I've moved — check out my new blog at cassyfiano.com!

Redirecting in 10 seconds...

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Hollywood insults Christianity... again.

Here's a new picture, supposedly taken by David LaChapelle. It's rapper L'il Kim, who recently got out of jail, photographed as the Virgin Mary, complete with a baby in her lap. She's sitting in a room complete with naked men, cocaine, and heroin. I'm not entirely sure what message this photo is supposed to send, but it's disturbing to say the least.

14 comments:

BLOOBITY said...

Wow, this hurts your feelings? Get a life.

Anonymous said...

maybe you could help us with it's meaning then, Levi... I don't think she said it hurts her feelings. She said it's strange and is unsure of the meaning.

Jeremy said...

You're right Levi. Why should we care when something we cherish and hold sacred is perverted? I mean all she really wants to do is make more money. And it's not like society has been hurt from the unwillingness of people to declare something wrong.

You're right, it is all about our feelings.

Anonymous said...

Levi is deeply in error.
IF this picture should not hurt our feelings, then Muslims have no business raging and killing at comparable insults.
But you can bet large money at long odd that Levi is a leftist who only insults Christians, 'cause they are NOT insane.

Baz said...

You're right. This is much more damaging to Christianity than things like sexual abuse scandals, Church financial improprieties, declaring that hurricane Katrina is God's wrath on homosexuals, or that 9/11 was retribution for NYC's loose morals, declaring that Christianity is under attack in what is one of the most Christian-friendly nations in history, or that God pre-ordained G.W. Bush to be our President.

Those things don't undermine or pervert the Christian faith at all. This picture of a b-list rapper is a much bigger deal.

Anonymous said...

Well said, Baz.

Anonymous said...

I don't get how this damages Christianity.

More importantly, any religion that can't withstand the most withering attack from opponents isn't worth believing in. Any religion actually damaged by something as juvenile as this is utter shit and anyone believing in such a religion a complete fool.

Jeremy said...

Baz, you are changing the subject and throwing up straw men. Not unexpected, I guess, but it bespeaks a fundamental naivety about Christianity.

Levi did not comment on damaging Christianity but told us to get a life for taking offense. Christianity is nothing if the attempt is not made to distinguish good from evil, or beneficial from detrimental.

Things like sexual abuse and financial scandals are bad. Areas where Christians have deviated from Christianity. No Christian will hesitate to state this fact. Indeed it is our duty to identify the wrongdoing, learn from it and keep it from happening again.

Claiming something is the wrath of God and assigning it to certain group of people is not only unknowable but detrimental for a Christian to assume. And it is our job to identify this and instead seek to help people who are suffering.

It is bad for people to do wrong instead of right. It is made even worse when people stop trying to make the distinction.

Christianity is not a popularity contest or a PR campaign, it is a way of life. And yes it is under attack when you belittle our attempt to determine right from wrong and then insult us when we have the courage to exercise our right to stand up and state what we believe.

This image does not in itself hurt Christianity. Christianity is only hurt when Christians do not stand up and say that it is wrong.

Grebrook said...

"then insult us when we have the courage to exercise our right to stand up and state what we believe."

Courage? You think it takes "courage" to self-identify as a Christian, in a nation that is roughly 75% Christian?

That's so arrogant and self-indulgent it's hardly worth noticing. Seriously, you're about as full of shit as a person can get.

"I'm so brave, there's only hundreds of millions of people like me! It takes a lot of courage to be a part of the super-majority!"

Vernunft said...

Atheism will never recover from the damage the 20th century did to it, though. 100 million dead - that's gotta sting.

Jeremy said...

"Courage? You think it takes "courage" to self-identify as a Christian, in a nation that is roughly 75% Christian?"

No I said it takes courage to stand up for what you believe. It's always tougher to do the right thing (regardless of how you reached your determination) than it is to be apathetic or to sit back and insult the people who do.

Just because other people are Christians does not relieve someone from living like one. Yes there are many of us, so clearly we should shut up and not protest when besmirched.

Baz said...

Jeremy,

My "straw-man" argument's (it's not actually a straw-man, but that's another discussion) point is that there are many things going on much more damaging to Christianity, but Christians have not had, as you put it, the "courage" to denounce them.

Put another way, Christianity has much bigger problems to tackle than this image, many of them within the Christian faith.

SamNLA said...

Let's forget the title of this blog for a minute.

This photo should not only offend Christians, it should offend any human being with any decency or sense of morality left in them.

There is blatant and deliberate promotion of drug use and sexual misbehavior. Did any of you geniuses catch that part (talking to you Levi)?

It's not about having my feelings hurt. I think I am more pissed off at how she is so quick to use something she doesnt believe in or understand to make a few dollars - and worse...she does it at the expense of the youth in this world.

Our kids have enough crap to deal with in real life, i.e. drug dealers, drive-by's, sexual abuse, etc., without someone glamorizing it to make money.

But in the end she gets the attention she wanted, and the idiots that will defend immorality just for the sake of being right.

Just another notch in Lil Kim's belt of accomplishments (right up there with going to jail, sleeping around to get her rap career going, and so on). Kudos.

Stephen said...

Now, if the Muslim community of about, ohh, 1 Billion or so, would listen to the free advice offered here to Christians. I'm assuming Levi et al have lectured them appropriately for rioting over cartoons, no?
Cassy's point seems to be focused specifically on the penchant the Hollywood/Entertainment industry has for specifically trying to denigrate things (they think) Christians hold dear.
Is the faith "damaged"? I don't think so at all, but that wasn't her point. The post title is
HOLLYWOOD INSULTS CHRISTIANITY...AGAIN.
There's no talk about "damaging" Christianity. It's about X insulting Y. Being insulted doesn't equate to having your feelings hurt. But if you want to use it as a pretext to get a dig in and call someone "full of shit" well it's a free country (and free blog, apparently) so go for it.