November 19, 2009

Oh, Be Unreasonable!

G.K. Chesterton once wittily advised, “Don’t be so open minded your brains fall out.” This comment recently came to mind when reflecting on the general response to the infusion of the occult into our culture. For some time now we have witnessed an increasingly powerful stream of occult characters and themes flowing into our books, movies, video games and music. Many Christians valiantly tried to stem this tide with reason.

A parent or critic would compliment what is good in one of these works — the cinematography, the writing style, art work etc. — and then point out the more objectionable plot lines or themes. This is a bit like telling a hiker that the path he is on will certainly take him over a cliff to his doom, but the scenery is nice on the way down. As noble an effort as this might have been, it must now be admitted that the reasoned approach has failed. Every season, every “new moon” brings us more necromancy, vampires, ghost hunters and the like. Just as a good military general would change the battle strategy if his armies kept losing, it might just be time to change our approach. It is time to be downright unreasonable!

Scripture provides us with numerous examples on how to speak to issues of the occult. Moses does not exactly beat around the burning bush when he instructs the Hebrews on how they are to live in the Promised Land. “There shall not be found among you anyone who…practices divination, a soothsayer …or a sorcerer…or a wizard…or a necromancer. Anyone whoever does these things in an abomination to the Lord” (Deut 18:9-12). St. Paul forcefully states that those who practice impurity, impiety, and sorcery will not inherit the Kingdom of God (Gal 5:19-21). St. John gives us a very clear picture of the Last Judgment when he writes, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted…sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be…the second death” (Rev 21:8).

These quotes are taken from the beginning, middle and end of Holy Scripture. I think it is safe to say that Our Lord is not crazy about the whole preternatural package. He is not big on even the appearance of evil or entertaining evil thoughts. The same Lord who warned, “whoever looks lustfully at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart” is not going to give us a pass on pretending to cast spells in video games, or spending a good part of a day fantasizing about vampires. Like the good Father that He is, He hates those things that harm his children. When an entertainment venue touches upon possibly endangering a soul we need to risk looking unreasonable. We need to speak clearly and condemn it.

There are wonderful theologians and scholars who have looked into objectionable books and movies in great detail and have done an excellent job countering them. I am thankful that these men and women have used their brilliance and time for this work. It is a great act of charity to do so. But, for the rest of us, I wonder if the labored research is really necessary. Fr. Benedict Groeshel often says, “Life is too short to read stupid books.” Isn’t some of this stuff just awful enough that it is an obviously better choice to simply skip reading/watching it? When I clean out my refrigerator, one sniff of rotten food tells me that it is better thrown out than consumed; one whiff of some of the themes in these works should convince us that they are better thrown out than consumed. With that in mind, let’s administer the “sniff test” to some of the most popular and egregious entertainment in our culture. The release date of “New Moon” based on Stephanie Meyers’ second book in the Twilight series is upon us. Let’s start with her hugely popular series.

I have read Christian websites which search in vain for something to “baptize” in these books. Some have noted the positive portrayal of chastity. Ok, Edward and Bella are (kind of) chaste until marriage. Great! Well, um, except that Edward is a VAMPIRE! It is an accepted fact throughout the book that he is damned. At the end of the third book she also becomes a vampire knowing that it means her damnation as well. Does anyone really need more of a sniff test than this? I can understand why non-Christians and Mormons who don’t believe in Hell could find this acceptable, but Christians? There are other elements of the book that should alarm any parent, Christian and non-Christian alike, who is concerned about his/her daughter’s life right here on Earth.

Bella often returns home with bruises (Edward is supernaturally strong, you see.) Bella doesn’t tell her parents when she is going out with her vampire lover because if he can’t control his bloodsucking urges and kills her, she doesn’t want him to get in trouble. The fans definitely pick up on this theme too. One enthusiastic fan explained, “”It’s not so much forbidden love as the whole danger aspect. Any moment, he could kill her.” (Oct. 05, Chicago Tribune) Wow, that’s healthy. Not exactly the idea of love you want your daughter to have in mind when she is starting to date. Fans of the book will hasten to remind you that vampires aren’t real. They are right, vampires aren’t real. But abusive boyfriends are, and they can be pretty romantic and charming. Women die daily from domestic violence. Relationships which can endanger life or eternal life are not romantic. C.S. Lewis observed, “even if drinking arsenic should become fashionable, it would still kill us to do so.” Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series has sold 17 million copies thus far. The books and movies appear to be a fashionable arsenic beverage that it is best for women and girls to abstain from.

Another big occult star in the firmament of our culture is “World of Warcraft.” At last count there are over 11 million young people involved in this MMORPG (massively multiplayer online roll playing game.) Clinical psychologist Dr. Maressa Hecht Orzack estimates 40% of that number are addicted to the game! Marriages have ended over World of Warcraft. Teens have sacrificed high academic performance and young people their jobs to a computer game! This past month, the Chinese government presumably uneasy over the effect World of Warcraft was having on the population there, began strictly regulating playing it and other MMORPGs no more than three hours a day. It is worth noting, this is not censorship of the material itself, but of the time spent playing it. Obviously, the government has become aware of how powerful the hold of this game is. To be sure, I have heard many concerns over how addictive WoW is, but I am a bit amazed at the lack of controversy surrounding its content.

Recently, a Catholic blog spot hosted a heated discussion over this very topic. One brave soul faced down a number of others in his vehement condemnation of WoW. He named the hunting and sacrificing of human beings to monsters and demons, “stripper inspired” night elves, violent and bloody images, and the trivializing of evil, as being some of the reasons to never sign up with this online activity. Many answered him with the usual, “its only fantasy,” forgetting of course that demons are real. Others said that the game is harmless and to lighten up. Should a Catholic really be telling another Catholic to lighten up about the concept of summoning demons for power? Should Christian parents smile approvingly when their son or daughter controls another WoW character through magic spells? Do young men really need any more soft porn images dancing around in their heads?

The game seems to be an eerie replay of the Dungeons and Dragons phenomenon a couple of decades ago. It features the same fantasy characters, guilds and quests. D&D has been repeatedly linked to depression in teens, anti-social behavior, isolation, and even thoughts of suicide. Gallup polled teens on what caused young people to contemplate suicide, “17% of teens surveyed named “playing with Dungeons and Dragons” as a contributor (The Spiritual Life of Young Americans: Approaching the Year 2000, with commentary and Analysis by George H. Gallup, Jr. This quote was found on Dads.org) . I think the “unreasonable” choice here is to scratch playing World of Warcrat from the “to do” list. There is no shortage of video games out there. It shouldn’t be hard to find one less addictive and less dangerous to real life.

I could continue with the satanic music young people listen to, ghost hunting shows, online games even more horrendous than WoW, but that would fill up books and a reader’s patience. Besides, the point in being unreasonable and swiftly rejecting questionable art is that the quicker we diagnose the disease, the faster we can administer the cure. And the cure is so easy, so readily available. We need only to open another book, THE book and read, “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, meditate upon these things”(Phil 4:8). I am not arguing here for men and women to read only overtly religious materials. Jesus used parables to convey eternal truths after all. I am arguing for a man or woman to invite only the best in literature, art and music into his or her heart. For that is indeed where art touches us.

This discriminating approach to the arts was tried and found wildly successful in recent history. In the seventies, Dr. John Senior, Dr. Dennis Quinn and Dr. Franklyn Nelick worked together at the University of Kansas to introduce students there to the very best in thought and writing that Western civilization has to offer. They worked as a team to create and teach the Integrated Humanities Program. The program lifted students’ eyes up from the horizontal to the vertical, and transformed countless lives. One student writes of the professors and the IHP, “through the reading of great literature, poetry and the classical liberal arts in general, the three professors introduced us to truth, goodness and beauty (for the first time for many of us) and our lives were never the same.” The man quoted enrolled at University of Kansas a nominal Christian. He graduated a zealous Catholic, the godson of Dr. Senior. His story does not end there. He was called and elevated by God to the priesthood. We are now greatly blessed to have him as our auxiliary Bishop in Denver, Bishop James Conley.

Art stirs up our emotions and we are very vulnerable to its power. Questionable art can excite lust, grasping for unnatural powers, isolation and despair. Good art can inspire courage, wisdom, compassion and a love of truth. The human heart is often compared to soil. What a man reads, listens to, views or spends time with all plant seeds in that soil. The seeds bloom into judgments, worldviews, and beliefs. Robert Frost reminds us, “way leads unto way.” One choice leads to another. A thought leads to philosophy, a philosophy to an action. We live in an era of doubt and superstition. If the first way we choose for ourselves and for our children is the way of truth, beauty and goodness; if we read and give time to only those things that build up our faith, and intellect; if we allow art to bring out best in us, we will not be transformed by this age, but we will transform it.