"Jumper" on this!

There's something I need to get off my chest. Don't worry it's not excessive hair or day old pizza, at least, not this time. No it's a pet peeve of mine (which I'll admit is shedding, which would take us back to hair removal, but that's another story). Anyone who has watched television in the last two months has undoubtedly seen an advertisement for the upcoming Hollywood movie, "Jumper", which I believe is a documentary about a double dutch jump roping squad from Texas. However, regardless of what the movie is about, there's a scene in the trailer where Samuel L. Jackson says something to the effect of, "Only God should have the power to be in all places at all times!" That's the line that irks me. This character is seemingly a religious zealot of some sort. He's justifing his actions by assuming that God wants him to do it. Now, I'm not opposed to religious zealotry. The Lord knows that they've added comic relief for ages. It's true, just ask Him, or if not Him, than anyone caught up in the Spanish Inquisition, hilarious. My problem is that Hollywood seems to portray all religious people as extremists that, as soon as something goes wrong like a power outage, or an earthquake, or a river's water turning into blood; they feel the need to light a bunch of candles, condemn scientist as heretics and offer human sacrifices to the God of Love.

What bothers me is this portrayal of religious people as all being self-righteous, intolerant zealots who feel they have to take everything into their own hands and who assume that God wants them to punish the perceived "sinners" for Him. I once heard a religious zealot defined as something along the following lines (those of you who know me, know that I have a problem with direct quotes), a zealot is someone who does what he thinks God should do if God were there (which is interesting since God, by "definition" is everywhere, but where is that?). In other words, a zealot is one who ascribes his own thoughts and beliefs to God. This is opposed to a disciple who could be defined as someone who seeks to discover what God would have him do, and then does it or at least attempts to do it. In other words disciples try to ascribe God's thoughts and beliefs to themselves.

Now, perhaps I'm overreacting a bit. Perhaps, I'm seeing all of these perceived slights at religion because I'm ultra-sensitive to it. Maybe we see so many zealots in the movies and on television because they make for better characters than "normal" religious folk. However, I wonder if all of this portrayal of zealots is having an effect on the real world. We often associate things based on our perceptions and not necessarily upon reality. If we believe that people can become desensitized to violence because of movies, then what might the constant association of zealotry as mainstream religion be doing? I wonder if people turn away from religion because they don't want to be seen in the same light as these irrational characters. What kind of an effect are these misrepresentations having? It's human nature to stereotype. I've often had people question my beliefs based not upon my beliefs, but upon the perceptions they have of my beliefs. Often a simple explanation is all it takes to set them straight, but how many people never voice their doubts or feelings? I think it's important that "normal" religious folk need to be a good example to help balance out these portrayals of extremism. We can't allow someones only example of religion be that which is seen in movies and on television. Stories by their very nature are skewed and rarely as complex and intricate as real life, yet society seems to except them has portrayals of reality. This seems to add weight to Christ's admonition to be, "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world" (see Matthew 5:13-14). In this world with so many perceived zealots, let us all strive to be better disciples and examples to everyone with whom come in contact in the hope that we'll help people see past the intrensic shallowness of stories.