On Avatar

I finally got to see James Cameron's 3-D blitz of a movie, Avatar. If you haven't had the chance to see it, go do so at your earliest convenience. Not even 30 seconds had past before I muttered to myself, "Wow." The graphics are simply amazing, and make me feel guilty for not pursuing my art career more intently.

Of course, not to be outdone and unheard, paranoid Christians emerged over the past few weeks to rip the movie to shreds as if it were a threat to their religion. Christian critics have called the movie "pagan", "anti-human" and "abhorrent" with anti-capitalist and environmentalist overtones. Anti-capitalist and environmentalist I might understand, but anti-human and abhorrent?

Please.

Over at God's news site, critics Ted Baehr and Drew Zahn published their views on the film, which is fine. I agree with them in the respect that the film may be anti-capitalist and environmentalist, but my response to them is a resounding "So what?" I believe in capitalism (to a point), but unrestrained capitalism gets people killed, and please show me the harm in taking care of our world. The two intentionally ignored the multiple biblical references in which God instructs mankind to take care of the planet and resources that he gave not destroy it for the sake of making a quick buck.

They both go on to say that in reality mankind is evil and in need of a savior. Keep in mind that Baehr is the very same person who attacked the movie as anti-human. How much more anti-human can you get than saying humanity is evil?

Over at Baehr's website he furthers his critique by mentioning the following (don't laugh, this man is serious):

- "hints of bestiality"
- "reverse racist ideology"
- "people caught in the mouths of large creatures"
- "occult"
- "creepy tree grows into people"
- "brief alcohol use"
- "ugly alien creatures could cause children nightmares"

There's a reason the movie is rated PG-13, Mr. Baehr. No parent should be taking children to see it. And seriously...bestiality? Seriously?

However, as expected, they both gave The Book of Eli a two-thumbs-up review. Although there is implied rape, physical abuse of women, and spurting blood (none of which were in Avatar), Baehr calls the movie uplifting and awe-inspiring.

With this in mind, last week Ray started blabbing about moral relativity on his blog, without considering for a moment that Judeo-Christianity is the end-all-be-all of moral relativity. Christian fundamentalists like Ray miss the glaring irony in their stance toward moral relativity - that their religion is morally superior to all others, when even a child could tell you that large portions of the Bible are altogether evil.

According to Baehr and Zahn, protecting the environment and fighting against corporate corruption are evil, but maiming and killing for the sake of Christianity is holy. Would you care to explain how this is not morally relative, Mr. Comfort?

Oh, and for the last time, pagan is the Latin term for "country dweller". By that definition, half of the Christians in the world are pagan. Get over yourselves.