The Lion, The Witch, and the Ridiculously Political Slander

Okay. I recognize that to the greater majority of extremist liberals the representation of closed-minded, authoritative, dictatorial conservativism is currently represented by the religious right. Moral conservatives who have such extreme beliefs that they want to undo the teaching of hundreds of years of scientific discovery because their "faith" dictates that science is wrong. (I am not going to get into my personal definition of faith, which strongly contradicts the moralistic definition, hence the quotation marks, but I do want to mention that I am not, in any way, dogging faith or those who have it.) I understand that, for those of us who believe in scientific progress, the benefits and reasons of parable, and the true concept of an open, inclusive state would be frustrated by that regime. I get it. I really do. I am against the concept of Intelligent Design and am glad that it has been overturned in court as unable to be separated from its religious context and therefore cannot be taught in schools.

But when did representing anything Christian become automatically fascist? I am a moderately liberal Democrat. I am also a Christian. I do not believe that the two are mutually exclusive. In fact, I find that most of my Democratic beliefs coincide with those that I have cultivated on a spiritual level. I believe in supporting the American people. I believe in protecting the rights, freedoms, and personal choices of each and every American. It seems that recently, the frustration with the religious right has turned into a war against Christianity. I believe that certain members of the religious right are crazy. I believe that they do not understand the separation of church and state and that they want to convert the entire nation with tyrannical laws and prescriptive beliefs. I believe that our founding fathers were specifically trying to avoid this tyranny when they left England.

So I am angry right now that The Chronicles of Narnia is being slandered as Christian propaganda. Does it have Christian undertones? Of course. C.S. Lewis was never deceptive about that. Is it preachy? No, I don't believe so, but I guess that is up to personal opinion. Is it propaganda? Come on, people. NO!! Do these people even understand what propaganda is? This is a story of coming of age, of good versus evil, and yes, of sacrifice, but I think it is a cynical stance to say that the concept of "sacrifice" is a solely Christian one. Mythology, folklore, history, and even current affairs are brimming with stories of sacrifice. The real propaganda can be found in the extreme religious right, and in the extreme left where it seems they want to abolish organized religion. The propaganda is someone telling you what you have to believe, or belittling you for what you stand for. Propagandists are those who would label you for what you believe with scathing epithets like fascist or un-patriotic.

When are we, as a common nation, as Americans, going to get back to understanding our founding principles? We are the open arms for the weak and weary, the soldiers protecting what is just and right, the haven for all people, with every different kind of view point, belief, race, and gender. Everyone has a place here, no matter their background. This is America, and I am tired of politics getting in the way of that. I, as an American, am tired of being split from half of my countrymen. I believe that most of us are right around the middle, and the sensationalists are trying to force that middle to the edges. I don't want to be so far from my Republican brethren that I can't speak to them civilly and understand their viewpoint, even if I disagree or have a different perspective. I am tired of this bipartisanism. And so, this is me reaching out to everyone who wants to try and bring the country back to the middle, the ground where most of us would be more comfortable anyway. Who's with me?