Underlying Religion when you're just trying to have fun

[LisaLynne]

Hi, everybody. This is the first time I’ve posted in here, but I thought you guys might understand and sympathize with my current state of frustration and annoyance. This is long. I'm sorry. I'm wordy today.

So, my Christian friend and I were talking about going to a movie this weekend and she had to say she didn’t want to see anything ‘demonic’ such as “Constantine” because that would ‘mess with her faith’. I just couldn’t let it pass, so I said, “Yeah, those of us who don’t believe in demons get tired of seeing them as the villains in every movie, too.”

Because, you know, I do. Don’t get me wrong – I watched ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ religiously (no pun intended) and LOVED it. But, still, if someone makes a movie where there is a Heaven and a Hell and demons and angels, it’s not really how I see the world, either.

The same thing happened when that Kevin Smith movie “Dogma” came out. People freaked out and thought I would love it. I didn’t really. I mean, it was sort of funny in parts, but basically, it’s still taking the position that there is a God, as Christians pretty much perceive (oh, except He can look like a chick sometimes) and that Jesus lived on this planet and all that. So, no, it really didn’t ‘speak’ to me and it wasn’t supposed to.

I don’t know what the point is – I just had to point that out. A lot of these movies that people think are so subversive or whatever about religion still fall into not only the trap of religion but of Christianity in particular. It’s really weird how people don’t realize that. I think that was the point of Modem Butterfly’s post about wearing the ‘atheist’ T-Shirt. People don’t realize how pervasive relgion in general and Christianity in particular is in this culture.

And I guess that’s my total point, if there actually is one in this post. Thanks for listening. :)

[Modem Butterfly]

1. The irony is that Joss Weadon, create of BtVS, is an atheist

That's probably why religion played such a small role in that series.

[Az]

2. Oh yeah, he is on the celeb atheist list

http://www.celebatheists.com/

http://www.celebatheists.com/entries/atheist_38.html#1

On December 15, 1998 the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" official posting board, series creator Joss Whedon provided some background on an episode of the show which featured some religious themes:

<...> Was it God? Well, I'm an atheist, but it's hard to ignore the idea of a "christmas miracle" here (though the PRAY on the marquee was an unintentional coincidence). The fact is, the Christian mythos has a powerful fascination to me, and it bleeds into my storytelling. Redemption, hope, purpose, santa, these all are important to me, whether I believe in an afterlife or some universal structure or not. I certainly don't mind a strictly Christian interpretation being placed on this episode by those who believe that -- I just hope it's not limited to that.

[trotsky]

4. "Redemption, hope, purpose, santa"

Hahaha, that's great. "Santa" gets tacked on the end. :)

[LisaLynne]

6. Hey, I didn't know that!

About Joss, that is. Very interesting because I think one of the reasons I liked the show was that it was rather ambiguous when it came to religious themes. Yeah, Buffy wore a cross usually and it worked against vampires, but they never really TALKED about why it worked.

There is a lot that artists, writers, creative people in general can draw from Christianity because it resonates with people in our culture at such a basic level. So, it's going to pop up once in a while. I can deal with that. It's just when people don't REALIZE it's there that it gets to me, I guess. :)

[trotsky]

3. Meme self-defense.

Ever looked into the "meme" theory? It views ideas, institutions, religions, etc. as much like evolutionary genes where there is competition for "thought time" and they must compete with each other to gain prominence in the human psyche.

Religion in general, and Xianity in particular, often have a self-defense aspect built-in that has led to spectacular success. It basically includes the "sub-meme" of "anything that tests your faith (i.e., has the possibility of swaying you to another meme) is bad and to be avoided."

You can imagine how much that helps a religious belief stay entrenched, when the belief itself says "don't ever question me."

And welcome to this forum! We are glad to have you.

[LisaLynne]

5. Thanks for the welcome!

Yeah, I've done a little reading about the 'meme' theory. It explained sooooo much for me. :)

[onager]

7. Welcome. A great first post!

I wish my posts were that literate and well-thought-out!

Good point about Dogma. I felt sort of the same way about Saved. It was going great until THE VERY END, when it wimped out and went into that schtick about "There must be a Higher Power..."

At which point thousands of us were sitting there baffled and asking: "Why?" ;-)

Anyway, welcome again. I haven't been here that long myself, but this is a great bunch o' grumps in here!

[immoderate]

8. A&A is enhanced by your presence.

And a Buffy fan too!:bounce: Great!

--IMM

[LisaLynne]

9. Aw, just have to thank everybody again ...

for your great welcomes. :) I'm glad to be here!

[PassingFair]

10. I still get a kick out of the "Prophesy" series with Chistopher Walken

Can't tell the "good" angels from the "bad" angels. And Walken is just too funny in his relationships with his partially dead suicide-kicks.