Real Christians shouldn’t fall into trap of being ‘average American’

By Chuck Manson | Editor and publisher of Everyday Christian

Posted 7:10 am on July 28, 2009

Blogs | Monique Davis

It should not be a surprise to anyone that Hollywood is filled with people who do not believe in God. After all, the antics celebrated by the Hollywood culture often include sex, drugs and a blatant disrespect for the Ten Commandments (lying, cheating, adultery, using God’s name in vain, etc.). One would think that because of such obvious offenses to God in not keeping his commandments, Hollywood’s elite must have some sort of pact with the devil on how to lead the nation astray.  

Brad Pitt did an interview where a reporter asked him if he believed in God and his reply was, “no, no, no!” Some people are outraged at his admission. Initially, I could understand why too. In the United States, we consider ourselves staunchly God-fearing and believing people. But, as I researched an answer for just how many Americans believe in God, I was more confused that ever at the outcry over Mr. Pitt’s admission. 

I dug a little deeper for this story and found this: the average American doesn’t hold firm to the actual existence of God. In fact, a 2006 Harris Poll found that only 42% of Americans are, “absolutely certain” that there is a God. Whoa! That’s less than half our nation. I guess Brad Pitt was just expressing what, according to this poll, many of us struggle with.  

Honestly, I was really expecting that number to be somewhere around 60%. Because of the fact that, through church and the media, I believe the average American is lead to believe that our country is more religious and God-fearing that we actually are. And that’s when it hit me. The media is the devil’s playground.  

There are roughly 30 Christian-based networks available via cable or satellite in the United States. Of those 30, I have 6 channels offered via Direct TV. In a cable package of over 300+ channels, only 6 of them have Christian-based content. I’m not one to sit home and watch Word TV all night long, and this piece isn’t to say that cable providers need to somehow eliminate all other programming and networks that are not Christian. I would like to highlight, however, that as a society our programming tends to reflect our ideals.  

We may not think of it that way, but if all life ceased to exist and there were only television shows for future life to study as a window into our culture, what would they see? What type of values would be represented? What conclusions would they come to about how we feel about relationships, family, our neighbors, etc? What sort of picture about our culture would we leave behind? 

It’s time that Christians did more of the leading, and less of the following. It would be nice to say that Brad Pitt is in the minority with his views, but that does not appear to be so. The media is tricking believers into thinking our country reflects the views and morals of Christianity; while the devil is having a field day with content that influences our society and future generations, through our children, into believing God is neither real nor necessary. Real Christians need not fall into the trap of the “average American.”

Tags: atheism, Brad Pitt, media, television

about the author:
Chuck Manson
http://www.everydaychristian.com

I grew up in Northern Alabama and followed a career in journalism and then business. The launch of Everyday Christian allows me to put together all of the things I love--Jesus, technology, writing, business and encouraging others.

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