Hmmm, I'm sort of reluctant to respond, but at the same time I want to say that I understand where this site is coming from. As a Christian I find that many of the values and beliefs I cherish are challenged by the movies, TV, and music I experience. I wish it were not so, but it's part of living in a culture that was not manufactured to my belief system. If I could get rid of a lot of the language and nudity in movies I would, along with some ideas and concepts that I simply find offensive.

However (and this is a big "however"), the answer cannot be to shut myself off from the world. The bible says to "be in the world not of the world", and that is the constant struggle I face as a Christian. So while I do try to avoid things that would cause me to "stumble" in my walk of faith (i.e.: I don't watch porn), I feel it is important that I experience the world but through the eyes of faith, filtering what I take in through my beliefs. The important thing here for me is to develop a clear understanding of what I believe is "godly" and what is "worldly", and that "filter" guides my perceptions of movies, music, etc.

Of course children don't have a fully developed "filter" in place at their young age, and in a Christian home I think it is the responsibility of the parents to act as this filter. That's why when my nieces come to stay we put a ton of our movies out of sight. I don't want them experiencing those images and concepts yet; they aren't ready. So in that sense, I understand perfectly what this web site is trying to accomplish. They are trying to help parents guide their children through "worldly" movies and determine what is "age appropriate" under a Christian world-view.

But where the site begins to weaken a bit is how it interprets what is objectionable. Evaluating Jonah diving off a ship as violent and therefore worthy of deducting points demonstrates this better than anything else. As was previously mentioned, I'd hate to see how the Bible would stand up to such an evaluation. It is far too simple to run down a checklist and say, "Murder, check! Sex, check! Language, check!" than to actually evaluate the effect these things might have on a person (or a child especially). There is sex and murder in the bible, yet I believe that spending time reading even these parts of the bible will lead to a more fully developed faith.

The more important thing, I think, is what kind of effect a movie, show, or song might have on the viewer/listener. For example: whether non-Christians are aware of it or not, there has been a huge outcry from Christians over the Harry Potter books because they can supposedly cause an "unhealthy fascination with the occult". I simply don't agree, especially when these same people praise Tolkien because he was a Christian. The problem is that both books contain magic, notions of virtue, and clear delineations between good an evil. Now I'll argue that Tolkien is better literature, but it's also far more violent. As it stands, I think both books are very good reading for young teenagers.

So to sum up, as a Christian I understand why such a web-site would be useful; however, I'm not in agreement with how the criteria is being applied. I suppose it's hard for me to laugh at such things, because while I applaud the effort, at the same I am time frustrated by the result.