Saturday, March 05, 2005
Preaching Morals Via Harry Potter, Homer Simpson and Andy Griffith
About two thousand years ago, Jesus told the parable of the weeds in the field to illustrate how wheat -- the good people of the world -will be separated from the weeds -- the bad ones.
Today, some pastors believe, the focus would be on the sheriff of Mayberry.
"Lo, Andy Griffith was a sheriff in a town called Mayberry. And he angered a local publisher when he gave him a speeding ticket. The publisher took revenge by printing a false article about the sheriff. Is it right for one man to use his job to vengefully punish another for doing his job?"
Recent years have seen pastors and church lecturers increasingly rely on parables involving such pop culture icons as Andy Griffith; Harry Potter; and Wilson, the volleyball from the movie "Cast Away" to teach morals and Bible lessons.
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO WHOM?
Lynn Schofield Clark, an assistant research professor in the religion department at the University of Colorado, said book publishers are responding to the popular spirituality movement by putting out as many types of "The Gospel According to (insert pop culture figure here)" books as there are references to God in the shows.
"This is a franchise in publishing, and that's an indication that people are interested and are buying them," Clark said.
The Rev. Steve Hein at St. Andrew's-Covenant Presbyterian Church, also in Wilmington, said there are programs for pastors that will match a Bible lesson or Scripture with a relevant movie or television clip. He shows film and TV clips in his contemporary services on Saturday nights and sometimes makes movie references in his Sunday sermons.
Frank Benedetti, a gay-rights activist from Winston-Salem, N.C., said he recently spoke at a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on the "The Gospel According to Harry Potter."
He compared Harry's experience of being ostracized in his home and at school because of his magic powers to the experience of a gay person in an intolerant environment.
"When Harry was sent to Hogwarts School of Magic, he blossomed because people accepted him there," Benedetti said.
That's similar to how gays feel once they don't have to hide their identity, he said.
"Like Harry, the problem gays and lesbians have is they are made invisible," Benedetti said. "I asked the Unitarians, How are we -- do we go out of our way to make gays and lesbians or minorities feel accepted?"
MORAL IS THE MESSAGE
Hollywood has figured out that subtle spirituality sells, said Conrad Ostwalt Jr., a religion professor at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.
"There are programs and movies that are not so explicitly religious in their messages, like `The Andy Griffith Show,' but offer a popular values or ethical system or spirituality," he said.
Clark said she sees vague spirituality represented in "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer," "The XFiles" and "The Matrix" movies.
" `Touched by An Angel' demonstrated that a program could be explicitly about spirituality and vaguely about religion. It danced around that," she said. "Since then, there's been a lot of experimentation."
Ever since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Clark added, "there has been a turn to interest in religion and larger questions -- about why are we here -- in the general public. I think people in Hollywood aren't making these decisions because they think religion is good, but it's profitable."
For many churches "popular culture can be a way of discussing religion in a non-threatening way," Clark said.
By AMANDA GREENE
New York Times Regional Newspapers
Amanda Greene writes for the Star-News in Wilmington, N.C.
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