Our perception of Christianity influenced by Hollywood?

[unbreakable]

In her defense, the flash bulbs photographers use make dresses appear far more sheer than they actually are in person.

At any rate, she's an 11 on a 10 scale.

[Lee]

Movies make fun of BAC because it is a lot safer than make fun of muslims.

You think we can't make fun of Muslims too?

You can but then you probably have to hide for the rest of your life or until you outlive the person that order your death. Even then you have to keep watching your back.

So Darkstar One needs to watch his back?

[helot2000]

My perception of Christianity is not influenced or determined by Hollywood.  My perception of Christianity was determined in part by being raised in a staunchly Catholic household for 18 years.  My perception is influenced by interacting with friends, family and coworkers, the majority who are are church goers.  My perception comes from studying the Old and New Testament at a Baptist college (for one year anyway). 

If we lived in an non Christian nation, I think the stereotypes presented by Hollywood might have a greater influence on our perception of Christianity.  I'd venture a guess that the Robertsons, Dobsons and Falwells (RIP) of our time influence our perception of Christianity more than Hollywood.  I wouldn't look for Hollywood to lead a charge to Jesus.  Since they deal in entertainment, I don't know how often one can look for them to present more than stereotypes.  They ruin many if not most of the serious subjects they touch so I don't think you'd even want them wading into this field. 

[Lee]

And still waiting for examples. Besides one movie and Ned Flanders. Heck Christians even have a movie coming out this week trying to fight back against their persecution in the science world and comparing people who believe in evolution to Nazis. Expelled. Of course the movie has already been torn apart so badly it's kind of embarrassing.

I saw There Will be Blood recently, and their is a rather important character who is a Christian in it. The were depicting a certain kind of person of the time though, not Christians in general and the movie makes that quite clear.

[rickfc]

I believe everyone "wants" to believe in a loving, caring Creator. And if you know the biblical accounts of Jesus and what His ministry was(is)you would in your heart of hearts "want" to believe that.

This is the kind of attitude that drove me away from religion.  The "fact" that all those who do not believe in Jesus Christ, the "true son of God", whether we are Atheists or otherwise, are wrong is so condescending and self-righteous.  I was raised in a Catholic household, I have studied all of the biblical accounts of Jesus and everything else you said, and it makes me want to believe it no more than it did beforehand.

I'll give you an example of the hypocrisy and self-righteousness:  My wife is from India and follows Sihkism.  She was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis at the age of 13.  Within a few years, she was confined to a wheelchair.  She had only but a few friends, and her best friend at the time became a BAC.  She had the audacity to say this little gem to my wife: "If you had Jesus Christ in your heart, this would have never happened to you", and then tried to convert her.  Needless to say, they weren't friends long after that incident.

I think you made this post to find like-minded individuals to agree with you that Christians or Catholics, whatever denomination you believe in, are being persecuted.  When you didn't find said individuals, you resorted to telling people that only if they knew the word, blah blah blah, they would believe.  Can't you see how haughty that is?

As far as I can tell, Christians and followers of most other religions are being portrayed as real-life people in most new movies.  Just because that image does not reflect what "your" perception of what is "good" Christian is, does not make it wrong.

[helot2000]

And still waiting for examples. Besides one movie and Ned Flanders.

Perception is a difficult thing to prove up or dispute.  Its doubly difficult for me because I'm not a church goer and thus, I'm not actively keeping score of how Hollywood portrays Christians.  A couple of weeks ago, NPR radio feature a flashback to the movie "16 Candles" and Long Duk Dong, one of the most offensive Asian stereotypes ever done by Hollywood.  I had completely forgotten about that one.  I'm guessing if you were Asian-American, you might not ever forget it.  Stereotypes is what Hollywood does so it's not a stretch for me to acknowledge that Christians have been spoofed for comedic effect like Angela in "The Office"  or Pastor Lovejoy in "the Simpsons."   

Conversely, if you asked me to name Christian characters portrayed positively in film, I'd get stuck on Mel Gibson's character in "Signs" and that's about it.  Thanks to Google, there's a list of at least 27 of them. Now each side can claim victory.   

[Purge]

I like the fact that people on TV and in movies don't often portray religious beliefs in their character; it makes them universally associative.

The only characters I liked in Deep Blue Sea were Samuel L Jackson, and LL Cool J. He stabs a shark with the cross. How awesome is that? Use your religion as a weapon, yo.

[Lee]

Well I still think Hollywood accurately portrays Christians. Most Christians don't feel the need to talk about it, just like most characters never mention it. The guys who ask you within the first 5 minutes if Jesus Christ is your savior or hands out cards to strangers telling them how great Jesus is deserve to be mocked in Hollywood. But thankfully those kind of people are very uncommon in real life and in movies/TV shows.