End Times Entertainment: The Left Behind Series, Evangelicals, and Death Pornography

Abstract

Many Evangelical Christians are avid fans of the Left Behind series despite the shocking amounts of violence and death the novels contain. This enthusiastic support is puzzling, given that Evangelicals frequently criticize the mainstream entertainment media for the displays of violence in movies, television programs, and video games. In this article, I attempt to explain why the fictional violence of the Left Behind series entertains Evangelical audiences, while the fictional violence of the mainstream media repulses them. I examine Evangelical tastes in entertainment in light of the general increase in displays of violence in the American entertainment industry over the last two centuries. I argue that Evangelicals are as entertained by displays of violence as mainstream audiences are, as long as the violence is in line with key Evangelical values.

Notes

NOTES

1. Talk2action.org lists 15 blogs that linked its articles (Hutson, “Christian”).

2. These are only some examples of the types of violence and death in the novels. In chronological order, the novels are: Left Behind; Tribulation Force; Nicolae; Soul Harvest; Apollyon; Assassins; The Indwelling; The Mark; Desecration; The Remnant; Armageddon; and Glorious Appearing. All are written by LaHaye and Jenkins.

3. See, for example the review of the game at pluggedinonline.com (“Left Behind: Eternal Forces”).

4. For the purpose of this article I am following Randall Balmer and others in using the term ‘Evangelical’ as an umbrella term to refer broadly to “conservative Protestants—including fundamentalists, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and charismatics—who insist on some sort of spiritual rebirth as a criterion for entering the kingdom of heaven, who often impose exacting behavioral standards on the faithful, and whose beliefs, institutions, and folkways comprise [a] subculture in America" (xvii). Many scholars accept some variation of this definition (Bebbington 2–3; Collins 41–61; Marsden 4–6; McGrath 55–6; Noll 56–66).

5. LaHaye and/or Jenkins authored the vast majority of the print products; both authors endorse the other products, except for the movies.

6. This survey also provides some rather confusing data. For example, it lists only 41% of the readership, 8% of the total American population, as Evangelical. Both figures are far too low. The survey further claims that 16% of the readership, 60% of the total American population, are ‘non-Christian’. These figures are too high. Data from a host of other sources indicate that the percentage of Evangelicals in the US is between 25% and 40%, while the total percentage of non-Christians is around 25%. The confusion in this Barna survey seems to be related to terminology. The Barna research group is an Evangelical organization; it may use certain labels in distinctive, almost sectarian, ways. For example, its use of the term ‘born-again’ seems to correspond to the term ‘Evangelical’ in other surveys. The Barna group finds 40% of the American population to be born-again; other surveys find roughly 40% of the American population to be Evangelical. Secondly, the Barna survey seems to use the term ‘non-Christian’ to designate what other surveys would call ‘non-Evangelical’. This would explain why the Barna survey lists 60% of the total American population as non-Christian—which corresponds to the percentage of non-Evangelicals in some other surveys. Finally, the Barna survey's term ‘Evangelical’ might designate what others would label ‘neo-Evangelical’, a sub-set within the Evangelical community (along with Pentecostals, Charismatics, and Fundamentalists). This might account for the fact that only 8% of the total American population, and only 41% of the Left Behind readership, are listed as Evangelical.

7. However, the Left Behind movies severely tone down the violence in the novels. This may be one reason (among many) why Evangelical audiences did not receive them nearly as enthusiastically as the novels (Mathewson).