During the 2004 USA re-election campaign of George W. Bush, it was hip to be a “Christian.” The so-called “Evangelical vote” was key in politics. Many political commentators cited this as the reason for his reelection. Do you remember the 2004 Passion of the Christ mega boxoffice numbers? And hype? Remember when all the studios were suddenly interested in the Christian market? Contemporary Christian Music was suddenly being packaged and sold by Time-Life Music through television advertising. The 2004 religiously backed “One Man One Woman” campaign struck terror in the gay community. The Republicans courted evangelicals big time and enjoyed political endorsements from Jerry Falwell, John Hagee, Pat Robertson, and others.
Now four years later all of that has changed. The attempt to cash in on The Passion’s “Christian” market failed with both Mel Gibson’s 2005 The Passion Recut and the 2006 Nativity Story from New Line, with a flimsy $7,849,304 on opening weekend. James Caviezel, who played Jesus in The Passion, failed to reap any similar boxoffice benefit, as his follow-up Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius demonstrated with a total take of a mere $2,694,071. The latest Narnia episode fell well below expectations, signaling a softer Christian support than had been there for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Examples of failed attempts to cash in on this evangelical market are numerous.
Everything has changed. Religion is now viewed with suspicion.
In his 2008 campaign for president, Mike Huckabee’s solid evangelical faith and backing could not secure the Republican ticket. Huckabee was continually dogged by reporters in regard to his faith. Mitt Romney was strongly criticized for being a Mormon. (One televangelist proclaimed: “A vote for Romney is a vote for satan.”) And Obama’s former pastor at the mainstream United Church of Christ has been under close scrutiny, placing Obama in the uncomfortable position of dropping his church membership. The presumptive Republican nominee John McCain’s political appeal is due to his appearance of being nonpartisan and less ideological and religious. He has distanced himself from and rejected the endorsements of two influential Evangelical pastors, Rev. John Hagee and Rev. Rod Parsley. The director of InsideCatholic, Deal W. Hudson, correctly observes, “Never before, however, has the leader of the Republican Party made such a point of distancing himself and the party” from the Righteous Right. the Obama and McCain campaigns point away from religion, not toward it. There has been a fundamental (pun intended) change in the popular perception of religious belief and practice.
This distancing and intolerance may also be seen in the Texas Child Protective Services April 2008 raid of FLDS Church. There was little public media support or empathy for these committed people of faith who literally had their children taken from them. Religious suspicion trumped parental rights. Police action was taken because of allegation of wrong doing, not because of actual evidence. It took Texas Supreme Court action to reverse this tragic event and return the children to their parents.
In 2005, American Protestants fell below 50% of the population: a historical first. I was talking to a former aide of pollster George Barna the other day, who told me that their research showed that 80% of evangelical young adults between the ages of 18 and 30 years do not attend regular church services (they do not identify their faith with a congregational experience). In April 2008 CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) magazine went out of publication with the editor pointing out that the term “contemporary Christian music” was dated and in some cases downright offensive.
Return to Inner Focus: Christians Marketing to Themselves
The effort to Christianize America and Christianize Hollywood is over. The Religious Right is not the force it was when it helped bring Ronald Reagan to the presidency. The force that the Moral Majority was is now a piece of history. These sorts of things are generally over. In fact, such activism has been in free fall for some time now. In its place, an inner refocus has developed among Christian filmmakers.
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June 9th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Well said, David. The winds have shifted. Will we be ready to go with God’s flow? We’ll see….
June 12th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
While I’m concerned about many of the movies you mentioned, I do have two exceptions. I found Iron Man to be quite uplifting (despite the raunchiness of the character in the early part of the movie), since it demonstrated his path toward redemption and the idea of using one’s power (or, in this case, riches/intellect) for good rather than evil, even when it’s hard. No, he was definitely not a perfect messiah — but history holds only One who fits that description. Twilight, too, has me intrigued — the book upon which it is based is not your typical vampire horror novel. It has many spiritual undertones… especially in the idea of a vampire struggling against his desire for blood in order to protect the girl he loves (sin nature, anyone?). Who knows if this will come through in the movie, but it makes for great reading.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Amy–I agree wholeheartedly with your comments. I really like the way this article discusses the perception of faith in the cultural landscape. But I too loved “Iron Man.” It’s true that people seem to “connect” more readily with flawed superheroes, but I don’t think that this is necessarily a recent development in the superhero genre. Iron Man was ever meant to be a messiah figure to begin with (I think he was first introduced in 1963)–in fact, he struggles with the very real problem of alcoholism, I believe. I think that this movie is uplifting in that it shows a flawed–sinful–human being waking up to the fact that he has been following the wrong path, and finding meaning in a new purpose.
Regarding the vampire genre overall–I find it interesting that Joel Silver’s “Moonlight” series (which was recently cancelled by CBS despite having a hugely devoted cult following) presented a protagonist who is set apart from his fellow vamps by the fact that he struggles against his baser vampire instincts. I think that if someone were to ever delve into the vampire genre, some interesting spiritual issues might emerge.
June 24th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I totally agree, Christine. We identify more with the human dilemma that with perfection. Moonlight is a good example. Interestingly vampire-yet-human stories have seen an amazing and recent interest in our culture.
January 31st, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I never read twilight, but have many and I mean MANY who have. The problem I have with the books is how easily things get put before Christ. Vampirism is just another way to escape Hell. Jesus’ return is completely out of the equation which to me means that even if I couldn’t die naturally then still one day I would be held accountable. I would still need Jesus just as much as if I was a vampire than I would be a human. My friends have said Edward believes there is no place for vampires and they are eternally damned. Bella convinces him that he is not damned. Jesus is out of that salvation equation and the idea that Good people are saved and bad people are damned. That idea of regeneration while sounding nice is false and very dangerous and is the main reason why I haven’t read the series. Also purity is replaced with sensuality and an Eternal Heaven with Jesus Christ, my savior, Lord, and Creator is replaced with an uncertain future with a woman founded on lust instead of Godly love as it should be. The mission of Stephanie Meyer is obviously not to bring people to Christ if she introduces salvation without Jesus. Jesus Himself said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one gets to the Father except through Me.” To me life without Jesus would have no meaning, no matter who I spend it with. That is something Bella and Edward will have to learn sooner or later.