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PaperclipPerfector  7d ago (text post)   23443 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 22, 2026

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All those examples look like shallow references where a thing was named after a biblical or Catholic thing to sound slightly cooler. Are any of those media Christian beyond that?

What's called a 'Hail Mary pass' in the USA is called a Garryowen over here, or at least that's the nearest thing to it. Upon first encountering the term, I had to look it up as to why it was called that. Do so, and you find out Notre Dame, and then you find out it's a Catholic prayer:

Crowley often told the story of a game between Notre Dame and Georgia Tech on October 28, 1922, in which the Fighting Irish players said Hail Mary prayers together before scoring each of the touchdowns, before winning the game 13–3. According to Crowley, it was one of the team's linemen, Noble Kizer (a Presbyterian), who suggested praying before the first touchdown, which occurred on a fourth and goal play at the Georgia Tech 6-yard line during the second quarter. Quarterback Harry Stuhldreher, another of the Horsemen, threw a quick pass over the middle to Paul Castner for the score. The ritual was repeated before a third and goal play, again at Georgia Tech's 6-yard line, in the fourth quarter. This time Stuhldreher ran for a touchdown, which sealed the win for Notre Dame. After the game, Kizer exclaimed to Crowley, "Say, that Hail Mary is the best play we've got." Crowley related this story many times in public speeches beginning in the 1930s.

Even on Tumblr, I've seen people making direct connections between the ship name and the name of the main character: Hail Mary, full of Grace.

Learning the origins of common terms is not a bad thing. "Why is this called that?" decreases ignorance, you don't end up going "Dunno" and sounding like you are dumber than a box of rocks.

Are any of those media Christian beyond that?

Although the Project Hail Mary title is a play on words, the movie itself takes the time for a pretty on the nose and fairly-needless-to-the-plot discussion about belief in God, which I would say is far from a shallow reference.

Mainstream Hollywood films with a fairly overtly Christian message aren't actually all that rare (see Unbroken, Silence, Hacksaw Ridge, etc.) and for every one of those there are two that take Christian ideas seriously, even if it's in more subtle ways. I was recently watching the Fallout show and one of the characters reaches for the Golden Rule, not as part of a come-to-Jesus sideplot, but because it's an important moral principle - obviously not one unique to Christianity, of course.

The first 5 Halo games are arguably far more "Christian" in both message and tone than many churches these days. Ditto Project Hail Mary though I don't have a effort post I can link for that one.

Specifically the themes of hope in the face of hopelessness, and the idea that the righteous and honest will always find themselves in conflict with the worldly.

In Halo 3, the Master and Savior of humanity sacrifices himself in the “gravemind”, says “it is finished”, and is then entombed cryogenically frozen and later “resurrected”, all of which is very Biblical. But this is shallow because most things in our culture are shallow. To Kill a Mockingbird? Lord of the Flies? Not just shallow but actively detrimental to cultivating wisdom. Just worthless slop.

What is the complaint against To Kill a Mockingbird? (And no fair bringing up Go Set a Watchman.)

Presumably because it shits on secular morality in the same w as y that the story of Jonah does.

Do you means shits on "non-secular" morality? Jonah can be easily read as a critique of religious righteousness. Personally, I think the critique is fairly trenchant.

No, it "shits" on secular morality by explicitly rejecting identity in favor of conduct.

How is identity "secular morality"?

Because it is.

Secular morality revolves around "context". Secular morality holds that what is happening matters less than who it is happening to, see "punching up" vs "punching down" and "no enemies to the left". Harper Lee's book is in many respects a condemnation of this attitude/sentiment.

The sort of tribalism you describe is far older than anything remotely resembling secularism, and "identity" does not have to involve bespoke marxian analysis.

As far as I'm aware for most of history people had a much stronger sense of collective identity, and they were fat less secular than nowadays.

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The heuristics it teaches about life and history are inaccurate.

[Contains mild spoilers for Lord of the Flies]

Can you expand on this criticism of To Kill a Mockingbird? I consider the novel as offering very powerful lessons about (e.g.) conformity and the nature of the legal system.

Also, what's the criticism of Lord of the Flies? I've always been partial to interpreting it as an anti-war novel - by having the boys rescued by a warship, Golding's emphasizing the parallels between modern and primeval expressions of savagery.

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