Tapsearch Com EditorMac/PC commercial parody criticizes Christian culture
December 11th 2006 22:40
I'm not familiar enough with Community Christian Church to know everything about it, but given its a church I'd think spreading Christianity would be one of its main goals. Its mission statement confirms that.
I have to wonder, then, why it would make these videos, which have gotten play on Andrew Sullivan and elsewhere.
In a parody of the Mac/PC commercials, a hip Christian doesn't wear his faith on his sleeve and doesn't concentrate too much on Christian music. Meanwhile, the stodgy Christian actually dresses up to go to church and buys an iPod-like mp3 player that only works with Christian music. The whole thing is obviously meant to appeal to a youth audience.
I am not religious myself, so from my high school experience I can sympathize with the drive to make fun of intolerant Christians (I got the "you're going to hell and you must worship the devil" thing from time to time). But the commercials don't make fun of intolerant Christians, they make fun of the Christians who believe what they preach, preach often, respect others and participate publicly in youth Christian culture.
In my experience, those are some of the nicest Christians around. In high school a friend of mine even took me to see a Christian rock group play at a church. She'd debate me on my agnosticism (the kind of engaging conversation I'd never have at the quite-secular four-year college I attended), but she was never one of Sullivan's dreaded "Christianists." I haven't been good at keeping in touch with her, but she was a poster child for Christian youth and almost certainly would not have liked these commercials.
So, how is it in the church's interest to criticize young Christians so broadly? There's a certain appeal in "we're Christian, but not crazy," but it just goes to far. In the music and fashion thing particularly -- teens often listen to one genre to the exclusion of all others, so slamming people who only listen to Christian rock pretty much insults your obvious target audience. Teens also often express themselves by dressing to stand out (I was a fan of the metal shirt or all-black ensemble), so the "you can be a Christian while looking like everyone else" has its downside.
(Other teens, of course, simply wear what everyone else does, so it's a mixed bag. One of the church in question's main concepts is "followership.")
Finally, there's enough Christian bashing coming from outside the church. It's baffling why a Christian group would join in.
Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://www.therationale.com and http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.
I have to wonder, then, why it would make these videos, which have gotten play on Andrew Sullivan and elsewhere.
In a parody of the Mac/PC commercials, a hip Christian doesn't wear his faith on his sleeve and doesn't concentrate too much on Christian music. Meanwhile, the stodgy Christian actually dresses up to go to church and buys an iPod-like mp3 player that only works with Christian music. The whole thing is obviously meant to appeal to a youth audience.
I am not religious myself, so from my high school experience I can sympathize with the drive to make fun of intolerant Christians (I got the "you're going to hell and you must worship the devil" thing from time to time). But the commercials don't make fun of intolerant Christians, they make fun of the Christians who believe what they preach, preach often, respect others and participate publicly in youth Christian culture.
In my experience, those are some of the nicest Christians around. In high school a friend of mine even took me to see a Christian rock group play at a church. She'd debate me on my agnosticism (the kind of engaging conversation I'd never have at the quite-secular four-year college I attended), but she was never one of Sullivan's dreaded "Christianists." I haven't been good at keeping in touch with her, but she was a poster child for Christian youth and almost certainly would not have liked these commercials.
So, how is it in the church's interest to criticize young Christians so broadly? There's a certain appeal in "we're Christian, but not crazy," but it just goes to far. In the music and fashion thing particularly -- teens often listen to one genre to the exclusion of all others, so slamming people who only listen to Christian rock pretty much insults your obvious target audience. Teens also often express themselves by dressing to stand out (I was a fan of the metal shirt or all-black ensemble), so the "you can be a Christian while looking like everyone else" has its downside.
(Other teens, of course, simply wear what everyone else does, so it's a mixed bag. One of the church in question's main concepts is "followership.")
Finally, there's enough Christian bashing coming from outside the church. It's baffling why a Christian group would join in.
Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://www.therationale.com and http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.
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Comment by Nina
What they should be targeting are those people that call themselves Christians but are hypocritical, not being tolerant of others or engaging in practices that are at odds with the belief system.