Grotesque mum figure

As a Leftist, King hates Christianity.

The way you put that implies that being "Leftist" (whatever that means?) goes along with "hating Christianity." That's a ridiculous statement. The overwhelming majority of politicians in this country of either party are Christian, and likely so are the majority of taxpayers registered as Democrat or Republican.

His characters such as Carrie's mom and Greg Stillson are a big part of the reason for the negative stereotype of the "crazed fundamentalist Christian" that you see so often today. Probably no artist in the modern age has done more damage to Christianity's image. Even John Lennon doesn't come close to King in that regard.

Is Stillson a religious nut in the novel? I haven't read it in a long time and didn't even remember that. (Reading the plot summary on Wikipedia, all it says is that he was a Bible salesman, but nothing about him being driven by Christian lunacy. Sure you're not stretching it here?) Just watched the movie tonight and there wasn't a trace of it.

Really--Stephen King and John Lennon are two of the biggest artistic threats to Christianity??? Not the guy who did Piss Christ or some black metal band like Darkthrone? Maybe you're going by popularity. (Even most black metallers probably aren't listening to DT nowadays anyway.) Still, I'm dumbfounded by the idea that King, whose works are almost always set up as morality tales with good triumphing over evil, would be this huge anti-Christian force. There's horror that just revels in violence and fear, either exploitative or nihilistic. And then there's horror that disturbs and scares, upsets the balance, but only to restore our faith in good and normality in the end. King overwhelmingly falls in the latter camp. Hell, that's the theory he basically lays out in Danse Macabre about what most good horror does.

He always works in some Higher Power/good vs. evil theme if there's a religious element. If anything, it irks me that he too often recycles the Christian binary of straight-up good vs. straight-up evil (like in The Stand, as you mention). I wish he dealt more in the gray areas. The "crazed fundamentalist Christian" may fall on the side of evil, but whenever there's a religious element, there's always at least an implication, if not outright presence, of a Higher Power/Christian/generic good to oppose the Evil.

The world didn't need King for the "crazed fundamentalist Christian" stereotype because the stereotype is based on real people. I know some of these people "IRL" and I also don't have to spend too long looking on TV, listening to the radio, or online to find such people. Westboro Baptist Church members, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Ben Carson. Some of the most fanatical and also some of the most hateful. Of course, most of the Christians I know are everyday people and not sadists, psychotics, or sociopaths exploiting or being deluded by religion. The "crazed fundamentalist" is not the average Christian. I'm an atheist and not the biggest fan of religion, but anyone with half a brain knows that.

The latest villains in King's novels (Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers) are atheists. Damn him, he's unfairly demonizing atheists as being selfish, uncaring, and driven crazy because they see life as without meaning besides the desire to inflict pain on others! Hey, some atheists are dicks (Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens), I can admit that.

King has certainly used the "crazed fundamentalist Christian" figure over and over again, perhaps in a formulaic way. Maybe he's overused it. There are certain figures or plot devices King uses repeatedly. But usually, he manages to round the story out with other things that make the narrative compelling. And really, the only truly memorable character of such a type (in my opinion) is the one you mention: Carrie's mother. The others are mostly very minor characters. I'm running through the list of King books I've read (Carrie, The Shining, The Dead Zone, Firestarter, It, The Stand, The Dark Half, The Talisman, The Tommyknockers, Thinner, Cujo, Christine, Cell, Needful Things, Misery, Lisey's Story, Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and some of the short story collections), and not another single religious nut character comes to mind. Sure, I know there were numerous side characters like that, usually someone's mother or father that warped a child's mind, but none of them stick out. Well, Mrs. Carmody in The Mist, but that's only because of Marcia Gay Holden's outstanding performance in the movie. My point is, looking back on his work, books or movie adaptations, these characters are always clearly deranged individuals who are twisted because there's something off about them, not because of an anti-Christian message. If it's not religion, it'd be something else. There's a lot of weird Freudian/Oedipal/sexual inadequacy complexes among King's killers too, I suppose that makes him anti-family, anti-motherhood, or perhaps anti-sex? Oh and he has a good bit about obsessive fans who want to kill their artistic heroes. Guess he hates his fans too???

If you dismiss everything I say due to my Leftist/virulent Christian-hating bias, oh well. Sometimes I see something so extreme (like the idea that Stephen King is one of the biggest modern anti-Christian artists) that I just have to respond, whether my points are heard or not. But maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised and you won't fit the "crazed fundamentalist Christian" stereotype and I won't fit the "crazed fundamentalist Leftist/atheist" stereotype?!

"every time godzilla loses to mothra I die a little bit more"--Godzillaswrath

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