When it comes to creating cultural resistance to the gospel, Hollywood is often a player. There are many talented and upstanding actors and actresses, producers, directors, and so on…so don’t hear what I am not saying. The creativity that
whirls around L.A. is remarkable. However, Hollywood is also the face of American Christianity to the world. Places with state religions, like India and Iran, view America as a nation of state religion, though we are most certainly not. In the eyes of the Rest, the U.S. is a Christian nation.
Richard Gere’s culturally insensitive sweeping and kissing of Shilpa Shetty just throws another log on the fire of non-Western peoples perception of immoral Christianity (see article). What are we to do? Denounce all of Hollywood? Write off Richard Gere? Gere is a Buddhist, so he has no claim to Christianity, but Buddhist cultures (some are in India) also look down on public display of affection. One wonders just how Buddhist Gere is and how Christian Hollywood he is? A good question for us to ask ourselves.
How are we to respond to these issues? Do you see a wise way forward?