New "Narnia" Film Stirs Religious Controversy
C.S. Lewis' classic series, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, opens this friday. And it is getting some headlines. ABC has an interesting article: "Case in point is Liam Neeson, who voices Aslan, the resurrected lion in the upcoming film. The actor said at a news conference last week that his character doesn't necessarily represent Christ. That might be news to Lewis, though, who wrote the opposite before he died in 1963...."Aslan symbolizes a Christlike figure, but he also symbolizes for me Mohammed, Buddha and all the great spiritual leaders and prophets over the centuries," Neeson said.
Really?
Ahh yes...the old "all religions basically teach the same thing" and "that may be true for you but not for me" slogans at work once again in pop-culture. But this is instructive--look at what Neeson says: "but he also symbolizes for me Mohammed..." He subjectivizes the claim. He is no longer talking about reality out there somewhere (objective reality) but rather his own preferences, feelings, and tastes (subjective). As a matter of historical record it would be hard to find two historical figures more different than Jesus (who forgave and died for his enemies) and Mohammed (who killed his enemies and died for no one). I don't say this because I am a Christian or because I want to belittle Islam--this is simply a fact of history. And, regardless of preferences, no one (not even celebrities with cool voices) has the ability or authority to redefine reality according to their own desires.
Really?
Ahh yes...the old "all religions basically teach the same thing" and "that may be true for you but not for me" slogans at work once again in pop-culture. But this is instructive--look at what Neeson says: "but he also symbolizes for me Mohammed..." He subjectivizes the claim. He is no longer talking about reality out there somewhere (objective reality) but rather his own preferences, feelings, and tastes (subjective). As a matter of historical record it would be hard to find two historical figures more different than Jesus (who forgave and died for his enemies) and Mohammed (who killed his enemies and died for no one). I don't say this because I am a Christian or because I want to belittle Islam--this is simply a fact of history. And, regardless of preferences, no one (not even celebrities with cool voices) has the ability or authority to redefine reality according to their own desires.
Read the rest of the article here.
Labels: Movies, Pluralism, Pop Culture, Relativism, Truth
posted by Jonathan Morrow at
12:28 PM
2 Comments:
Sometimes, I can't help but wonder if celebrities actually believe those sorts of things or if they're just trying to avoid being blacklisted for taking a stand on a position...even it's the wrong position.
My guess is that it started out as the latter and gradually becoming the former as our culture is more and more indoctrinated with relativistic thinking.
Either way, these types of statements are obviously made without actually doing any investigation of that facts. Anyone who has ever actually looked into the differences between various faith systems would know that they can't possibly all be true as they make contradictory claims.
Fortunately, we have ministries like this that help to get the Truth out there and educate people on how to think critically.
My bet - but admittedly it's 100% conjecture - is that it's less about Neeson's view on religion and more about publicity "talking points" the stars could have been given to try to have the film reach as wide of an audience as possible - in this case, by not purposely alienating believers of other religions. Doesn't make it right, but makes it less sinister...
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