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Mass media vs. Christianity
by David Conrad There is an ongoing battle in this country for the hearts, minds, and souls of every man, woman, and child. In the battle between the mass media and Christianity, the battle comes down to good versus evil. II Peter 2:1&2 demonstrates it well; "But there will be false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who brought them- bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute." These false teachers have been with us since our beginnings. Modern Christians experienced their first significant taste of this in the Renaissance of the 1300s. Artisans, philosophers, and the literary minds of the day sought to exalt man and his abilities as centrally important to his own fate; replacing God. ("A seismic shift" par. 13) The end of the Renaissance was followed immediately by the age of the 'Enlightenment' of the 1600s. Leaders such as Voltaire and Descartes stated that if God existed, He left man, after creating the earth, to his own devices, to discern his own 'truth'. Right and wrong were, (and in increasing cases still are), considered to be a product of man's own reasoning and not of God's character. ("A seismic shift", par. 14) The 'enlightenment' was enhanced by the Industrial Revolution which, consequently, bolstered man's confidence in his own abilities and self sufficiency, furthering the foolish notion that man needed no God. It is this 'reasoning of truth' and the confidence in man's perceived ability to make his own fate, control his own destiny, that characterizes the venomous pied piper, the mass media. The fact that our country was founded on Christian values and beliefs by our predominantly Christian forefathers is indisputable. And yet the major players in the liberal press have stated otherwise. And when we, as Christians, or our representatives attempt to stand up against something as inherently wrong as abortion, gay rights, etc., we are shouted down as intolerant. We are told that we are inhibiting someone's right to free speech. What of our right to free speech? And if we persist, as we must, the media roll out their stubborn showpiece of revisionist history, "separation of church and state". This was the first of many big lies promoted by the media as 'truth'. This was an illegal addition to the Constitution, without the consent of Congress, by liberal 'justice' Hugo Black in 1947. Mr. Black revised the establishment clause of the first amendment to include intent derived from a personal letter of Thomas Jefferson's, Likely not intended for public consumption, in which an excerpt; "a wall of separation between church and state", was taken out of context and applied in order to prohibit state funding of religion or the aid thereof. ("Separation of Church and State", par. 2) This term has been regurgitated so often in the media and subsequently by word of mouth that statistics show roughly 67% of all Americans believe that it is in the Constitution.("Separation of Church and State", par. 9) This lie and others like it could not stand without the promotion of the mass media and its agenda to eradicate Christianity and its, "impoverished, uneducated, ignorant people" (Bonewits, par. 4) This is truly how the media portrays Christians. Bryant Gumbel apparently exemplifies this 'ignorant' sentiment. After interviewing Robert Knight of the Family Research Council on the subject of the Boy Scouts' refusal to allow homosexuals to be Scout leaders, he, thinking that the cameras were off, muttered; "****ing idiot". (Brennan, par. 7) In another example, former Green Bay Packers, star Reggie White professed his Christian faith in a speech in which he also stated that he was offended by comparisons of the 'plight' of gay rights to that of the civil rights struggle of the 1960s, stating that; "Homosexuality is a decision. It's not a race." CBS, almost immediately cancelled a sports casting contract they had signed with Mr. White. ("War on Christianity", par. 11) This contempt for morality is not unique to the national media alone. Florida newspaper 'journalist' Bob Norman, refers to; "evangelical loonies", and "way out there Christian wackos". Robyn E. Blummer of the St. Petersburg Times stated in a report that Christians are trying in "Taliban-like ways to inject religion into public schools and the operations of government." (Brennan, par. 9) Obviously Ms. Blummer still lives under the delusion that God was never a part of the schools and government to start with. She and the majority of the liberal mass media like her, either remain ignorant due to apathy or refuse to admit the obvious for other, more sinister reasons. While many of these journalists are well educated and even well-read, where the Bible is concerned, they are seemingly devoid of any recollection of God being tied to the inner workings and foundations of this country, which could be the fault of a sub-par public school system, but that's another story altogether. A 1995 study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs show that some 70% of media journalists seldom, if ever, attend any religious service as compared to almost 50% of Americans who attend services more than twice a month. (Limbaugh, pg. 285, par. 2) The most flagrant and recent of the media's contempt for Christianity and His message was the uproar of the media over "The Passion of Christ". In an interview with Dianne Sawyer of ABC, film star and now film maker, Mel Gibson was asked to answer charges of anti-Semitism, and of being a 'hate monger'. Mr. Gibson immediately laughed these allegations off as a ludicrous media smoke screen. In the course of the interview, Ms. Sawyer introduced the views of other religious 'leaders', albeit left wing religious leaders. For reasons they either weren't asked about or wouldn't discuss, these 'leaders' echoed the same slanderous, unfounded, and unwarranted charges as the media. During the entire interview, there was not a single religious leader whose views lined up with the facts and subsequently the movie. The concern of those in the media seems, outwardly, to be that this movie will promote anti-Semitism and cause resentment of Jews among Christians and others, (something the media certainly doesn't promote with its compassionate stance on murderous Muslim extremists). New York Times columnist Frank Rich refers to Mr. Gibson as a "Jew-baiter" (Dobson, par. 6) Amid all this mudslinging is a man; a Christian who, when Hollywood said no and the Holy Spirit was still saying yes, went forward with this project, on his own 'dime' and illustrated one of the most passionate stories ever told in vivid, sometimes breathtakingly graphic fashion. It is a story of faith, hope, love, and forgiveness, of which Mr. Gibson remarked in a Reader's digest interview; "And I think we're desperately in need of those things in the world. I think we're out of control." (Noonan, par. 45) The shameful fact is that Hollywood and the media make money by being shocking or seducing, by scaring or revolting people. The American populace has become so numb and apathetic to the mindless mayhem of movies and TV that when the media and its pundits rant like some rabid atheist about a film that shows the compassion, love, and forgiveness like the 'Passion', it is shrugged off as hype. While this may sell some tickets, those moviegoers will take some negative message away from the movie and miss the point and relevance of the film. Bill O'Reilly said it best when he said of Hollywood; "few of these people are creative enough to [make money] without wallowing in the mud." (O'Reilly, pg. 29, par. 2) We must understand that not all of what the media does is so flagrant. In fact, most of what the media does is covert and subliminal, starting with the very young and continuing until; "he or she is a bit less able to differentiate between the fictional universe and the real world. Thus by its very nature television, like all mass media, filters and changes the reality it mediates." (Fore, par. 11) We as Christians, are here 'for such a time as this' It is time for the menacing, foul-mouthed, atheist media to see the truth of Jesus Christ and all that awaits mankind; to refresh the memory of our fellow Americans and those around the world of the truths, values, and beliefs that motivated the founding fathers of this nation as witnessed in the documents they wrote and in testimony to the God they worshipped. I am a full time college student at Southeastern college. I enjoy writing particularly about those things that stand in opposition to my faith. I have a passion for writing, and consider myself a versatile writer; research, political, fiction, poetry, prose, lyrics, etc. I have examples of the other Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |