When the Homily is about Immunology

Hollywood loves "the other"

Raymond Ibrahim has an insightful little article about, in part, the new animated film Beowulf. In it he finds the all too typical Hollywood stereotypes: pagans are "Medieval counterparts to the modern, secular, liberal" while Christianity is the great wet blanket of the ages. It's as if before Christianity came along the world was portrayed as a hippy utopia.

Never mind the facts, such as the little one about how the peaceful Christians were brutally persecuted, tortured, and murdered in all manner of horrific ways for centuries by these hippie pagans. Aye, some Christians would later return the favor so I do not wholly agree with everything Ibrahim says here...or at least not with the same conviction.

He is absolutely right, though, that many of the western values and freedoms we cherish are directly attributable to the rise of Christianity and it's teachings. And he's also right that Hollywood LOVES to show Christianity in the poorest light available while holding "the other" in an impossibly best light, which is in reality a very poor light. You get my point.

Ibrahim closes his article brilliantly. Touché!