bloggedy blog: the personal weblog of a music lover and aging punk wannabe

:: Monday, February 09, 2004 ::

The Passion: good news (stories) beneath the surface
Despite all the coverage Mel Gibson's new movie The Passion has already received -- a lot of coverage, even with more than two weeks to go before its debute -- Kelly McBride, ethics writer at The Poynter Institute, thinks journalists might be missing a couple of important news pegs that demonstrate the mainstreaming of the U.S.'s evangelical brand of Christianity.

First, there's the relationship between Israel and evangelical Christians. "For Catholics and mainline Protestants, relations with Jews are rooted in the history of injustice for which Christians are directly and indirectly culpable," writes McBride. For evangelical Christians, however, the most important relationship with Israel is based on the future. "More specifically, Evangelical Christians believe the re-establishment of Israel as a nation is a key step toward the second coming of Christ and the End of Time. Where some Catholics might be more apt to talk about the Holocaust, some born-again Christians are more likely to discuss the political importance of the Gaza Strip."

The second news peg -- and more relevant than the first, to my way of thinking -- is evangelical Christianity as a marketing force. Mel Gibson is capitalizing on the brand loyalty that Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins (the Left Behind guys) and the makers of The Omega Code had recognized earlier: "Evangelical Protestants are well-networked and well-organized, and Gibson has approached them at a variety of conventions and gatherings. Gibson's use of that infrastructure may be yet another indication that this slice of American culture that often feels maligned and marginalized is becoming part of the establishment." (Veteran religion reporter Terry Mattingly comments about Gibson's grassroots PR campaign in a recent post on his new weblog, GetReligion.org. I found the blog via Brad Boydston and u2sermons.)

Neither story is being covered very well by the mainstream media, and when they do pick up on McBride's hint, the coverage will no doubt reinforce the prevailing caricature of evangelical Christianity. We're all obsessed by the "end times'; we all vote Republican; we love our guns; we hate homosexuals; etc.

:: Andrew 10:25 + ::
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