False Gods
by S. M. Hutchens
Have you ever noticed that in productions of art, as for example in cinema, there are two basic forms of misrepresentation of Christianity? One is that of the careless and ignorant, who have some second- or third-hand idea of what it is, but freely and inaccurately invent things to amplify their hatred and cover their fault. The other is from those whose knowledge is more intimate and extensive, and whose opposition, grounded in proximity, is more clearly diabolical.
One of the best examples of the latter is Thomas Harris's Hannibal Lecter, a moral monstrosity who is nevertheless a better person than the Judeo-Christian God. Harris knows the object of his wrath, whereas anti-Christian authors like Margaret Atwood have to resort to caricature in fictions like The Handmaid's Tale, in which, unlike the far more plausible Harris, she makes no case against Anything Real, a design one has little doubt was her intention.
S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.
subscription options
Order
Print/Online Subscription
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Order
Online Only
Subscription
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
17.4—May 2004
The Unhappy & Abusive Marriage of Liberalism & Modernism by James Hitchcock
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
