(I’m not sure if this is a Great Debate or not; I’ll let the moderators decide.)
Background: For those unfamiliar with the series, “Left Behind” is the name for a bunch of cheesy novels and direct-to-video movies documenting life on Earth after the Rapture (when all True Believers Of Christ™ ascend to heaven). Aside from the Fundamentalists who buy them, the general opinion is that the “Left Behind” books and videos are heavy-handed, poorly-written, and poorly-acted tripe.
Anyway…
So there I was, wandering through Toys R Us, browsing the latest action figures and looking for a copy of But Not The Hippopotamus for my toddler. The “kiddie books” section is in a bit of a mess, and as I’m pawing through the piles, I come across (wait for it)…
“Left Behind: The Kids”
Yes, the brilliant folks who wrote the “Left Behind” novels have decided to sell their message to pre-teens across the nation. The gripping description on the back cover describes the heroic struggles of two young kids as they come to grips with the strange disappearance of thousands of people, and the even stranger aftermath (“Why is the school expelling anyone who dares to talk about God?”). I don’t know if the book is the only one of its kind, but I suspect it’s being pushed as the first in a series.
Anyway, am I the only one creeped out by this? I mean, I’m an atheist, but I’m used to seeing religious books like My First Bible pitched to kids, and understand that the theists in the marketplace want to buy books and indoctrinate their wee ones. But for some reason, “Left Behind” – with its themes of vanishing people, religious supression, and nuclear armageddeon – strikes me as going a bit too far; it’s the same goofy feeling that I’d probably had if I had found The Wee Folks’ Jim Jones Reader in its place…
Um, I don’t think you are paranoid, I just don’t think you have considered exactly why that book was sitting there on the shelf at Toys R Us. The answer is because it costs $8. The series has been a smash hit among Jesus freaks worldwide, including myself, and the publishers figured that if they had done so well with all the adults, there was a killing to be made off of their children. Sad but true. So by playing off of the parent’s insecurity and need to be loved by Jesus, they printed the children’s version which they suspect will be bought by the parents to urge their wee kin into developing a “relationship” with Jesus Christ.
I can’t wait until they come out with action figures so I can superglue a Nicholae Carpathia to my dashboard.
Wow, dude, where have you been? They’re on book 16 of that series. I think it started fairly soon after the first coupld of LB books came out.
AFAIK, it’s a series mainly marketed to older kids–in the bookstore the other day, it was in the YA section, and I get the feeling it’s meant for ages 10 and up. I don’t really think that all the bizarro stuff is any worse than the hack horror/sci-fi series kids love so much. Heck, I know 10-yo’s who read Stephen King. I don’t know that I’d be thrilled about my kid reading it. I’d probably let her do it after age 10+, as long as I read them too and we had a good talk during and afterwards about the vast differences between the fundies’ vs. our church’s interpretations of scripture. I think we could have an interesting time with that. Maybe the authors figure it as good preparation…?
I’ve been keeping up with the LB series–when they first got popular, I was writing a paper on Christian fiction, and mr. genie and I kind of enjoy deconstructing them and figuring out where they get each plot element. So it would be a family activity.
The other day I was walking through a bookstore, and out of the corner of my eye I saw these books set up in a display with other children’s favorites.
And I could’ve sworn I saw Harry Potter roll his eyes at 'em.
Well, my first bible isn’t a bad thing. Usually, Children’s Bibles-at least, the one I had, was more like a story book with bright colorful pictures.
In first grade, we thought it was funny, because our Children’s Bible had was all illustrated, and we used to giggle at the naked pictures of Adam and Eve-you couldn’t SEE anything, but it was only blocked by leaves. To a bunch of six year olds…great!
(I went to Catholic school, so it wasn’t a violation of SOCAS)
Much as I detest Britney, I can’t exactly picture a vast movement preparing for violence against the “one world government” based exclusively on her lyrics.
What bothers me is the crass psychological mainpulation of children that these books’ authors, and fundies in general, seem to be comfortable with practicing. There’s that fundie mindset that takes “sorry, we won’t let you run the schools as an extension of Christian Ed” and turns it into “they’ve kicked God out of our schools!”; sounds like these books take that sort of paranoia, amplify it considerably (“Why is the school expelling anyone who dares to talk about God?”), and manipulate kids with it.
The thing about science fiction is that it’s clearly fiction; the message of such fundie fic is to reinforce the notion that America is an anti-Christian place already, and if the A.C.L.U. had just a little more power, evangelical Christians would be getting tossed in jail for their beliefs.
And of course, the after-school clubs designed to elicit elementary school kids to make a commitment to Christ (recently upheld by the Supreme Court) are another indication of the willingness of such people to manipulate children.
I’m agin this stuff for exactly the same reasons I’m against the use of kids in lite porn: it’s using kids as objects, and pushing them into situations that are too adult for them. I believe you should pick on somebody your own size, and the “LB for Kids” series shows that fundies don’t share that belief.
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It’s pretty sad when they’re marketing religion. I know the various churches have been making money since, well, the dawn of religion, but now they’re figuratively slapping it on a plastic lunchbox, and advertising it. It makes me long for the days when the finances of religion were a bit more discreet…
Oh, and right now, two Left Behind books occupy shelf space. Not mine, of course, they’re my mother’s (I’m not out of high school yet), but every time I see them, I feel a twitch of sad contempt. I half-saw one of the movies (the computer is in line-of-sight with the television), and it stunk. Rather, it reeked with the odious vapors of a thousand rotting heaps of heated jugs of soured milk.
I’m waiting for the Powers That Be to start commercializing atheism/agnosticism/deism. That’ll be the day.
You’re certainly welcome to your opinion. However, I’m not aware of any “evolution for kids” books that use the sort of subversive tactics that people are concerned about WRT the “Left Behind for kids” series. Of course, if you know of one, it should probably be brought to the attention of the board at large so we can avoid it.
Yes, Bill, we know, you can turn anything around, all in the name of exposing the evil secular humanist conspiracy that’s going on, RIGHT UNDER YOUR VERY NOSE!!!:rolleyes:
Well how about the the ole missing ape looking guy turning into a man and what is worse they pass it off as a fact at least on the LB for kids it says fiction on it.
And what subversive tactics used in the LB for Kids are you talking about if you don’t mind?
The difference is that science books for kids aren’t designed to scare the kiddies into accepting the scientific method and rational thought.
Darwin will not leave the Lamarkians behind to be devoured by peppered moths and finches, while the true beleivers are summoned to an eternal paradise at his right hand aboard the Beagle.
Considering that evolution is backed up by decades of research and findings in biology, geology, chemistry, anthropology, archaeology, and a half-dozen other -ologies out there, it’s not really “fiction,” is it?
Unless, of course, you’re talking about those Animorphs books, but those are just silly. Half a step up from the Wonder Twins, if you ask me… “Shape of … a giraffe!”
“Shape of … a giraffe!”