Doctor Who to boost church popularity?
Doctor Who to boost church popularity | Herald Sun
A conference of Church of England vicars watched a handful of episodes from the sci-fi series to study its religious parallels, particularly its themes of evil, resurrection and redemption.
Similarities between the Doctor and Christ, as well as whether the evil Daleks are capable of changing, were also examined.
"There are countless examples of Christian symbolism in Doctor Who, which we can use to get across ideas that can otherwise be difficult to explain,'' The Sunday Telegraph in Britain quoted Andrew Wooding, a spokesman for conference organising group Church Army, as saying.
"Clergy shouldn't be afraid to engage with popular culture as for many young people television plays a large role in their thinking.''
I can help, here is a clip with a message they can use from the current season. There's also a dandy in the episode, "The Face of Evil" they might consider. It features some primitives, that have come to find some technology that they believe is indued with God's spirit. Nowadays it's grilled cheese sandwiches that are the holy relics.
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Comments
Funny, seeing as Andrew Davies the witer of the current Doctor Who is an avowed athiest!!!
Posted by: Andrew Brown | May 17, 2008 6:27 PM
Made me think of these
http://www.homeonthestrange.com/view.php?ID=211 http://www.homeonthestrange.com/view.php?ID=212
(unfortunately this comment doesn't seem to like links)
Posted by: Nick | May 17, 2008 11:50 PM
I think Dr. Who gets its most important symbolisms from the most recent debacle the British have faced - war with Nazis. Pay attention to how most of their evil creatures seem to be "collective" driven, almost mindless automatons. Pick any random Dr. Who episode you are most likely to see a robotic walking evil beings centrally controlled by some insert the bad dude of the week. The parallels with religion are weak IMHO. In England the "caste" system/feeling is very strong, and what is Doctor's race? Time Lord. It's all very British.
Posted by: skorsky | May 18, 2008 3:32 AM
A few months back there was the story of the avid Dr. Who fan who found Jesus (he was behind the couch all along!).
http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2008/03/thedrwho_fan.html
So he got rid of his police box and other gear since they were secular icons. I hope he reads this story and realizes what a dumbass he is.
Posted by: Doug
|
May 18, 2008 10:38 AM
I think this is a larger reason for the Dr Who fan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s95Mm0cFqg
It's hard to get a screw when you're a fan of doctor who ;)
Posted by: Brainlego | May 18, 2008 12:55 PM
Dr. Who is perfectly accessible to the non-believer.
I made the mistake of going to see the new narnia with some friends.
I thought, no harm.
The movie was offensive.
It had the children battling a horde of spanish Moslems, that they couldn't defeat until they let their lion god into their hearts, and then god himself came in the form of a great wave and wiped them out like the Egyptians crossing the Red Sea.
It was practically a call for a holy war.
Dr. Who might be more similar to Mormonism, but then again, all fantasy adventures have some similarities.
Posted by: RedSeven | May 18, 2008 11:17 PM
Well, now you've spoiled the Narnia movie for me.
I do wish that the Golden Compass movie had been better directed. It was a mess, but the message and the overall story was a good antidote for the Narnia crapfest. Although in the first Narnia I didn't even realize its religious slant, I was expecting a mediocre fantasy movie and besides the bizarre appearance of Santa and the lion's resurrection it didn't disappoint.
Posted by: Andyo | May 19, 2008 4:45 AM
Sorry,
yes, the last one I saw a few religious items but they could be ignored. This one made me want to ask for my money back.
Posted by: RedSeven | May 19, 2008 7:49 AM
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