The Salty Peanut Gallery

Mark Driscoll, you either love him or hate him. Praised by some for his straight-forward, no nonsense “missional” approach, criticized by others for language that is tasteless, indecent and crude, he is the co-founder and preaching pastor of Mars Hill Church, an emerging reformed multi-campus megachurch in Seattle, Washington. Recently he condemned the movie blockbuster “Avatar” as “demonic paganism” for it’s portrayal of a “false incarnation…a false Jesus…a false resurrection…a false savior” and a “false heaven.” Driscoll said, “That any Christian could watch that without seeing the overt demonism is beyond me.” He also took issue with Christianity Today’s review of the film characterizing it as being “very disappointing” and “reflective of Christianity Today”.

Mark Moring of the “Christianity Today Entertainment Blog” takes issue with Driscoll’s rant against the film. Moring writes, “I saw some distinctly Christian themes in the ideas of self-sacrifice, unconditional love, incarnation, and even a model for missions.” Moring also cites responses from other critics such as Menachem Wecker, faith-and-art blogger for the Houston Chronicle who disagrees that the film is demonic and applauds the film for its spiritual approach to life and its “Christian undertones.” Keith Johnson and Larry Shallenberger of the Children’s Ministry and Culture blog cite four mistakes that Driscoll made in his evaluation:
1) Misunderstanding or Oversimplifying What the Author is Saying; 2) Not Letting the Author’s Universe Exist on Its Own Terms; 3) Choosing Combat Over Conversation; and 4) Failing to Find the Redeemable in the Movie.

Let’s face it. Mark Driscoll is a lightning rod. And like most lightning rods they like to say outrageous things in order to make a point. In this case Driscoll thought it would be attention grabbing to criticize a pop culture icon to illustrate a point he was making in a sermon. Pastors do this all the time. But not every pastor is Mark Driscoll. And not every pastor posts their sermon illustrations on YouTube because, quite frankly, unless you’re Mark Driscoll most people couldn’t care less. But setting aside the sensationalism for a moment, does Driscoll have a point?

Is Avatar a sermon on paganism? Certainly pantheism is pagan in its origin and I definitely believe James Cameron is preaching a message. But I really think Cameron’s use of pantheism in the film is intended as more of a medium than a theology.

Cameron has been quoted as saying he wanted to make “something that has this spoonful of sugar of all the action and the adventure and all that.” He wanted to produce something that was thrilling, but also that has a conscience “that maybe in the enjoying of it makes you think a little bit about the way you interact with nature and your fellow man”. He added that “the Na’vi represent something that is our higher selves, or our aspirational selves, what we would like to think we are” and that even though there are good humans within the film, the humans “represent what we know to be the parts of ourselves that are trashing our world and maybe condemning ourselves to a grim future.” Cameron also admits the film specifically criticizes America’s role in the Iraq War.

So if Cameron is in fact preaching a religion in “Avatar” then the message is unquestionably an apologetic for the religion of Liberalism. Like so many other Hollywood pinheads, Cameron is bowing down at the altar of environmental extremism, anti-war, anti-capitalism. It’s the good agrarian natives who live in harmony with the earth versus the greedy money grubbing imperialists who are hell bent on pillaging the planet for financial gain. This is “Pocahontas” in the twenty-second century. Can’t you just hear the lovely Princes Neytiri singing “Colors of the Wind” to Corporal Jake Sully (or was that Captain John Smith) explaining to him all about the wonders of nature:

The rainstorm and the river are my brothers
The heron and the otter are my friends
And we are all connected to each other
In a circle, in a hoop that never ends

How high will the sycamore grow?
If you cut it down, then you’ll never know

Okay, so what does all that mean to you and me? Can a Christian watch “Avatar” without seeing the overt demonism? I don’t know. Can a Christian watch “Star Wars” without seeing the overt Buddhism? Can a Christian watch any fantasy story without seeing something overtly offensive to their Christian faith? The answer’s up to you. If your conscience is pricked then don’t do it. But if watching make-believe creatures living in a make-believe world practicing a make-believe religion doesn’t tempt you to sin then exercise your Christian liberty and enjoy it with a clean conscience.