Narnia under fireWaldmark, 27 January 2006Some atheists have become raving mad about possible allusions to a Heavenly King in the Narnia Stories. To Narnia films fans: There was a post on the Right Reason, a weblog for philosophical conservatism, that caught my eye. Steve Burton, a regular contributor, went to see the first Narnia movie and had expected, but didn’t see, anything “that would justify (or at least explain) the wrath that C. S. Lewis’s Narnia stories seem to arouse in the lefty anti-God crowd.” Now if you enjoy the Narnia stories and you can’t be bothered to know why some outspoken atheists are raging mad about the film or the books, by all means, ignore the whole debate and do something enjoyable instead. But just in case you’re wondering why Polly Toynbee, grand-daughter of the historian, writes in the Guardian that “Narnia represents everything that is most hateful about religion” Don’t expect much enlightenment, though. The anti-Narnia camp is furious but even many of those who sympathise with the atheist’s crusade can’t understand what all the fuzz is about. Here’s my view.
For some atheists any advancement of Christianity is deeply troubling. And when God, whom they deny exists, gets involved they are, of course, left without argument except denial and that is even worse! They can’t openly fight God because He doesn’t exist but they can’t not fight Him either, because they are stirred to deep anger. What a terrible dilemma some atheists find themselves in. No wonder they’re mad. In the meantime, and in my honest opinion, God has blessed the Narnia project. First He blessed C S Lewis in writing these books, then He blessed their publication (85 million copies sold!) and now He has blessed the movie. So my advice is: go read the book, go see the movie, and don’t fight God: you’ll lose. PS: the photo above reflects indeed our view; I planted this lamppost in our garden some years ago and this is the view of it from our terrace. |  Choose font size |
