No, I am not talking about the Newsboys song. I am talking about all the boycotting that Christians feel that they need to do. There was a time when I used to agree with boycotting everything and anything that a Christian leader feels I need to boycott. I have received emails telling me not to go see certain movies, read certain books, etc. And honestly in some ways it makes me want to see them/read them all the more. I want to personally know why it may or may not be bad, not just take someone’s word for it.
Before you go any further, I really want to encourage you take your time and read this. Stop and pray to calm yourself if necessary. I know that as I typed this I did that, because I didn’t want any of it to come out angry or spiteful. Thanks.
There are some things that I obviously do not need to discover for myself that is clearly bad. Like pornography. I know it is bad and I have heard countless testimonies from people who were in the industry and people who were addicted to porn. You can check out some of these testimonies yourself over at xxxchurch.com, they have several because that is their ministry.
I have heard the cries to boycott Harry Potter, and in the interest of full disclosure I was one of those, but then I decided to do the educated thing and actually read them for myself and see the movies. To my surprise I didn’t find them to be evil or even something that would cause someone to fall into witchcraft, because it supposedly taught it. I can even remember having a discussion with a youth pastor about it who gave all kinds of arguments about how he heard this and that, so I let him know that those things were not true at all. He then added that he heard that in the next book, which was going to be
Now comes the newest thing that Christians are crying for us to boycott. It is the movie and book, The Golden Compass, from the series His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. I have never read the books and I was only aware of them in the last few months or so, even though they have been out since 1995. But I am intrigued to read them because I would like to know what it is that the hub-bub is all about and so that I can do my best to intellectually talk with people about them. I do plan on going to see the movie when it comes out and would love to go with a group of people so that we can discuss it afterwards and weigh Pullman’s world view against our world views as Christ-followers. But before I go any further I want to talk about the word boycott.
I looked up the definition on dictionary.com and this was the first entry, which what I believe Christians are meaning when they call for the boycott of this and other movies, books, etc.
…to combine in abstaining from, or preventing dealings with, as a means of intimidation or coercion.
So when people are crying for the boycott of The Golden Compass they are hoping to intimidate or coerce movie studios from producing more movies of this kind. I am not so sure that it actually happens. When Christians made a big stink about movies like The Last Temptation of Christ (yeah, that is going old school) or The Da Vinci Code, to name a couple, have they actually hurt those movies? According to box office reports, no. I would even say that the cries for boycotts gave the movie even more publicity, and free at that, causing more people to go and see it. I read the reviews of these movies after they came out and the critics panned them, but they were box office successes because people wanted to go see them to see why Christians were so mad (and maybe even just to piss off Christians). I believe these movies would have bombed if there wasn’t the public cry for a boycott.
I totally understand people making personal decisions based on their own convictions to not go and see The Golden Compass. I can respect that. Paul even talks about how some people can eat certain foods and other can’t in 1 Corinthians 8. And I think it applies here, because some people can handle the material in these books and movie while others can not.
And I know that someone will comment and say, “But this is reading evil, satanic literature and as Christians we should not do that.” Well, before you do let me also point out that in Acts 17:28, Paul uses one of the Greek poets when he is speaking to the people in Athens. So you see Paul studied their literature so that he could more effectively speak with the people there. I believe that we as Christ-followers should do the same thing.
I only want to read the books and see the movie, because I may encounter someone who has read them and come to the same conclusion as Philip Pullman and so then I can maybe speak to them more effectively.
But besides all of that, I am really getting sick of the Church constantly letting the world know what it is that we are against and I do not hear the Church showing what it is we are for enough. I was just reading today in Colossians and chapter 3, verse 12-15 hit me….
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
We need to really think about if our boycotting movies, books, etc. is doing these things. Not to mention that, but how are we responding with fellow Christ-followers who may or may not want to see these things. The world is watching and everything we do and say sends a message, but the question is what message is it sending?
I do not know anything about Philip Pullman or his books other than things I have read online or heard from friends. But I ran across this blog and was impressed with his take on it and on Philip himself, it is a long read but well written, in my opinion. It led me to wonder if Philip Pullman and his desire to “kill God” is not rooted more in wanting to kill the image he has been given of God courtesy of the Church, rather than God Himself. From what I have read about the books (remember I have not had the opportunity to read them myself yet) it appears that his anger is more towards the Church. And, honestly, I have to agree with him on some points. I think that the Church has failed miserably in showing God’s love to this world and we really need to change that. I think that Philip would find Dan Kimball’s book I Like Jesus but Not the Church: Following Jesus Without Following Organized Religion a very interesting read and he probably would agree with much of it. Maybe I will send Philip Pullman a copy of it.
I decided to do a Google image search for “intimidate” and the picture to the left was the first one to pop up. Is that the image Jesus gave or that we should be giving?
Just some thoughts. That is my $.02. Who wants change?
i don’t remember being told to be fearful of other faiths or cultures. maybe because they were so prevalent in the days of scripture one didn’t have to tell someone to watch out.. but i come to parable of harvesting wheat with the weeds in these days. we shall grow together and see what happens after the harvest.
my sarcastic answer to the compass hub-bub is that if you tell a kid “no” they will be more intrigued to know why. i know we took our youth community to the davinci code. gave some talk about it before going, planned on discussing it out for two weeks. we walked out of the theater and the kids as two or three questions. we answered.. they said “oh” and the next weeks lesson was lame cause no one wanted to give it credit by talking about it anymore. besides “it was a lame movie”
now a few years ago the united methodist church officially boycotted taco bell because they were a user of yum foods, who did not pay a livable wage to the tomato farmers. i almost had to leave the umc for that one.. if they got really expansive i wouldn’t have been able to eat anywhere. eventually the farmers got their increase and i got to eat tb again.. sometimes not sure if that is a good thing.
I know Mohler can be too conservative for some. But his response reflects yours and it too is written incredibly well.
http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=1065
Well said Todd.
I’ve read the trilogy and I remember the books being more against how the Church, particularly the Catholic church, is run versus Christianity itself. I haven’t read the books in a while so I may be misinterpreting but, my fiance and I plan on seeing the movie on Saturday.
I hope you will enjoy the books as much as I did! It’s a really good fiction story!
Toni, thanks for your insight into these books. From everything I have read that is what I gather.
(Originally written on Todd’s Facebook profile in response to a comment questioning Christians’ use of boycotts)
I agree with your questioning of the whole boycotting thing. I find that when Christians stage a boycott, it usually serves to draw more attention to that which “we” want to stand against. If people don’t want to see the movie, great. If people want to tell their friends not to see it, great. But all too often we Christians whine and cry about how unfair society treats us (shouldn’t we expect it?), about how terrible morals are (shouldn’t we be living our morals instead of just talking about them?), about how certain people mock God (won’t they get their due?). We come off as self-righteous whiners, trying to force our morality and beliefs on others. This is NOT what will attract people to Christ. People don’t want to see rigid religion. They want to see real love, honest faith, consistency, humility, confidence in our God, His power in us. With all the venom we spit out at the world, I don’t doubt that if Christ was on earth today, He would call many of us a “brood of vipers.”
There are a whole lot of better ways to affect positive change in our world than using boycotts: showing Christ’s love, winning souls, prayer, modeling a pure and humble life, getting involved in politics and community, standing up for one’s faith (as in being confident in the Bible and the God of the Bible, not being wishy-washy, having true conviction), not being self-righteous or legalistic, and the like. Basically, we must love as Christ loved and live as Christ lived. He is to be our source, and His truth our guide.
We don’t need to resort to worldly tactics. I never read anything about Christ boycotting anything, and His people, the Jews, were under the rule of corrupt, pagan Romans. In many ways, society at that time was worse than it is today, yet Christ did not rail against Caesar and his ilk, but against the pious, legalistic, self-righteous (and clueless) religious leaders of the day.
His life was truth. His method was love. His walk was humble and pure. Before we point fingers at sinners doing what sinners naturally do, let’s examine ourselves to see if we are doing what Christ-followers should naturally do (due to our new nature in Christ). Instead of shaking our fists at our often godless society, and pointing at those we deem as much more evil than ourselves saying that God hates them (such as homosexuals, who will never come to Christ unless we approach them with the same love that Christ approached the woman at the well), and bemoaning how “unchristian” our society has become (why are we surprised?), let’s covenant to show the joy of our salvation, the power of the Spirit, the love beyond understanding, the grace and forgiveness which is ours through Christ.
The next people we should be pointing our fingers at is ourselves. We are missing the mark. We have been very poor witnesses to a very lost world. We should not isolate and insulate ourselves from the evils of the world and from those who are deemed evil, but rather eat with them, converse with them, share truth with them, love them, challenge them, and invite them to share in our Lord. Boycotting something “evil” may tickle your soul and make you feel very righteous, but it won’t lead many/any to Christ. The best way is to get into the trenches, establish relationships, meet physical, then spiritual needs, be a friend. Be a Christ-one.
We won’t get brownie points from God for all of the things we stood against. We will receive great blessings for the One we stand for. If we sow seeds of faith, plant truth in a heart’s fallow soil, water with the love of Christ and the wisdom of the Word, we will reap a bountiful harvest, a rich harvest.
Well said, John.
Todd,
I could not agree with you more and frankly i’m encouraged to hear this from someone I consider a spiritual leader.
I am in agreement with you, Todd. I probably won’t read the books, not so much because I find their supposedly contraversial content to be too contraversial, but because I am not into fantasy novels. I probably won’t see the movie, for the same reason.
I think the church would do well to simply look at these books and this movie and concede, “Point taken.” As you mentioned in your blog, the church has done a horrible job of demonstrating the love of God. Horrible things have been done in Jesus’ name, and we are not far removed from those things. We as a church would do well to formally confess our sins against humanity, and formally and humbly apologize for those things, admitting that we have poisoned many against the church and, consequently, against Christ Himself. I am thankful that God is able to reach beyond our frail and flawed humanity, and extend His love despite our collective arrogance and bigotry.
I, too, have been along for the ride of many a boycott. As I grow older in my life and in my faith, I see that these sort of things generally only breed further contempt for the church and the “Good News” we are supposed to be bringing to the world. Unless something is clearly wrong (such as porn, for example), then who am I to say that not only will I not be a part of it, but you shouldn’t either if you call yourself a Christian? How self-righteous and arrogant we have been, and how dearly we need to swallow our pride as a church and just admit it. That simple act would reach more people for Christ than any boycott ever could.
Good word, brother.
I don’t agree with everything that either you or John said here, but I agree with quite a lot of it. I did want to jump in quickly to agree with John’s comment about many of the modern American church’s attitudes — that “we Christians whine and cry about how unfair society treats us … We come off as self-righteous whiners, trying to force our morality and beliefs on others.” Primarily, I wanted to point out that, while we have many differences among ourselves, strong enough that we may not consider ourselves the same religion in many cases, Christians are a majority in this country. In fact, counting all varieties and levels of devotion, we’re a pretty vast majority. At that point, when we complain loudly and call for mass boycotts (among many other things), we aren’t just whiners — we’re bullies. At times, we’re vicious and powerful bullies. The picture of intimidation Todd included above is actually very fitting (but we’re much less cute). Is *that* the impression you think Jesus wants us to give the world?
Maybe all this noise about “The Golden Compass” is a replacement for last year’s noise about retailers saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”. ( I confess, I momentarily got swept up in that. I proudly shop at Target these days.)
I am sometime reluctant to say I am a “Christian”, and instead identify myself as “a follower of Christ”. I am tired of being associated with a group of people who are commonly viewed as narrow-minded, bigoted, self-righteous, judemental, and playground bullies. It would be one thing if those views were without merit. But since that is not the case…
I think the biggest obstacle the church has in presenting the gospel is…the church.
Stephanie, it is funny that you mention “Happy Holidays”. I saw a recent editorial cartoon in the USA Today that I will be using for a blog post. So check back again.
Todd, From the amount of comments it seems like you hit on a hot topic here. I have to agree that calling for a boycott is almost always counterproductive. I believe that for the most part boycotts are at best silly, and at worst communicate to others how intolerant Christians can be. I am old enough to remember the furor caused by The Last Temptation of Christ when it was released… and I clearly remember thinking that if those silly Christians (I wasn’t one at the time) would just have been quiet, then very few people would have given the movie a second thought. As it was, I’m sure at that time I wouldn’t even had heard of the movie myself if it hadn’t been for the calls for a boycott. I have nothing against people speaking their mind and voicing their opinions, as long as they are not just spouting some crap they heard and haven’t spent any time actually researching whatever the topic is. You can voice your opinion, but have enough respect for others that they can make up their own mind on whether to read a book or see a movie. I am growing tired of the self-righteous rants of the Moral Majority, Christian Right, whatever you want to call it, (and until God got a hold of my heart you could have counted me among them) when they feel some injustice has been dealt to them. It seems that many Christians are keenly interested in justice when it pertains to them. If they percieve that you are denigrating their religion or have in some way offended their prudish sensibilities , then they are ready to march, or boycott, or rant. But when it comes to justice for others… justice for the poor, the disenfranchised, the mentally ill, or (gasp) sinners like prostitutes and homosexuals (funny how Christians can be so intolerant of those who sin differently then they do)… well then they are not so quick to march, or boycott, or rant. I’ve had to ask myself if Jesus where on the Earth today, who would he be hanging with? The Religious Right… or the poor, the downtrodden, the sinners like prostitutes and homosexuals. I think the Bible answers that question. Well I’m done ranting. Thanks for the forum Todd.