Bill Donohue should take notice of this piece by Matt Morrison:
Parents at a 12:50 showing of “The Golden Compass” in Fort Worth’s Eastchase district were both shocked and appalled to find that the movie was preceded by a trailer for the upcoming big-screen adaptation of the novel “Prince Caspian”, which some parents fear may cause their children to read a series that promotes spiritual belief and “denigrates Atheism.”
“I just can’t believe this,” said Leah Jones, mother of three and proud atheist. “I can’t believe that they would allow children to be exposed to this kind of thing without warning!”
Apparently there’s also an allusion to religion being made in Prince Caspian!:
In the movie, which is being marketed as a children’s fantasy film, many of the direct references to Christianity have been relabeled. For instance, “God” is only referred to as “Aslan”
“They’re intentionally watering down the most offensive element,” [Don Billohue, president and CEO of the Dallas Agnostic’s Metroplex Native Enlightenment Delegation] said in a CNN News report.
At least the atheists in the piece have some sense. They’re withholding judgment until after they’ve seen the movie. (Crazy, I know):
“Honestly, I don’t think a boycott will be effective,” noted Bob Tomas of The Atheist Television and Movie Association… “Anyway, we’d have to see the whole movie before we started telling our membership how offended they should be by it.”
I’m enjoying the thought that an “Atheist Television and Movie Association” could one day exist 🙂
And no satire is complete with using the best acronym ever:
“It was clear right from the start that the makers of these films intended to take out the pro-religious elements of Lewis’s books. In doing that they are taking the heart out of it, losing the point of it, castrating it,” said Peri Anderson, president of Mothers For United Church & King Eternal Ruling; a British women’s organization that promotes traditional British values and the reestablishment of a theocracy with a male monarch as head of the British Empire and Church of England.
“It seems that wanton Atheism has now completely conquered America’s cultural life and it is much the poorer for it,” she said in The Guardian newspaper earlier this month. “What a shame that we have to endure such repression here too.”
Obviously, the humor in the piece comes from the notion that atheist spokespeople don’t make these types of comments. Meanwhile, Christians in the media seem to revel in this type of talk. They’re movies. They’re entertainment. Most of the children watching these movies have no knowledge of any larger metaphor.
[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]