The Conservative Christian Boycott of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Is the Height of Hypocrisy
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/03/07/the-conservative-christian-boycott-of-disneys-beauty-and-the-beast-is-the-height-of-hypocrisy/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=BRSS&utm_campaign=Nonreligious&utm_content=361
Disney’s new live-action Beauty and The Beast includes a gay character, LeFou, who doesn’t do anything that would challenge the film’s “PG” rating but appears to question his feelings about Gaston at one point in the film.
That, however, hasn’t stopped conservative Christians from freaking out about it. Evangelist Franklin Graham said it was part of the “LGBT agenda” and called for a boycott of Disney. An Alabama drive-in movie theater said it wouldn’t show the movie because the owner claimed she couldn’t take her grandkids to see it. There’s an online petition for Disney to stop its “harmful sexual political agenda.”
They’re all trying to make this a thing. It’s not a thing. It’s just a movie with a gay character. Christians always say they “love the sinner but hate the sin,” but it’s clear their critics were right: They hate the “sinners,” too.
It’s also incredible hypocrisy.
Does Franklin Graham ever get this upset about movies that feature unmarried straight people having sex? Of course not. He’s too busy promoting Donald Trump‘s agenda — because the pussy-grabbing, thrice-married, narcissist is the epitome of Christian values.
Does the drive-in-theater refuse to screen movies that show violence? Of course not. Just this past October, they were showing Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, a film that is rated PG-13 for “sequences of violence and action, some bloody images, language and thematic elements.” (They also use Comic Sans on their website, a crime that is simply unforgivable.)
Does LifeSiteNews care about other films that might go against Christian values? Of course not. They’re too busy trying to figure out how to make women suffer more.
They’re all upset with a movie that features bestiality because a gay character isn’t demonized for his thoughts. Just like Jesus talked about.
Christian writer Jonathan Merritt says the complaints won’t even work:
"… It risks making Christians look like antiquated bigots, and it reeks of moral hypocrisy. And worse, it diverts energy from a more worthwhile effort: teaching Christian children to co-exist in a pluralistic society.
"…
A Christian parent may be able to prohibit their children from viewing a movie, but they will still encounter LGBT people elsewhere. Avoiding the subject of homosexuality will not prepare kids for a world where it is almost totally accepted. It does the opposite, almost assuring they encounter and form opinions about the matter in secular spaces absent their parents. Their energy would be better invested in teaching their children to understand and coexist alongside people who may not share their beliefs and practices."
Merritt is wrong in one aspect. This protest won’t risk “making Christians look like antiquated bigots.” We already know that. This sort of bigotry only confirms our suspicions. Conservative Christians love to cherry pick which sins they get all hot and bothered about — and they ignore the other ones as long as it means advancing their own agenda. (Again, see Donald Trump.)
You’d think pastors could easily get on board with a movie about how we should love each other for what’s on the inside instead of judging them for what they look like on the outside. But we should know better than to expect pastors to follow the actions of Jesus.
They’re far more interested in letting gay people know that God hates them. That’s what the Christian message has become.
The movie opens this weekend. None of the Christians complaining about it have seen it yet. Obviously.
Disney’s new live-action Beauty and The Beast includes a gay character, LeFou, who doesn’t do anything that would challenge the film’s “PG” rating but appears to question his feelings about Gaston at one point in the film.
That, however, hasn’t stopped conservative Christians from freaking out about it. Evangelist Franklin Graham said it was part of the “LGBT agenda” and called for a boycott of Disney. An Alabama drive-in movie theater said it wouldn’t show the movie because the owner claimed she couldn’t take her grandkids to see it. There’s an online petition for Disney to stop its “harmful sexual political agenda.”
They’re all trying to make this a thing. It’s not a thing. It’s just a movie with a gay character. Christians always say they “love the sinner but hate the sin,” but it’s clear their critics were right: They hate the “sinners,” too.
It’s also incredible hypocrisy.
Does Franklin Graham ever get this upset about movies that feature unmarried straight people having sex? Of course not. He’s too busy promoting Donald Trump‘s agenda — because the pussy-grabbing, thrice-married, narcissist is the epitome of Christian values.
Does the drive-in-theater refuse to screen movies that show violence? Of course not. Just this past October, they were showing Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, a film that is rated PG-13 for “sequences of violence and action, some bloody images, language and thematic elements.” (They also use Comic Sans on their website, a crime that is simply unforgivable.)
Does LifeSiteNews care about other films that might go against Christian values? Of course not. They’re too busy trying to figure out how to make women suffer more.
They’re all upset with a movie that features bestiality because a gay character isn’t demonized for his thoughts. Just like Jesus talked about.
Christian writer Jonathan Merritt says the complaints won’t even work:
"… It risks making Christians look like antiquated bigots, and it reeks of moral hypocrisy. And worse, it diverts energy from a more worthwhile effort: teaching Christian children to co-exist in a pluralistic society.
"…
A Christian parent may be able to prohibit their children from viewing a movie, but they will still encounter LGBT people elsewhere. Avoiding the subject of homosexuality will not prepare kids for a world where it is almost totally accepted. It does the opposite, almost assuring they encounter and form opinions about the matter in secular spaces absent their parents. Their energy would be better invested in teaching their children to understand and coexist alongside people who may not share their beliefs and practices."
Merritt is wrong in one aspect. This protest won’t risk “making Christians look like antiquated bigots.” We already know that. This sort of bigotry only confirms our suspicions. Conservative Christians love to cherry pick which sins they get all hot and bothered about — and they ignore the other ones as long as it means advancing their own agenda. (Again, see Donald Trump.)
You’d think pastors could easily get on board with a movie about how we should love each other for what’s on the inside instead of judging them for what they look like on the outside. But we should know better than to expect pastors to follow the actions of Jesus.
They’re far more interested in letting gay people know that God hates them. That’s what the Christian message has become.
The movie opens this weekend. None of the Christians complaining about it have seen it yet. Obviously.
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Franklin Graham was more problems to deal with in his own religion. According to Billy Graham grandson, the Evangelicals have a bigger problem with pedophiles than the Catholic religion.
Gay folk in the new, Beauty and the Beast!? Seems a bit " Johnny come lately" if you ask me.
I wonder why the dirt bag, " Franklin Graham" , type christian's haven't kicked up more of a fuss about one of my favorite Disney cartoons, "Star Vs The Forces of Evil".
Season 2 ended with Star realizing she wanted more from Marco than just friendship but she had waited too long to declare her feelings.
Disney's First Gay Kiss Airs on Animated Series
It’s the smooch reverberating far beyond the Magic Kingdom: Disney’s first gay kiss was featured in an episode of the animated children’s cartoon Star vs. the Forces of Evil.
“Just Friends,” a recent episode of the Disney XD series, finds characters Star, Marco, and Jackie attending the concert of their favorite band, Love Sentence. The music inspires most of the audience to lock lips with their significant others, and a few same-sex couples are included.
The first instance takes place midway through the titular song (which you can watch a clip of above and see pictures of below), when a male couple kisses. The next few feature at least two female couples and occur in a group shot after Marco realizes his best friend has run off.
The Disney XD show follows the adventures of Star, a princess from another dimension, and Marco, a friend whose family welcomes Star into their home, as they attend high school and attempt to prevent her magical wand from ending up in the wrong hands. The show was created by Daron Nefcy, making her only the second woman to create an animated Disney show.
Star vs. the Forces of Evil has been renewed for a third season, which will premiere this summer.
Keep up the good work Disney!
It's been all downhill for Disney movies for the last forty years. The Dean Jones years were the last of the great ones.
Looks like you are confusing not wanting to have something shoved down your throat as hating it. A common confusion among liberals. Just because someone doesn't want to watch gays or have their agenda forced on them does not necessarily mean they hate them. I don't care for your agnostic point of view or the fact that you, yourself hate Christianity but I don't hate you for it.
At this point I will wait for you to say you don't hate Christianity, you just don't want it shoved down your throat so I can call out YOU for the same thing you are calling Christians hypocrites for. Ironic, isn't it? Why is resistance to pressure of something you are against OK for you but hypocritical for everyone else? The ultimate liberal question.
babble babble babble
Yea I didn't expect an actual response to that one. I have yet to meet a liberal that is able to defend their own hypocrisy. Truth hurt much?
Was something shoved down your throat? Seriously? And you call others snowflakes?
I could say the same of you and Christianity Hal. Your hypocrisy is now in full view. Would you like to try again? LMAO!
I think you are in the wrong article. Take your little girl giggles to an article where your comment is actually relevant.
Hey look at that! You have found yourself unable to defend your hypocrisy and have nothing left but deflection. Who saw that coming?/s
A sure sign of a conservative who's got nothing of substance to bring to a debate, is when they come out swinging with nothing but the word 'hypocrisy'. Every one of you on this site has been resorting to this empty tactic more and more. Are you all leasing the term from Sean?
It would be nice if you could at least substantiate the supposed hypocrisy. One non-heterosexual kiss in one Disney movie, versus the countless heterosexual kisses in their volumes of movies, and the conservative snowflakes erupt with claims of having homosexuality shoved down their throats. Some would say that such knee jerk reactions are signs of closet homosexuality. Do you often have dreams of homosexuality being shoved down your throat, and elsewhere?