early white American "Christian" ideals that brown men are like cattle. I grew up in East Texas where I was brainwashed into almost believing that black slavery was acceptable "according to the Bible". For many whites, this is a sad belief that continues on today. There are still parents (my age) today telling their children that lynching is a GOOD thing. I heard from a friend in junior high that blacks are "marked by the Devil"...his preacher told him so! Auuuugh!!
Another distorted teaching that crosses nearly every religion is on "heaven" and how to qualify for "admittance". Again, 99% of world belief centered around a "heaven" is based upon MYTH. My own personal view on heaven is that you create your own heaven right here on earth. In the same breath you can create your own HELL on earth as well. In my opinion, it is your LEGACY that determines your place in the afterlife. The family you have in heaven will contain the lives you've touched. You will also take into the "afterlife" the pain that you have given to others. In death, everything that you choose not to see in life will become painfully obvious and impossible to hide from. The pain you have given will be the pain you take with you to the other side.
Although I am sincere in these beliefs, I understand the pointlessness of "pushing" my views on others. You can't torture someone into believing as you do, but sharing a viewpoint is acceptable as long as it is solicited. Unfortunately for many, they think that people must die because of alternate "understandings". The real truth is that none of this makes any difference in the end...whether you believe in a Jesus or not!!!
If you have kids you probably have this Disney movie in your library...if you don't, go and rent a copy. It is the story of "Hercules". This story goes back to ancient Greece and slightly predates Christianity as a precursor to early Roman Catholicism. The hero Hercules was a man born as a half God (his father being Zeus). In order to claim his rightly position by his god father, he must sacrifice himself unselfishly for another. Wait...that sounds like the Jesus story (except that Jesus died for our sins, right?). My point is that every culture has created a hero in which to worship that was "pure, of God, and attained a position by God because of a personal or life sacrifice".
Ever since religion was invented, people have been killing each other over differences in their beliefs (usually at the behest of a twisted dictatorial ruler). In order to attempt to keep early Christians from warring against each other, the first Vatican was created as a way to bring the many different sects together and to create one uniform "manuscript" just as Judaism had thier Torah. Hundreds of manuscripts were evaluated from the many sects and whittled down to the books we find in the current Bible (a couple more were trimmed down for the Protestant versions). In some of the books that were discarded, Jesus wasn't even main focus. Some sects had Judas as the hero figure. In fact, it was written that Judas was Jesus's brother and that it was he (Judas) who was killed and not Jesus. This line of thought also lives on today in Muslim teachings (the Koran) in that "someone that looked like Jesus" was the one actually crucified in place of Jesus. Its no wonder that the early Catholics in order to put their foot on the throat of alternate views proclaimed that the Bible is "The Word of God". Muslims and Jews also use this terminology for their manuscripts.
With the new "Bible", the enterprise of Christianity was born. It was written that one of the original Vatican members mentioned to another that this new religion would be the greatest racket ever created. Ouch.
Since this blog was originally about the HBO program, I'll sum this up on this note: YOU ARE NOT IN CONTROL as long as you follow the wingnuts profiled on this program. Believing in a mythical god figure is not reason enough to devalue the life of another. Whether or not Jesus was real or whether he died on a cross as some say he did is not justification to slaughter someone who does not share your belief. If you believe what is written in the Bible, surely you must know that Jesus was a peaceful man. Those that preach war and utter the name of Jesus in the same breath are the "Anti-Christ" (metaphorically speaking of course)...and it sours the earth when people are killed under the veil of such venomous lies.
God Bless and keep your wits about you...the gate keepers are not on your side! I hope wisdom and honest discussion prevails over some of the hateful attacks that are sure to come in response to this blog....
in your replies to the above blog, please call me AgnositicOne so everyone will know who you are talking about :)
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