Christians upset over Depp's 'Tonto' being too pagan in 'Lone Ranger'

There are plenty of reasons not to see the "Lone Ranger" reboot by Director Gore Verbinski, but Christian groups are protesting it for a whole other reason than regular reviewers. According to the Christian Post, conservatives are rankled that Tonto is not Christian enough and that the version of history being portrayed in the film is slanted against the right.

Dr. Ted Baehr of the Christian Film and Television Coalition told the Post, "The government is bad – the army is killing Indians – the bad guy is a businessman, the military-industrial complex is bad." However, he said, "the Christians are not always bad."

Baehr lamented that the villain of the film prays to Jesus before heading out to kill Native Americans and that "the pagan elements triumph because you're looking at it from Tanto's [sic.] point of view."

He called the movie "such a mess" and said that it is another example of liberal left-wing Hollywood values being inculcated into children at a young age.

"When the values are lost and everybody capitulates to evil, then you've got a problem," he concluded.

Right Wing Watch pointed out that Baehr was one of the right-wing luminaries whose reactions to last week's historic Supreme Court rulings on same sex marriage were a little overwrought.

“The Supreme Court’s decision today is absolutely criminal,” he wrote in a statement. “Our local, state and federal governments, along with the courts, have created most of the alleged problems we see in many marriages and families today because they have accepted a radical Marxist, communist definition of taxation, culture, and government. We need to stand for God’s law in the face of the power-grab by those in civil authority who know no restraints."

Focus on the Family's Paul Asay said that Tonto's lack of Christian spirituality is hardly surprising considering the state of modern cinema. "Spiritism is not an unusual thing to see in movies these days – magical elements that don't exactly jive with Christianity," he said.

The portrayal of Christians, he said of the film, "felt a little bit mean."

"Most of the Christian characters are benevolently stupid or outright bad."

[image of angry preacher via Shutterstock.com]