Angus T. Jones and the War on Christianity

Angus T. Jones is 19 years old and the highest paid child actor in Hollywood.  He was 8 years old when he joined the sitcom, Two and a Half Men then starring Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer.  At age 8 Angus was a chubby, round faced little boy.  Now he is a slim, athletic looking, but still round faced young man.  Two and a Half Men was clearly, “adult” humor when Sheen was the lead actor.  I enjoyed the show, but was always a little worried about how the general tenor of the set would affect an impressionable young boy.  Then Sheen had his melt down and was replaced by Ashton Kutcher.  At this point the show turned deadly dull and turned to sophomoric humor.  You have to be concerned when a child actor is only brought on stage to make a joke about smoking pot, masturbating or blowing off school.

            Well, as it turns out, I don’t have to be worried about Angus T. Jones.  He appears to have seen the insanity and inanity of the adults around him and decided that he can do better.  Poor Angus.  If he had opted for a life of drink, drugs, profligate sex and law breaking all of Hollywood would be in his corner, cheering him on.  Unfortunately, this young man decided to become a Christian.  If he had chosen a designer religion like Buddhism or Hinduism he would have earned himself a qualified pass.  Instead Jones has chosen a fundamentalist Christian religion.  As such he has now become the enemy of paranoid, rabid, anti-Christian liberal snobs who are positive that the predominant religion in America must be undermined at each opportunity. 

             Angus T. Jones appears on a video calling his show, Two and a Half Men, filth.  He urges people not to pollute their brains by watching.  He didn’t get to the part about the show simply being a crashing bore ever since Sheen left—and who thought that loose canon would be the lynch pin—but that isn’t the problem.  Liberals are not interested in freedom of speech; they are interested in freedom from criticism.  So Jones has been the target of criticism, parody and invective.  Among other things there is the implication that since he stars in the series, he must not disagree with its premises.  The hypocrisy of this is incredible.  

            Danny Glover has co-starred in four Lethal Weapon movies with Mel Gibson.  These very violent films, in which he plays the more stable, but equally lethal police partner of Mel Gibson, are anything but gentle pleas for non-violence.  Yet no one in Hollywood has any trouble with Glover, a self described pacifist and social activist, earning a living as an actor (!!!) in violent films.  In fact, as long as you are a Democrat, liberal and refuse to acknowledge any kind of moral authority other than hedonism Hollywood doesn’t mind you exploiting any film genre.  Being a self proclaimed Christian and acting on it, however, is a much different problem, and I think I know why. 

            Christianity is a very successful religious movement.  Despite the attempts of zealots throughout history to corrupt its message of a loving God the central truth of Christianity has triumphed.   The Christian God wants us to do good, love our neighbor and spread a Gospel of grace through faith.  Not being able to suppress Christianity through logic, example or even blatant salesmanship, there are those in power who feel they must destroy Christianity by disparaging it. 

            They will fail. 

            Support religious freedom, and keep the faith.