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Less formal and shorter than the www.comereason.org Web site articles, we hope to give readers points to reflect on concerning topics of the day. Powered by Blogger . Thursday, January 19, 2023 Abusing "To Kill a Mockingbird" to Push Bigotry Bigotry is wrong. It shouldn’t be tolerated. Such a message isn’t questioned. In fact, our current culture seems nearly obsessed in proclaiming its evils. That’s why I was dumbstruck at the recent stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird . What do we do when a time-honored work of fiction is used by modern interpreters to teach and reinforce bigotry the original work was designed to denounce? To Kill a Mockingbird , both the original work and the Academy Award winning film starring Gregory Peck, tells the story of Atticus Finch defending a wrongfully accused black man (Tom Robinson) of rape charges in the racist 1930s South. Told through the eyes of Atticus’s daughter Scout, we see how labeling people and casting judgment on those different from ourselves is wrong. Aaron Sorkin has adapted the story for the stage, and as with any work, it was necessary to make some changes. (Sorkin’s best known for writing films like A Few Good Men and The West Wing television series.) For example, early in the book after Scout’s brother Jem had received an air rifle for Christmas, Atticus famously admonishes Jem to be careful with his new power: 1 "I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird." That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. "Your father’s right," she said. "Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird." Sorkin moves the dialogue to Atticus’s closing statement and places the conversation as a recollection of a gift he received from his own father. The change isn’t a big deal as the message remains the same: prejudging someone based on his group is not only wrong, but evil. However, race isn’t the only avenue in which bigotry may assert itself, which is why I was shocked when Sorokin places a vicious attack in the mouth of one of the story’s sympathetic characters. Dolphus Raymond, a white land owner who in the book associates with the black community more than with the town’s bigots, tries to console the children about the wrongs they’re seeing play out before their eyes. He notes that children cry when they recognize the horror of the world: Cry about the simple hell people give other people—without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think they they’re people, too.” 2 Sorkin decides that this isn’t enough. He has the children ask him why they couldn’t before see that horror in their midst, and Raymond replies When horror comes to supper, it comes dressed exactly like a Christian.” The line is delivered with dramatic flair and at least three quarters of the audience reacted as Sorkin hoped they would: with knowing guffaws and snide appreciation. Imagine! Here we have an entire audience paying to watch what can only be described as an anti-bigotry story and they absolutely jump at the chance to revel in the bigotry of an anti-Christian line inserted into the show. This is a clear example of what I mean when I state we are now living in a post-Christian culture. You may not call someone horrific because of the color of his or her skin, but if there is a devout Christian, then go after them and giggle along the way! Harper Lee felt differently. In a New York Times article she explained, Surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic, that is the heritage of all Southerners.” 3 Perhaps Sorkin and those who attend his show agree that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, but it seems that painting a target on the Christian dove is not only allowed but encouraged. References 1 . Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird. HarperCollins, 1995. 103. 2 . Lee, 229. 3 . Harper Lee Twits School Board in Virginia for Ban on Her Novel.” New York Times , 16 Jan. 1966, p. 82. Posted by Lenny Esposito at 2:19 PM No comments: Labels: bigotry , Christian , culture , post-Christian , racism , To Kill a Mockingbird Thursday, April 07, 2022 Rainbows, Revelation, and the Already and Not Yet The midweek Bible study group at my church is completing their study on the book of Revelation and I was asked to provide a few thoughts on the last two chapters of this amazing portion of Scripture. The rainbow has had quite a bit of visibility in our society. The bands of red at the top transitioning through six hues to a violet bottom reflect the order of the rainbow produced by refracting the sun’s natural light. Today, we see the rainbow adopted as a symbol, most prevalently in what has become known as the Pride Flag.” Designed in 1978, the rainbow was chosen because it had some popularity in the ‘60s hippie culture but also because the colors reflect the diversity of the LGBT community and the spectrum of human sexuality and gender.” 1 Ironically, as other communities of grievance have appeared, people have felt the represented spectrum isn’t diverse enough, so color band have been added, lines have been multiplied, and triangles now appear so that it no longer reflects anything natural at all. It has become much more a symbol of politics than a reflection of natural order. Of course, this isn’t the first time the rainbow has been used as a symbol. The Bible tells us that its role has been...