Troy Marshall

August 21, 2014

3 Min Read
Why The Movie “Noah” Upset This Rancher

My family gathered together last Sunday to watch a movie. We found our options on DirectTV were pretty limited, but we voted for the movie “Noah.”

We’d heard the reviews for Noah when the movie first came out. The buzz was that the film was only loosely based on the Bible version, so we were prepared to see some liberties taken with the story. However, the differences turned out to be so stark that if it weren’t for the inclusion of the animals and the ark, you’d have a hard time claiming the movie was based on the Biblical story.

Still, that wasn’t the most disturbing part about this movie. It was the messaging throughout the movie that really wasn’t all that subtle. In fact, this movie did far more than deny the biblical account of Noah, it evangelized for what I call “the new religion.”

If you’re an observer of the environmental and animal welfare movements, you’re probably aware of how these groups have managed to come together under one tent. This commingling of anti-meat, anti-capitalist, pro-environment/anti-man, and anti-Christian factions is a relatively new phenomenon. And it’s occurred in a way that resembles a religion of sorts.

The tenets of this belief system were on full display in the “Noah” movie. Eating meat was linked with Cain (the evil brother) and his descendants. The most horrific and barbaric acts throughout the movie were associated with slaying of an animal or eating meat.

 

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One of the movie’s central themes was simply that eating meat is wrong on many fronts – morally, environmentally, spiritually and, of course, from a health standpoint. The anti-capitalist messages of the movie were more subtle, but the evil people who must be destroyed had constructed an industrial world. Of course, the result of this society was the rape and pillage of the land, and an upset of the natural and beautiful manner in which man was designed to live.

I have to admit that the movie’s pro-environment message was relatively well done, and likely would be readily accepted by almost everyone. However, it was swathed in an anti-man, anti-capitalism, anti-meat message. That message is that man destroyed creation; man is inherently dangerous to the environment; and man is the only negative in what otherwise would be both a beautiful and well-balanced system.

This new religion recognizes that there might be a creator – a higher being – but it’s not the traditional version of God. Meanwhile, the new infidels are those who believe in the outdated notion that man can be a positive force in the world, or who espouse the tenets or values that allowed our country to prosper.

What makes this world view so dangerous is that it is subtly advanced and carefully crafted in a way that makes it appear far less radical than it actually is. If I hadn’t read so much of these activist groups’ literature, if I hadn’t heard so much of their rhetoric, if I hadn’t seen the similarities between their messaging and tactics, I probably would have classified “Noah” as nothing more than a fairly unentertaining movie.

The danger of this new world view is that it isn’t openly promoted as a new religion, but rather as educated beliefs or principles. The danger is that it doesn’t tolerate non-believers (heretics) in any form or manner; they are to be minimalized and ostracized.

If you want to understand how well these groups package their message, rent the movie Noah. If you are want to be entertained, I suggest you pick some other movie. 

The opinions of Troy Marshall are not necessarily those of beefmagazine.com or the Penton Farm Progress Group.

 

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