Avatar<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When I saw the trailers for Avatar, the first thought that went through my head was \u201cI gotta see this one.\u201d But when I read the early reviews (which can\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/01\/avatar.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Avatar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I saw the trailers for Avatar, the first thought that went through my head was \u201cI gotta see this one.\u201d But when I read the early reviews (which can\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/01\/avatar.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-02T21:02:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_cpRXT6ZSHTw\/S0AJKLJNYPI\/AAAAAAAAAXA\/Ojj4Ju-KVfE\/s400\/avatar+1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/01\/avatar.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/01\/avatar.html\",\"name\":\"Avatar\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-02T21:02:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-01-02T21:02:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\"},\"description\":\"When I saw the trailers for Avatar, the first thought that went through my head was \u201cI gotta see this one.\u201d But when I read the early reviews (which can\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/01\/avatar.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/01\/avatar.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/01\/avatar.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Avatar\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"description\":\"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Beckett\"},\"description\":\"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. 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{"id":455,"date":"2010-01-02T21:02:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-02T21:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/01\/avatar\/"},"modified":"2010-01-02T21:02:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-02T21:02:00","slug":"avatar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/01\/avatar.html","title":{"rendered":"Avatar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>When I saw the trailers for Avatar<\/em>, the first thought that went through my head was \u201cI gotta see this one.\u201d But when I read the early reviews (which can be summarized as \u201call effects and a predictable story\u201d) I figured I\u2019d save my money. Then after it opened I started reading some other reviews attacking its \u201creligious content\u201d and I knew I had to see it for myself. So Cathy and I went to see it today.<\/p>\n

It was awesome. Visually, it was beautiful. The effects were great, but they were woven into the story \u2013 they didn\u2019t overwhelm it. Yes, some of the characters were stereotypes, but they were plausible. Yes, it perpetuated the \u201cnoble savage\u201d myth, which has largely been disproved. But the central theme of the movie \u2013 that all living things are connected \u2013 is both powerful and highly appropriate for our world and our time.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the extent of my review. Now I want to talk about some of the other comments.<\/p>\n

Gus diZerega keeps a Pagan blog on Beliefnet<\/a>. He calls Avatar<\/em> \u201ca very Pagan movie\u201d \u2013 and I totally agree. He also says \u201chow people react to it enables the movie to serve often as a Rorschach of their soul.\u201d If they\u2019re offended that corporations and mercenaries are the villains, then maybe they need to look a little deeper inside themselves and their values.<\/p>\n

Ross Douthat of the New York Times<\/em><\/a> whines that Avatar<\/em> is another case of Hollywood promoting pantheism, citing Dances With Wolves<\/em>, The Lion King<\/em>, and of course, the Jedi of the Star Wars<\/em> movies. He says \u201cHollywood keeps returning to these themes because millions of Americans respond favorably to them.\u201d You think there might be a reason for that, Ross? You think maybe people feel a call to Nature, since our modern world has done such a good job of alienating us from her? Douthat uses the Problem of Evil to claim that pantheism is an inferior religion, ignoring the fact that the form of Christianity he promotes simply claims that whatever their god wants is by definition \u201cgood\u201d and therefore he\u2019s not responsible for evil.<\/p>\n

And Jonah Goldberg of the Los Angeles Times<\/em><\/a> uses the movie to clamor for victim status for the majority religion of this country. He says \u201cWe live in an age in which it\u2019s the norm to speak glowingly of spirituality but derisively of traditional religion. If the Na\u2019Vi were Roman Catholics, there would be boycotts and protests. Make the oversized Smurfs Rousseauian noble savages and everyone nods along, save for a few cranky right-wingers.\u201d No, Jonah, if the Na\u2019Vi were Roman Catholics the movie would be pointless and no one would watch it.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason why Douthat, Goldberg, and others are complaining about Avatar<\/em> \u2013 they feel threatened. In the \u201cmarketplace of religions\u201d conservative religions (despite the noise they make, and the very real damage they do in some parts of the world) are losing and liberal religions \u2013 including the ever-popular \u201cspiritual but not religious\u201d \u2013 are winning.<\/p>\n

And that \u2013 like the movie Avatar<\/em> \u2013 is a very good thing.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"