The title of this post might have summarized a satirical faithmouse cartoon a few years ago; now it's a news story. The Motion Picture Association of America has deemed the squeaky clean, evangelistic film Facing The Giants too "heavily laden with messages from one religion" according to Kris Fuhr, vice president for marketing at Provident Films.
The MPAA is advising parents against allowing their children to see Facing The Giants unsupervised, not because of profanity, or nudity, or sexual content...but because a coach talks to a student about Christ, and similar content. That's it. According to this new standard being set by the MPAA, a religious message by itself can no longer be deemed non offensive and safe for the entire family.
Not very long ago, a film devoid of sex and profanity would have been assigned immediately to the G category. If the MPAA knew ahead of time that such a film was being made by an organization such as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, they would have mailed the film its G. The very definition of a G rating used to be that the film was a Disney cartoon, a Warren Miller surfing/skiing movie, or something Christian.
If Quentin Tarantino was revealed as the director of Facing The Giants I suspect it would have easily acheived its G from the folks at the MPAA, who might have wondered why such a talented director was throwing away his career. More than likely it isn't solely the evangelistic message of Facing The Giants which has earned the PG, but the Baptist organization which made it. The irrational PG rating against Giants may be nothing more than a politically inspired ad-hominem against the product of a religious group which is disliked by many in Hollywood for its very forward stance against same-sex marriage.
What these folks at the MPAA are now declaring is that, by association, every person, church service, televised program, sacred destination, book, film, drawing, mural, play, bumpersticker, T shirt, music CD...ad-infinitem, which presents nothing more offensive than the straightforward idea that perhaps there is a God somewhere who loves us and wants us to be happy (whoever the fiilmakers might profess that God to be), is by nature offensive to those who may not agree with that message, and should be slapped with a warning label.
Now that's offensive.
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