Regardless, after taking my kids to see the holiday flick -- a recent tradition in our household -- I can report, to my delighted surprise, that Narnia seems more like the 5th installment in the Harry Potter series (ironically demonized by the religio-wingnuts for its 'anti-Christian' setting) than a rehashing of the conservative Christian spiel.

In fact, you drop a few keywords from the movie and you're left with a good ol' fashioned, simple-yet-compelling story of 'good vs. evil'.

So why all the winger Christian hype?

First, it should be noted that there are some legitimate reasons that Chronicles is touted as propping the 'Christian message' -- not the least of which is that C. S. Lewis intended the story to be a 'Christian' Tale. There are also sporadic, if disjointed references to various biblical points. Fortunately, they're only momentarily in your face.

Anyway, if it weren't for the politically oriented publicity of the movie and the few overt biblical references that I just described, the 'story of Jesus' aspect of Narnia never would've occurred to me -- and I grew up as Red and conservatively Christian as the worst of them.

Just take a look at some of the more Christian-implied aspects of the film and decide for yourself whether the film is deserving of the wingnuts' claims:

Prophecy: The nuts always cite various prophecies as reason for your (and my) eternal damnation and there was a prophecy in the movie (that four humans would free Narnia from the rule of the White Witch). Was it this use of a bible-like 'prophecy' that sent the theo-crackpots into a tizzy? Nope. Couldn't be... cause the prophecy in the movie actually came true. Anyone who has ever read the bible knows full well that the bible has a prophecy 'hit-rate' of absolute zero.

Dominion over Animals: Was it 'man's dominion over animals' that gave Fundies the idea that Narnia was promoting their message? Well, it is true that all... er... most of the non-human creatures in the Narnia bowed down to the humans, but the overpowering hero of this flick was a Lion -- not a human. So there goes the whole 'humans over animals' thing.

Resurrection: Was it the Lion's death and subsequent 'resurrection' that caused the hype? Hmmmm. I don't know if such a thing really singles out this story as a 'Christian' tale. I can think of a number of far less Christian-hyped movies that also involved a 'resurrection' of sorts: Jason in  Friday the 13th, That little creature in Disney's The Sword and the Stone, the Alien in Alien Resurrection, and even the pseudo-resurrections of all those 'petrified' people in Harry Potter II -- the Chamber of Secrets. So that aspect doesn't really scream, "Hey, Check out this 'Christian movie."

Adam and Eve: In the movie, humans in Narnia are oft referred to as the offspring of Adam and Eve. But hey, this is old testament stuff and could certainly refer to Judaism and thus, does not refer specifically to Christianity.

Sacrifice for others' sins: The Lion does indeed sacrifice himself for the sins of another (very Jesus-like) albeit with the knowledge that a technicality overlooked by the witch will spare his life in the end (uhhh. Smart, but not so Jesus-like). In any event, the overarching premise is a truly noble facet of 'true' (i.e. liberal Christianity) but has absolutely nothing to do with conservative religiosity IMO (using as my reference the right's fervor for war without personal sacrifice, and tax cuts to the wealthy -- that is assuming that our 'bible-study' president is any indication of the broader conservative religious movement.)

Talking Beavers: Perhaps it was the biblical talking beavers (Narnia has two of them). The bible is rife with these chatty, wise-ass little rodents. Wouldn't be a bible story without talking beavers.

To its credit, Narnia does provide a message reminiscent of some of the 'true' principles of Christianity -- remaining notably devoid of the prejudicial, judgemental, God-vengeful filth often purported by the religious right-wing in America today.

So how they find themselves entitled to claim the movie as supporting their worldview is absolutely beyond me.

If there is a message about Jesus in this flick, it's that he was a caring, self-sacrificing, understanding, and tolerant being. In short, he fought against everything that today's conservative Christians seem to support.

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