Book Review: Radical

“We are settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves.” 

― David Platt, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream

Poverty. Persecution. Suffering. Addiction. Darkness. These are things that consume our world, hold happiness in a stranglehold, and suck the life out of billions of people. This planet we call home is riddled with pain, and those of us who are blessed enough to be removed from such horrors as starvation, disease, and filth so easily ignore it all. It is so easy to sit inside our air conditioned houses on cushy couches and make grandiose plans about our futures.

I do not usually read books that I have never heard anything about, but when I saw a book titled Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream, I had to check it out. What I found was a gripping, convicting, inspiring call to action that continues to fill my mind and heart with questions and controversies.

America, America.

What is an American? How does literature create conceptions of the American experience and American identity? I'm taking a course in American Literature right now, and this question keeps surfacing, popping up out of the textbooks and in our class discussion forums and in our videos and assigned reading. What is America? What do you think of when you think of that word? On the face of it, an American is just a citizen of the United States, but when we say that something is "American" we usually mean something different. 

• Apple pie and baseball
• That star spangled banner
• Democracy 
• Capitalism
• Technology 
• Freedom
• Individuality
• Warfare
• Opportunities
• Melting pot
• Pioneer spirit
• Self-made man

Do any other words or phrases come to your mind? If you're thinking what I'm thinking, then it seems as if "America" is more of an ideal than a geographical location. After all, how many times have you heard something or someone who is certainly from America called "un-American?"

Literature has provided us with many ideas of what “American” means. It has preserved the oral traditions of the most ancient Native Americans, conveyed the revolutionary ideals of the United States’ founding fathers, and provided a vehicle for political, religious, and personal narratives that have both harmed and benefited the nation.Over the centuries literature has contributed to the concept of the "American" with cultural characters both fictional (e.g. Jay Gatsby and Tom Sawyer), and historical (e.g. Benjamin Franklin and the Puritans). These characters have come to stand for the best and worst of America, representing both heroes and villains. 

Shallow Insensitive Hypocritical Nutcases?

In case you didn't know, I am an avid Alan Rickman fan (I made a post after watching a brilliant short film and another after listening to him narrate an audiobook.) and recently heard about a movie of his called Snow Cake. Our library actually had it, so I snatched it up and played it on my laptop while riding in the car.

It's one of those films that you might call "artsy". If your taste leans toward shot-em-up-and-head-for-the-secret-military-base sort of stuff then you probably won't care for this deep, sensitive, character-driven plot. You get to know three or four people who are all tied up with an autistic woman, Linda, and her teenage daughter, Vivienne--who is killed in a car crash. Rickman's character gets involved in their lives after a tragic past of his own, and what follows is an introspective, challenging, and thoroughly entertaining movie.

There was something that really bugged me about it, though--besides the language and some bad aesthetics--the way it portrayed Christians. Practically everyone in the small town of Wawa, Ontario is described as "religious", everyone except for a few main characters. The Christian women who try to help Linda after her daughter's death are shown as well-meaning (maybe), but their good points stop there. They are shallow, nasty-nice, simple, insensitive, completely oblivious, hypocritical, annoying, and prudish. Of course the few irreligious ones are complex, passionate, curious, compassionate, understanding, lively, and extremely interesting. You find yourself cringing every time a middle-aged lady church lady comes on screen, and rejoice at the quasi-prostitute with the kind and engaging personality.

What is wrong with this picture?

If Christians are really the only ones who are in touch with Father God, the Creator of this lovely, deep, intricate universe so full of joy and meaning, shouldn't we be the ones who "get it"? The ones who are fascinating? The ones who are full of love and true selflessness? How have we gotten this sour reputation and why must Hollywood beat it into people's skulls?

Now I'm not saying that atheists and Buddhists and Muslims, etc. can't be wonderful people too, but why do Christians have to be portrayed as such unpleasant nutcases? Steven Crowder wrote an awesome post on this topic called "All Christians Are Serial Killers", I highly recommend reading it. He makes a very good point, "We've never seen Hollywood go after Buddhism, Hinduism, or even Islam." For some reason these groups are handled with kid gloves, while it's OK to make Christianity the media's whipping boy. 

Try paying close attention to the next film you watch. Are there any religious characters? How are their personalities scripted? Does the director have an obvious agenda? 

It's so easy to be brainwashed into accepting the fact that Christians will inevitably be beaten up by the film industry. Next time you see this kind of injustice, consider writing to someone in charge. Make the truth known! 

When is Enough, Enough?

When will the people of America wake up to the lengths "political correctness" has gone to in this country? 

At the University of Illinois, doing your job could get you fired. Or so Dr. Ken Howell found out when he tried to explain the church's doctrine on moral issues in his course "Introduction to Catholicism." When the 12-year veteran briefly explained Roman Catholic teachings on homosexuality in an email to his class about natural law, a student complained to the department head that Dr. Howell was using "hate speech." Based on that one email -- not a hearing or an investigation -- the University decided to hush the professor permanently. Since his firing in May, more than 5,000 students have protested. "We're all disgusted by it," said one. According to Alliance Defense Fund attorneys, they should be. This was a gross violation of Dr. Howell's First Amendment rights. Professors of religion must be free to talk about religion no matter how uncomfortable it makes certain students. Yesterday, after the story made national news and ADF threatened to sue, UI officials announced that Dr. Howell had been reinstated to his position as associate professor. 

-Information from Here