MichaeLeah wrote:
A movie no one has mentioned is Johnny Tremain. It explicitly quotes Scripture a number of times. However, most people are talking about Biblical themes in Disney films, not Biblical quotations, so I will do the same.
The films Walt Disney made almost always had Biblical themes. Walt actually had a background in Christianity. His father was a deacon (and occasional substitute preacher) and I believe he sent his daughters to Sunday School if I am not mistaken. Consequently, Walt's philosophies were heavily based in Christianity. Disney was a modernist: a philosophy that was born out of Christianity. I am not saying Walt Disney was a Christian--I am not certain of that one way or the other--but he certainly thought a lot like one.
Of course, abrahamic monotheism isn't the
worst... there's always Scientology,
Pollyanna was about a girl who was able to make a huge difference in her community by giving love. This follows the Biblical creed to "love your neighbor as yourself." Another example is Mary Poppins. Disney loved Mary Poppins so much because of the message it shared. He was passionate about promoting his philosophy of life. The song "Feed the Birds" is metaphorical about how easy it is to love someone. I think the main character in the story is George Banks who learns about loving and caring for his family. The principles in this story were certainly born out a Christian perspective.
Please realize I am not saying you have to be a Christian to love. I am saying, however, that of all the world's most historical religions, it is Christianity that has had the biggest emphasis on love. (Judaism does as well, but Judaism is by nature a religion focused more on a particular ethnic group and has not spread among other ethnic groups in the same way some other religions have.) Islam is a religion that has always included a great deal of hate. Most of the world that is now Muslim became such with the threat of death if conversion was refused. Hinduism is not concerned with reaching out and helping people. A person who is suffering, for the Hindu, is doing so as a result of bad karma and they can't and shouldn't be helped for fear of interfering with the gods. So you see, the principles of loving everyone are heavily based in Christianity. That is why love is so central to North and South American and European culture (among a few others).
I don't even know how to respond to
that. You do realize this wasn't supposed to be a religious "debate", right? Besides, since when was love so integral to our society? When I look around I see greed, excess wealth and materialism (particularly among the supposedly "religious", like Pat Robertson, Bush, etc.).
Besides, don't you think you're giving into anti-Islam propaganda a bit on proclaiming it's a religion focusing on hate? It's no more inherently violent than Judaism or Christianity (though IMO, this isn't saying all that much). All the modern religions based on abrahamic monotheism have their down sides. Christianity is, in many parts of the world (particularly in certain regions of the U.S.) shrouded in clouds of hypocritical garbage, obsessed with power and wealth and bent on spreading their own message and converting others. Judaism has spawned, for whatever reason, alot of ethnocentrism for which I see little purpose; and Islam is contantly being corrupted and misinterpreted to extreme degrees in order to lend credibility to insane theocracies and amoral tyrants.
Personally I'm an Atheist, and don't consider myself part of
any specific geographically or ethnically-based culture; unless humanity as a whole counts, anyway. I take part in a many different elements of various culture that have appealed to me over the years, except Religion, of course, as I'm incapable of believing in any kind of God.