A Christian group, Folks for a Nicer World, has recently come out against the proliferation of Jesus in the media. They would like to see descriptions and representations of the Christ limited and controlled through a centralized agency so as to make sure the ‘right’ interpretation of the Son of Man is disseminated.
“It’s like you can barely turn on the TV or open a newspaper or magazine without someone spouting off about Jesus. It’s too much. It weakens the power of his message to let just anyone talk about him, like they have a personal relationship with him not mediated through a designated person trained in interpreting his life and work,” explains Martin A. Francis, co-founder of Folks for a Nicer World.
“Personally, I blame those boomers, those shaved-down hippies, for starting the whole problem in the sixties. When they were content to bastardize and reinterpret Eastern religions to suit their self-indulgent, self-absorbed Me generation, I mean, who cared? It’s when they started messing with My Lord that things got serious. I mean, all this stuff about ‘Jesus Loves Me’ and even ‘What Would Jesus Do?’, is dangerous. It puts the power in the hands of a bunch of ignorant, weak, easily misled people to decide what their religion means. It’s bound to cause problems,” says Melinda Davies, Youth Wing Leader, Folks for a Nicer World.
They hope to use their organization to target government, media and business to rein in the portrayal and discussion of Jesus in the public sphere and leave it to churches. ‘Keep Jesus in Church – Where He Belongs’ is their motto. Alternatively, they would like to see a Faith council set up to vet all public presentations of Jesus and his life.
“It makes sense. Obviously, it was a good thing getting Jesus away from the Catholics and all but they had some good ideas. Keeping the bible in Latin – that was a very smart move. They were able to control the outflow of information pretty nicely that way. Nowadays, we can’t do that but the good thing is that more and more people can’t read or they’re too lazy to read. We have a great opportunity to make a difference through TV and movies and such but we need one consistent voice to make sure that the right message is going out,” continues Francis.
Davies adds to that, “The bible is a confusing work. People need it explained to them. There are a lot of mixed messages in there. I mean, frankly, Jesus isn’t a very good role model for young people, is he? He quits his job, roams around the countryside questioning political and religious leaders, he hangs around with whores and other lowlifes and ends up being arrested and put on death row. And really, he’s thirty three and isn’t married and hanging around with all those guys whom he ‘loves’… it’s a little gay isn’t it?”