Evangelical Christians and Hollywood:
The Ongoing Disaster

by Coleman Luck

It has been said that the movie theater is the church of post-modern society. If this is so, television, video games and the Internet are its Sunday school. The dark, "spiritual lessons" of Hollywood and the pop culture it creates have swept the globe, disintegrating ancient cultures and replacing them with a unified worldview based on western amorality and materialism. A surprising number of poor homes in far away places have satellite dishes and television screens. Children without shoes, hunger for the violent and sensual "eye candy" of America. From Hollywood come some of the most destructive messages in history, promulgated with an authority that is little short of imperial Rome. Within a single century, there has arisen what appears to be an impregnable, cultural fortress, impervious to outside influence and monolithic in its dedication to the distribution of garbage. No wonder the Muslims hate us. Misguided as they are, Muslim extremists believe they are defending their faith and culture from western barbarians. If only evangelical Christians had an ounce of their courage and dedication. Instead, we have developed a high tolerance for visual vomit. How have we gotten to such a place? This may irk you, but I believe it’s because, long ago, evangelicals abandoned their historic mandate to take the Good News about Jesus everywhere. Somehow, “everywhere” didn’t include Hollywood and we’re paying the price for that foolish attitude every day. Instead of taking the Good News to the people of the entertainment industry, we have resorted to a series of stupid tactics that have guaranteed failure. Here’s a short course in why we are losing the pop culture wars:

STUPID TACTIC # 1: ISOLATION

During the first half of the twentieth century, as the power of Hollywood began to take control of popular culture, the response of conservative Christianity in America was isolation. Fear of moral contamination bred a desire to wall out the pagan influences of the new "Babylon." In 1925, this fear increased during the fiery vituperation that surrounded the so-called "Scopes Monkey Trial." After being excoriated in the press for bigotry and scientific ignorance, conservative Christians crept away to lick their wounds in a protected subculture of their own. The ongoing cultural dialog and "engagement" that had been the hallmark of Christianity in virtually every society for nineteen hundred years simply faded away. In North America, the church felt much more comfortable talking to itself. That way it couldn’t be embarrassed.

This tactic of isolation appeared to be successful as long as society remained at least nominally Christian. However, two world wars and many social upheavals, including the victory of secularist philosophies in science and education, restructured every level of our collective existence. As this restructuring grew from a trickle into a flood, conservative Christians found themselves less and less able to hold back the onslaught of popular culture.

The deepest breaches in the moral wall of separation began to be felt at the end of World War Two. A curious proof that the battle was being lost was the growth of a parallel culture of "Christian entertainment" that continues to this day. For every area of popular culture, there appeared a "sanitized," Christian version that attempted to replace its secular counterpart. From publishing to radio, to music, and film, and television, evangelicals were offered mediocre alternatives to participation in the culture at large. Unfortunately, the very existence and form of these alternatives simply pointed back to their secular origins. The ultimate downfall of “isolationism” came during the ranting spasms of the 1960's. In a single decade, the wall was destroyed. Since then, the evangelical subculture has experienced total immersion in a monstrous typhoon of "entertainment” and the response has been writhing convulsion.

In their relationship to popular media, evangelicals have moved from isolation to near addiction. Surveys indicate that evangelical viewing habits are no different from any other group. For many younger members of this "community of faith," no ground of moral discernment remains. Immersion in popular culture can include involvement in pornography over the Internet, idolization of destructive celebrities, and voyeuristic participation in the most vulgar and demeaning so-called “reality shows.” For many young evangelicals, nothing offends except the idea of being offended. Taking offense is considered an unenlightened response stemming from narrow, religious "judgmentalism." At the opposite end of the spectrum, other (mainly older) evangelicals have grown more and more enraged at everything they see. In an almost schizophrenic twist, this group yearns for the "family friendly" pop culture slush of the 1940's and 50's, from which their fathers and mothers tried to isolate them. Their rage has led to stupid tactic number two.

STUPID TACTIC # 2: INTIMIDATION

Following the battle cry of "traditional family values," influential leaders have arisen within the evangelical community who have urged their followers (numbering in the millions) to channel their outrage into power- play tactics such as picketing studios, national boycotts and floods of harsh, protest mail. After fifteen years of such attempts, it’s clear that intimidation is a miserable failure. Hollywood is worse than ever. In addition, evangelicals have been shocked to discover that their concerns are viewed as nothing more than the rantings of a mindless minority whose only interest is in obstructing free speech and re-instituting Puritanism. The situation has gotten so ugly that, within the Hollywood community, to stand against evangelical intimidation is now considered a patriotic duty. Realizing that tactics of intimidation were not working, some evangelical leaders have attempted stupid tactic number three.

STUPID TACTIC # 3: ENTICEMENT

For well over a decade, various evangelical leaders and conservative groups have presented Hollywood with wheedling arguments about the "profitability" of so-called "family entertainment." In their naiveté, they have believed that the only motivation within the entertainment business is greed. Consequently, logic tells them all they need to do is "educate" executives about the huge, untapped, "profit center" residing in the evangelical family "market" and native avarice will take control. Little wonder that the creators of pop culture have viewed such arguments with utter disdain. First, Hollywood has been awash in data about marketing and profitability for decades. There is little that’s new to be revealed. Second, the reality of the creative process within the entertainment industry is electrifyingly simple. Few family films and television programs are made because few of the young professionals in control of "new product development" like to watch such shows. With an understandable kind of arrogance, the creators of pop culture strive to make films, television and music that they themselves would enjoy. And the vast youth audiences (not much younger than they are) with billions of discretionary dollars, often prove them right. The tactic of appealing to greed disguised behind the weasel words of "marketing" and "profitability" has been a dismal failure. Of course, if there’s one good “family friendly” dog movie made each year and an occasional TV series where someone says grace before a meal, victory is trumpeted and everyone feels good – until somebody exposes a breast during halftime.

Things are very bad, friends, and as evangelicals, to a large degree, it’s our own fault. Not only are the horses out of the barn, the whole farm has burned down.

So, where does this leave us? What can we do? Is there a tactic that hasn’t been tried? We’ll talk about that in my next rant. Also, I’ll rant a while about one of my favorite subjects: rich, evangelical businessmen and their stupid, financially suicidal relationships with the film and television industry.

Until then…enjoy a good rant yourself.