They write letters....
My incredibly eloquent wordsmith-in-residence, Mrs. Expat Teacher has written a letter to the editor at the Guardian expressing her frustration with Ms. Toynbee. Feel free to copy and paste and send your own.Ms Toynbee,
Re: 'Narnia represents everything that is most hateful about religion'
I respect your right to express your disbelief in the Christian faith. I respect your right to express your inability to comprehend the main tenets of the Christian faith. I even respect your right to use derogatory language when expressing such sentiments. However, with regard to the latter, I cannot stand by and let you do it without commenting. I realize reading your article that the only thing you have against the movie is the faith it represents. The acting is fine, the action scenes well put-together. And it even ‘makes sense’ up to a certain point. However, since you find ‘repugnant’ the basic tenet of the Christian faith that Jesus voluntarily took it upon himself to die for humanity and take responsibility for the sins of the world, and embarrassing that you may have to answer a child’s query about the subsequent resurrection, you have to smear the film as it glorifies these mysteries.
Your use of the word ‘repugnant’ and subsequent explanation of it just shows your misunderstanding of the Christian faith. Christianity celebrates the freeing from guilt, among other things; it does not specialize in inflicting it. Also, it need not be embarrassing to answer the child’s query. All this requires is a simple explanation of that part of the Christian faith. You don’t have to believe it yourself to explain it. If had to believe everything you explained, you would never be able to share the ins and outs of Greek mythology.
As someone who does believe this amazing story, I respectfully request that you refrain from making such derogatory comments about the Christian faith. It is when people cannot respect others’ differing beliefs that conflict breaks out. I’m not asking you to subscribe to any faith, let alone mine, but you can disagree without name-calling and cutting down. Empty and inflammatory rhetoric does no one any good.
Kind regards,
[Mrs. Expat Teacher]
London, UK
posted by Expat Teacher @ 4:37 PM
