To me, the most important idea in eading "Rapture Culture" was the idea of find a religion that "feels right" to you. As Amy pointed out countless number of times in her article, people get so caught up in their own views that they fail to see how similar the variations in religions ideas truly are. The example that struck me the most was when she was talking about the woman, Sarah. I think Sarah's narrative about her views vs the views of her parents and grandparents illustrates the "comfort" religion should bring. Religion is not about whose "right" or whose "wrong" its about what brings peace into your life.
I've never read the series Left Behind but from what I can infer from Amy's article is they push this "comfort" factor. We can see what religion they are coming from and what the creators and the authors believe, but they just want to find a way to integrate salvation and living a godly life into America culture. Amy points out that on their website they never specify a particular church for readers to attend, but one that places its foundation within the Bible.
Clearly, the creators of left behind have been successful. Like I mentioned earlier, I have never read the series, but I was familiar with it and their ideas before reading Amy's article.
Clara,
ReplyDeleteThere certainly is a comfort factor in much religion, but I'm not sure that this is the only function of religion. If religion stimulates an impulse for reform, there is also discomfort involved.
LDL