Disney has been a whipping boy for the religious right for some time. For the better part of a quarter-century, Walt Disney World has played host to “Gay Days,” one of the largest gay pride events in the world. But the religious right’s favorite pseudo-historian, David Barton, has another beef with Disney. To hear him talk, the entertainment giant is rooking fair-minded Americans into making animals gods.
On Monday’s edition of “Wallbuilders Live,” Barton railed about how Disney has rooked dozens of impressionable Americans into worshiping animals. People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch got a clip.
Barton claims that we never really had an animal-rights movement until very recently–and it’s gained further ground “the less we know the Bible.” He argued that as we’ve gotten away from a “biblical culture” in the last half-century, animals have risen to the same pedestal where God placed man, to the point that we’re actually worshiping them. He doesn’t think that it’s a coincidence that the other countries with prominent animal-rights movements are “secular, non-God, non-Bible countries.”
While Barton admits that he’s “a huge Disney fan,” he thinks that Disney is one of the biggest culprits of making animals gods. As examples, he cited “Bambi” and “Lady and the Tramp.” He recalled how seeing Bambi’s father getting shot made people think that it was “like your daddy getting shot.” Barton’s sidekick, Rick Green, cut in to point out that “Bambi” was the first movie to assign “human tendencies and characteristics to an animal”–a huge departure from other prominent animal characters like Old Yeller, Black Beauty, and Lassie, who were unambiguously animals.
Barton’s son, Tim, got in on the act, saying that while we may have had feelings for an animal, you never ascribed human characteristics to an animal. Green noted that when Old Yeller came down with rabies, putting him to sleep was part of life on the farm. It wasn’t the same as having your grandparents get sick. Barton père said that partly due to Disney’s efforts, we’ve made animals gods much like Dagon, the fish god whom Gideon fought. While the Bible tells us to “be kind to your animals,” Barton warned against worshiping them.
Riddle me this, David. My girlfriend has four dogs, and talks to them as if they’re her kids. Does that mean she’s made them gods? I think not.
When I heard this, I shuddered to think that this sort of claptrap is being taught at Christian schools across the country. It also reminded me of something my girlfriend told me about her time in an uber-abusive church in Wadesboro, east of my home in Charlotte. It operated a small Christian school, and fairy tales weren’t allowed in the library because they were satanic. Uh huh. So allowing kids to have an imagination could potentially open the door for demonic influence? Oh noes!
I’m also reminded that a significant element of the religious right has always been opposed to the environmental movement. They think it opens the door for animal worship and Earth worship. Has it occurred to Barton and his friends that maybe, just maybe, since God gave us dominion over the Earth, we ought to make some effort to take care of it? After all, with great power comes great responsibility.
Let’s review, folks–this guy is not only Ted Cruz’ BFF (he helms Cruz’ super PAC, Keep the Promise), but is also a former vice chairman of the Texas Republican Party, and was even bandied about as a possible Senate candidate in 2014. It’s pretty safe to assume that he will have outsize influence in any potential Cruz administration. The thought that a guy who thinks portraying animals as having feelings amounts to making them gods having any sort of influence at all on a future president should send a chill down anyone’s spine.
