It's not often that I address specious and ridiculous statements from right wing conservative fundamentalist Christian nut jobs groups, but mess with my Tolkien and you've crossed the line. According to the website "moviepilot" (excellent site by the way highly recommend it) the Christians for a Moral America group have asked that people ban The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey when it is released December 14th of this year. Apparently these misguided and illogical neanderthals believe that Peter Jackson has deliberately removed all of the Christian undertones from the film and assert that The Hobbit promotes "blatant anti-Christian bigotry and Atheist propaganda."
As a fan of The Hobbit and Tolkien in general for the last 28 years of my life, it behooves me to point out several inaccuracies about this group's truth bomb. There is no question that Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic and that his Christianity influenced his works. However, the works his faith specifically influenced were The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion not the The Hobbit. The Hobbit was written as a children's book and while the novel does contain several characters from the other two works I mentioned, it is still a book about dwarves, hobbits, dragons, and goblins. The Christian themes by the nature of the book are very toned down.
Additionally, Jackson is a stickler for faithfulness to the source material so even if you believe that The Hobbit is inundated with Christian themes, if he sticks to the source material, (which he has) what these sloped forehead mouth breathers are suggesting is fundamentally impossible.
Furthermore, where were these people when he did the Lord of the Rings trilogy? Oh that's right they didn't protest because they didn't have a leg to stand on. Aragon, Frodo, and Gandalf are all symbolic Christ-like figures in the novels. Gandalf literally returns from the dead. Frodo's journey to destroy the a ring that continually weighs him down (much like the cross of Jesus) and the descent into the Crack of Doom is also a direct correlation to Jesus's descent into hell after being crucified. Even the One Ring represents the sin of mankind. As for Aragorn the last film is called The Return of the King. Do I really have to spell that last one out for anybody?
What I'm trying to get at is that to remove the Christian undertones from these films is fundamentally IMPOSSIBLE. Christians for a Moral America should have realized this but their attack is not based on logic it is based on hate and ignorance. They're attacking Peter Jackson specifically because he is an Atheist. Apparently this group of ignorant oafs also detests Ricky Gervais, George Michael, gays, liberals, sodomy, Occupy Wall Street, Glee, and a million other things they believe are evil. (Although I might agree with the last one on the list.) Obviously the word "tolerance" is something they skipped over in the Oxford English Dictionary.
In any case I take personal offense to this group's latest declaration not only because it is a vitriol laced tirade but because it is astoundingly ignorant in it's lack of logic. Peter Jackson's an Atheist? Fine. One of my best friends is an Atheist too. He's also gay. Do I think he's wrong about Atheism? Yes. Do I love him any less as a friend? Absolutely not. You know why? Because I am a Christian and believe in unconditional love. Your close friends and your family are your close friends and your family whether they're gay, straight, atheists, Kei$ha fans, Buddhists, or think Paul Blart: Mall Cop is the best film of all time. Would I ever try to tell him what to believe and how to live his life? Not a chance in Hell. Not to go all Johnny Patriot here but this is America where you have the right to believe in whatever you want to believe. Want me to judge? Look elsewhere. Like Planet Fitness this is a judgement free zone.
The opinions of a hate spewing fringe group mean less to me than a Balrog's bowel movement. Christians for a Moral America, the entire offensive line of the Green Bay Packers, or Sauron himself couldn't stop me from being at the movies promptly at midnight on December 14, 2012.
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