Narnia: Dangerous & Subversive!

Thank God, oh, I meant of course thank the non-denominational deity of your choice so long as that deity is on no way offensive to lily-livered British newspaper writers and all around general nincompoops.

The Guardian's Polly Toynbee makes clear her hatred and disdain for all things Christian in this mildly frightening display of Christian bashing. God knows the Guardian is hardly known as a repository of British values, more like a valiant warrior in the battle against distinctive British culture.

Toynbee snarls--

Children won't get the Christian subtext, but unbelievers
should keep a sickbag handy during Disney's new epic

Toynbee rages--

Of all the elements of Christianity, the most repugnant is
the notion of the Christ who took our sins upon himself and sacrificed his body
in agony to save our souls. Did we ask him to?

Toynbee exults--

Because here in Narnia is the perfect Republican, muscular
Christianity for America - that warped, distorted neo-fascist strain that thinks
might is proof of right.

But Toynbee can hardly contain her glee that, in her twisted view, Britain is a post-Christian nation--

Most British children will be utterly clueless about any
message beyond the age-old mythic battle between good and evil. Most of the
fairy story works as well as any Norse saga, pagan legend or modern fantasy, so
only the minority who are familiar with Christian iconography will see Jesus in
the lion. After all, 43% of people in Britain in a recent poll couldn't say what
Easter celebrated.

All the same, children may puzzle over the lion and ask
embarrassing questions.

But the true nadir of this piece--

And a Kent parish is giving away £10,000 worth of film
tickets to single-parent families. (Are the children of single mothers in
special need of the word?)

I think Toynbee gives away the hardness of a heart that would seek to impute nasty motives to a group that goes out of it's way to do a good deed like this.

I am honestly sickened by this level of vitriol. I read and loved the books, and I would understand entirely if somebody didn't share my love. The books represent a specific age of fantasy, one that appeals to me. But that's not Toynbee's beef here, nope, she's horrified children might be exposed to Christ's message without scorn and mockery.

How sad, I honestly hope Mrs. Toynbee can somehow find a way to let go of the corrosive hatred that is so clearly eating her up from the inside and seeping through all she does. I wish Britain well in the ages to come, we Americans owe a lot to Britain. We had a contentious start, but like many things, that jostling portended a 'special relationship' that I for one treasure.

Read it here


Polly+Toynbee
Britain
Narnia