Tip # 63 The Difference Between Christian Art and Christian Porn

In Tip #58, I pointed out that much of the media targeted to a conservative Christian audience today can be considered, after a fashion, pornography. A more technically accurate word might be "propaganda", but I think "pornography" still fits the goal of stimulating a sensation more than communicating any idea. In all of that discussion, though, I didn't say how you could tell the art from the porn.

I did give an example in the movie "Saved". For those who haven't seen it, "Saved" centers on a Christian teen girl who never wavers in her faith, but does mature in it and develops a circle of friends based on those who don't easily fit into her conservative, Evangelical Christian culture. As a non-Christian, I appreciate the more positive view of those who aren't the easy poster-children of the culture and as a Christian, you can appreciate the movie's view that Christianity, the faith, is greater than the culture put under the microscope.

For our purposes, the important part of "Saved" is in how it challenges its target audience.
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