The Media

Remember that for this section you need to know about TWO programmes and how they affect a person’s attitude to believing in God.

Example: Bruce Almighty

Summary – Bruce feels that life is not fair and bad mouths God. So God gives Bruce his powers. Bruce sorts out his own life but things start to go wrong. Eventually he can no longer cope as the town falls apart due to him giving everyone what they want. In the end he realises that his life was not that bad.

Supports God’s existence

• Even with God’s powers Bruce messes up e.g. the town riots as everyone wins $17 on the lottery. As such it shows how hard God’s ‘job’ is and says that we can’t all get what we want.
• God’s existence is never questioned. It acknowledges from the start that God is real.
• Shows the problems with free will. God exists and bad things happen because humans make bad decisions and choose to do evil things.
• Shows that God hears all prayers and responds to some. Shows why God does not answer all prayers (which is a major reason for doubting his existence).

God does not exist

• Ultimately he answers Bruce’s prayer but throughout the film he is rude to God. If he is helped then why not help others.
• Mocks a lot of the miracles in the Bible e.g. turning water to wine, walking on water.
• Shows God in human form. But Christians believe that God is everywhere. This is not possible if God is human.
• Christians believe God is all powerful, but Bruce is given his powers. According to Christianity this is not possible as God can have no equal.

Effect on your own attitude to God – for the exam you need to comment on how watching the film made you feel. Did it make you appreciate how hard God’s ‘job’ is and so you now believe OR did it make you realise how silly it is to believe in a being that controls everything?

Example: Red Dwarf

Summary – In this episode Lister learns that he is the ‘god’ of the cat people. It focuses on how many things in religion could have been misinterpreted over the years e.g. the Cat’s ‘god’s’ name had become Cloister not Lister.

Supports God’s existence

• Religious wars are caused by people and not by God. The Cats argued over what colour the hat they wore was meant to be when it was completely different to what Lister wanted it to be. God still exists.

God does not exist

• Miracles are people misinterpreting an event. The Cat priest asks Cat to destroy his hat as he no longer believes that Cloister exists. However, he is blind and Lister stops Cat from destroying the hat. He gives it back and the priest thinks it is a miracle.
• The ‘holy’ writings for the Cats are really Listers’ laundry list that they have misinterpreted.
• Whether the Cats made mistakes or not if God existed he would have stopped the wars.

Effect on your own attitude to God – for the exam you need to comment on how watching the TV show made you feel. Did it make you see that many problems e.g. holy wars are man made or does it seem that religion is based on lies and misinterpretations