We're awake, but we're very puzzled

[valarltd]

Things that are causing cognitive dissonance:

1) Christian Science Fiction. Christians KNOW what's coming. Postulating a shiny future based on human effort is not just wrong, but actual sacrilege. Humans can accomplish nothing without God, and suggesting they can improve the world is just humanism, which is the Lie of the Serpent: "they shall be like gods." Also, aliens are nothing more than demons. (Yes, this is a hold over from what I was taught)

1a) Christian fantasy/horror. First, magic is bad. That eradicates a wide swath of fantasy, but lets allegory sorta slip through. Second, all horror monsters are either demonic (vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies) or the product of the sin of pride (robots, man made monsters). Also the Christian fantasist runs the risk of making the demons sympathetic. Knowing too much about them can lead to possession and generational curses. (ditto)

2) Conservative Science Fiction. This one makes my brain hurt even more. Humanity leans to progress and reality has a liberal bias. The idea that a militaristic or libertarian dog-eat-dog state could be seen as a positive outcome and something to work for, rather than a dystopia, just makes my eyes ache.

3) God-given rights. Errr. Did these people sleep through the whole of medieval history class? Divine Right of Kings. Magna Carta. Rights were won at swordpoint and pried out of the beaten King John. They became entrenched under his son who took trhe throne at age 11.

When through our ranks the Barons came,
With little thought of praise or blame,
But resolute to play the game,
They lumbered up to Runnymede;
And there they launched in solid line
The first attack on Right Divine,
The curt uncompromising "Sign!'
They settled John at Runnymede.

At Runnymede, at Runnymede,
Your rights were won at Runnymede!
No freeman shall be fined or bound,
Or dispossessed of freehold ground,
Except by lawful judgment found
And passed upon him by his peers.
Forget not, after all these years,
The Charter signed at Runnymede.'
--Kipling


4) Sarah Palin: Stupid? Evil? Opportunist? Can we make her and Ann Coulter live in the world they desire to make? It's the best punishment I can think of for that pair of Serena Joys.

5) Swearing. I have noticed an odd thing. I was raised to believe a Christian could NOT take God's name (any of them) in vain. If someone could do so, they were not truly Christian. I still don't swear by any named deities. They get tetchy if you summon them for no reason. Yet, my Christian friends don't have this hangup... Odd. They wouldn't use the name of their human lover as a swear word, but think nothing of doing it with the name of their divine lover.

Comments

[jess-faraday.livejournal.com]

How about a horror story with a were-SarahPalin? Oh, yeah, where Angels sweep in and chop off her head in the end....

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Sarah Palin IS a horror story, with or without the were elements. I'm not sure decapitation would work. The GOP would keep her head alive in a jar in some unholy fashion.

[kadath.livejournal.com]

For 1 and 2, not all Christians are hardcore fundie Dispensationalist types.

Still, "Christian" tacked on the front of any given genre is generally code for "too fucking awful to compete in the main market."

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Lukewarm "Christians" don't count. Some of them even let their kids read *gasp, whisper*... Harry Potter. All the Real Christians (TM) will tell you that. And everyone who counts knows Harry Potter is a direct express ticket to Hell.

My mother is reading the Jerusalem's Undead series. It's an NY Times bestseller. The premise is interesting, but she finds it hard to read because the author has a 50,000 word vocabulary and isn't afraid to use it, even if you (and he) aren't quite sure what any one word means. When Mom, who LIKES the Left Behind series, finds something unreadable, you know it's bad.

[kadath.livejournal.com]

They can hang their "No Quakerz Alowed" sign on the clubhouse door all they want, but any deity capable of creating a universe isn't as petty as they are. (Said the atheist.)

I don't expect there's much of a market for "Christian" branded fiction and music outside fundie circles, since saner denominations aren't scared senseless by the mere existence of pop culture.

[hockeyiris.livejournal.com]

on #5... I can't do it. I have to not sing a word when I sing along with Life in the Fast Lane. I just can't do it. I'll cuss you out all day long if I feel you deserve it, but never once can I say damn with His name in front of it.

I don't go to church. I have issues with church, have since a very traumatizing week at a camp I went to as a pre-teen. But I believe in God, even though a giant chunk of things I enjoy, read, write, etc... are evil. But despite all that, I'll still pray when I feel I need the reassurance and I can't swear like that.

Just my personal thing there.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

My radio station always bleeped it so I tended to substitute "fucking" in the space. The actual word sounds wrong when it doesn't get bleeped.

You are very much where I was for a very long time.

[hockeyiris.livejournal.com]

It's just one of those weird things. My grandfather will say it, but you'd never catch him saying fuck. It's odd.

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

#5: I am training myself to say "Oh gods" rather than taking any one deity's name in vain. I may not agree with some other religions, but I try not to be disrespectful of them.

#3: Most Americans have no clue about history. It is very sad. I actually had to tweak my world to account for the Divine Right of Kings not being a part of my alternate history....it's replaced by a treaty with the Fae. :)

[reannon.livejournal.com]

Dear, you have to separate what you were taught as What Is Christian and the vast diversity of religious practice of actual Christianity. You tend to lump all Christianity under that which you were taught as though it is all of one stripe, and while they may have taught you that those who don't march in lockstep aren't Real Christians (tm), it is simply NOT TRUE.

Therefore, there is as wide a variety of Christian fiction as nonfiction as denomination, and even within a denomination, there can be difference of opinion. If anything, my denomination teaches us that a diversity of faith is a strength, that there is room for all under the same roof in respect, tolerance and a search for greater understanding. That the only true blasphemy is to presume to know the mind of God and pass judgment in his name, regardless of how one defines God or for what reason one passes judgment.

Just my opinion. And that of the priests who taught me and the friends who worship with me and the theologians I study.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I have the answer. It hit me while driving.

It's a brand name thing. Like pickles and ketchup.

Christians like you, mature/liberal/whatever, know the pickles all come out of the same vat. Real True Christians (tm), or RTCs as Slacktivist calls them, think the label on the jar really matters.

In this case, the pickles are fiction. And I realized I'm not really talking about Christianity as a religious practice, I'm talking about the Christian Brand as a series of behaviors, beliefs and superstitions.

A Christian knows the Bible is a book. The Christian Brand requires it never be placed on the floor, have anything else place atop it or be bound like an ordinary book.

And creating Christian Brand Fiction falls into the neat little worldview that everything is either explicitly Godly or it's Satanic. (I had a lengthy discussion with my youth leader who made that claim. I raised my eyebrows and said "Cookbooks are satanic? And so is the small engine repair manual?")

Mature Christians aren't the target for Christian Brand Fiction. They know they can engage the world and pop culture and NOT lose their souls. The RTCs require Christian Brand Pop Culture because they believe they WILL lose their souls, that their grandchildren will come out gay if they join a Masonic lodge. (no, I'm not kidding)

[trobadora]

Your post is causing me cognitive dissonance. *g*

1) Christian Science Fiction. Christians KNOW what's coming. Postulating a shiny future based on human effort is not just wrong, but actual sacrilege.

Uh, not in any kind of Christianity I know. Christianity may claim to know what's coming at the End of Days (vaguely), but I'm not aware of any claim about knowing everything that happens between now and then ...

1a) Christian fantasy/horror. First, magic is bad. That eradicates a wide swath of fantasy, but lets allegory sorta slip through. Second, all horror monsters are either demonic (vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies) or the product of the sin of pride (robots, man made monsters).

So? Most Christians actually are capable of using and understanding metaphor.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Most of them I know don't see a real difference between the end of days and now.

I'm wagering your youth group didn't have discussions on the relative spiritual harm of Star Wars and Star Trek. Which was worse: watered down Eastern Thought presented as fairy-tale or complete atheistic socialist humanism presented as something to strive for?

I'd hesitate to make that metaphor claim. A lot of them don't even understand the concept of fiction. In these parts, there are ruckuses raised about a kid reading Harry Potter on her own time in class, because it will infect the other parents' special snowflakes with Wicca. (yes, I know this is ignorant)

It all comes down to Christianity vs. Christian Brand. See the response above.