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Newberg, Oregon, United States
I'm crazy. Let's leave it at that...

Thursday, April 23, 2009



Here is a video that i have always liked. Its the creation and battle to control a being on the computer. Why i am posting this is because it has slight significance religion in the media. Movies, shows, even simple animations have religion embedded in them. As we shall see from watching Happy feet, the idea of creation and a high power come into play in so many different places. This next clip is from Supernatural, one of my favorite shows, where Dean meets Castiel, the angel.



This show is completely unrealistic. While they have their own form of religion built into the show, we know immediately that it is a not a real religion. Now, why would we not think as this as its own religion? Is it because of the mass media? Is it because we know the people who believe in it are actors on the show? Something that my generation has been coping with is the escalation in violence because of TV and games. If we see religion on TV and in games as false, will we start seeing religion in reality as false? Violence on TV is thought of as false and pretend, and because of that, people sometimes believe the same thing in reality, which produces people desensitized to violence's affect.

Does religion on TV have the same affect as violence on TV? I believe that it does. I believe that the constant exposure to false religions will lead to the eventual desensitization of religious influence on children. But doesn't that happen already? Aren't children of a certain faith taught mainly that their faith is the one true faith? And wouldn't that encourage the desensitization of other religions already? My thoughts are that yes, it does.

children are exposed to religion every day through media. This constant exposure i believe overwhelms the mind with falsehood which eventually leads to the same thought in reality.

3 comments:

  1. I agree. I think that's true with anything though, other outlets of opinion, newspapers, articles from the internet, movies, and like you said, TV. With the way the world is today, everything has to be fast and easy so that way everyone can grasp a concept of it. I don't think it matters to the creators who, as long as it happens. And that is like a religion--okay, maybe not but it does have a few of the same similarities. There's the want for knowledge, the belief in something (faster information, easy-to-get, and more of it). I mean I'm open to criticism on this, but the influence of the media on children or anyone in particular is overwhelming and it DOES "desensitize" those who have media as a big part of their lives.

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  2. I would argue that the portrayal of religion in shows such as Supernatural is not one that seeks to go against certain religions or twist them in any way, but rather, they are focused on not offending any religion and therefore change certain aspects and use parts from many religions. This is not an attempt to debunk any particular religion or to lead people away from religion, but rather it is a way of sliding around offedning anyone.

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  3. first, i really love the animation cartoon. whoever created it is brilliant.

    and second, yes, people (not just children) are exposed to all sorts of religious ideas, but i think that this offers them an opportunity to reaffirm or re-evaluate their own faith. i took a philosophy class in high school that was taught by a local pastor - somebody asked him how he could teach philosophy and still believe in god, but our teacher didn't think that his two jobs were contradictory. i think that being confronted with other beliefs can make a person's faith stronger, or (if they can see it) to find something different that they can believe in unquestionably.

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History of Religious Spread

Since my picture is a llama, i thought the llama song would be appropriate