The Church of England is “disappointed and bewildered”. So, situation normal, then. God’s vicar on earth, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is usually “disappointed and bewildered” about something or other. This time because UK cinemas are refusing to show an advert for the Lord’s Prayer just ahead of the new “Star Wars” movie.
It has come to something when the Church is so desperate to attract new worshippers that they have to advertise in cinemas to try and boost the rapidly dwindling numbers attending church. The Reverend Arun Arora, director of communications for the Church of England (a non job if ever there was one), rather gives the game away:”The prospect of many families attending the release of the new Star Wars film had seemed a good opportunity to launch the advert and a new website justpray.uk to promote prayer ahead of Christmas” and he encouraged people to visit the website, watch the film and make up their own minds “as to whether they are upset or offended by it”. And there we have it. It’s all about proselytising, catching ’em when they’re young; the way all religions work.
The old ways of proselytisation were essentially the brainwashing of children. This was done mainly by parents, with the assistance of churches and religious schools. And it worked. How many children did you know who followed a different religion from their parents? Not many, I’d wager. Anyway, there is no such as a christian child, a muslim child, a sikh child etc etc. Those children are the sons and daughters of christians, muslims and sikhs. It’s what we also know as brainwashing and the church knows how it works.
No matter how ridiculous religion seems to many of us, it is nonetheless practised by intelligent, educated people. Those at the top, the Archbishops, the islamic scholars (there’s an oxymoron for you) and all the rest of them know that increasing numbers of people are coming to the conclusion that God might not be all he is cracked up to be ands that he is probably, almost certainly, not there at all.
We still, unfortunately, have “faith” schools and thanks to the government’s obsession with “free schools” we are going to have plenty more of them. It will not be young children who make the choice to attend them, it will be those with a vested interest; the devout.
I’ll bet the Godwhackers at the CofE have made a cynical calculation that there may just be a good few young children who will want to see Star Wars before Christmas so they see it as the opportunity to recruit. In fact, I would see the actions of Justin Welby to be every bit as cynical and exploitative as any John Lewis or Sainsbury’s TV advert. They’re all trying to sell something.
The company that deals with cinema advertising, Digital Cinema Media (DCM), has refused to show the advert because it would risk “upsetting of offending audiences”. This all sounds rather dramatic language but I agree with them. I would be offended if there was any religious advertising before the film I chose to see. I would no more want to hear the Lord’s Prayer than have some Imam reading pages from the Qu’ran. I don’t mind being invited to buy an ice cream or some pop corn, but not proselytisation. That’s a step too far. At least I know that when I see an ice cream on screen I know it’s real, unlike religious texts handed down from illiterate nomads two thousand years ago.
One man who took part in the ad, Ian McDowall, is a former bouncer and a weightlifter who founded a Christian charity, Tough Talk,said: “I don’t think people know a lot about Christianity these days anyway, and the opportunity to share the Lord’s Prayer in a cinema environment would make people think – and realise that Christians come in all shapes and sizes.” Well, I think he’s wrong there. Increasing numbers of people are coming to realise the pernicious effects of religion in the modern world and that its ancient texts, unchanged over 2000 years, are all but irrelevant in a modern context.
People, of course, should be free to believe whatever they religion they choose but let’s not have it rammed down our throats, before we settle down to watch a Sci Fi movie about things that never happened in real life. A bit like the bible really.
