The (In)Tolerance of the Movie "2012"

The movie "2012" opens this week and goes to great lengths to show the end of the world. Based on the idea that the Mayan calendar supposedly predicts the end of the world on December 21, 2012 (or December 23, depending on who you talk with), director Roland Emmerich and writer Harald Kloser bring Kennedy back to the White House (that would be the USS John F Kennedy aircraft carrier as it lands on top of the White House in a massive tsunami), crush people praying for salvation with the Vatican in Rome (irony anyone), and otherwise destroy the world as mankind fights for their survival. In terms of film making and carnage it appears to be a brilliant piece of work. In the preview, however, there is a curious theme that struck me (and was recently confirmed in an interview with director Roland Emmerich): it appears that Emmerich is not much of a fan of faith or religion, evidenced by the religious relics or institutions destroyed in the preview (most notably Christian ones).

One might argue "it's an end of the world movie - churches and statues and such are going to be destroyed." I agree and have no issue with that, however, I do have an issue with the fact that, once again, Christianity is the primary target and one faith group in particular is spared (on screen, at least) - Muslims. The Kaaba in Mecca (the most sacred site in Islam) is intentionally spared by the director (and his co-writer) so as to avoid any death threats similar to those received by the cartoonist in the Danish newspaper for portraying a caricature of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. It is not that he did not want to destroy the site, but fear for his life led him to consider otherwise. From his interview...

"We have to all...in the Western world... think about this," Emmerich says at one point, regarding his choice to destroy Catholic symbols rather than Muslim ones. "You can actually...let..Christian symbols fall apart"-- actually, the director destroys them, but that's a quibble -- "but if you would do this with [a Muslim] symbol, you would have...a fatwa, and that sounds a little bit like what the state of this world is. So it's just something which I kind of didn't [think] was [an] important element, anyway, in the film, so I kind of left it out."

I'm sorry, but this is plain cowardice. If the director is so bold so as to mock God, His people, and their faith then it would only seem logical that he follow through and finish his product. It was important to destroy Christian symbols, Christian worshippers and mock them for praying, why not extend that same courtesy to our Muslim neighbors, too?

As I've said before - this is the new tolerance: tolerate all, but Christianity. Mock them, loathe them, and destroy them cinematically... there are no problems. Talk bad about a Muslim, mock a Buddhist, loathe a spiritualist and you are nothing but a bigot. See my blog post on the Playstation 3 game "Little Big Planet" and this topic of "tolerance": Offensively Offensive.

Note: Outside of one Tibetan Buddhist monk being annihilated by a giant wave in the preview, I have no idea if Emmerich demonstrates his disdain for religion with any other faiths other than Christianity. The interview does not shed any light on this either as it speaks extensively about Christianity and Islam. One thing is clear, though - he has no problem slamming Christianity and some level of worry or issue with misrepresenting Islam.

PARENTS: This is another example of a director wrapping his personal thoughts, philosophies and beliefs of the world into a nice, tidy blockbuster package. The message this time: "even your faith can't save you" (or "your God is a sham and a stupid crutch"). The major problem we face as parents, however, is not the message but the subtlety (or not so subtletly) in which it is portrayed. As I've said before, the world's loudest philosophers today are movie directors and musicians and they sell a pretty tempting message to the novice listener - namely our children and teens. Use this movie as a way of talking about the communication of worldview. Take your teen (if they're capable of handling the mature subject matter and content) and following the film ask: "What do you think the director thought about religion?" or "How do you think this movies' portrayal of the end of the world compares to the Biblical account?"

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Offensively Offensive

I love video games. I don't play nearly as often as I would like, but such is the life of a father, husband and one who works (in my case, in ministry). When I was growing up I read Nintendo Power magazine cover to cover every time it was released. I was a video game junkie! I lived on pins and needles when a new Mario game was on the horizon.

Much like me with Mario, many have been awaiting the arrival of PS3's newest arrival Little Big Planet (slated to be released Oct. 21), but were disappointed over the weekend to learn that its highly anticipated debut is being pushed back... for RELIGIOUS reasons. Apparently, one of the songs in Little Big Planet features a few lines from the Qu'ran, causing outrage among a Muslim group. They sent a letter of complaint and so the game developers stopped shipment, issued a letter of apology and took the song out (leading them to have to repackage the games and delayed the game's release by one week). Now I am offended.

Why? Because if it were a Christian group protesting something in that game or any of the other games available (such as rap artist 50 Cent blowing rivals away, sexuality and nudity in games marketed to teens, gratuitous violence of the Grand Theft Auto series, etc.) they would be brushed aside as "religious zealots" or "intolerant" or "judgmental hypocrites". I do not believe Christians ought to protest all ungodly things, but there are times when their protests are legitimate concerns. Does anyone listen? Rarely. The concerns are usually brushed off as unfounded nitpickings. However, if a Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish or other non-Christian religion protest - the wheels stop churning, apologies are issued and matters are changed.

So "tolerance" is available to all but Christians? I see. How conveniently (in)tolerant.


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