Why Christians want to ban the new Paris Jackson movie ‘Habit’
A change.org petition gathered over 260,000 signatures to stop the distribution of Paris Jackson’s new movie, Habit. The petition was created and shared by Christians who are offended by the way Habit characterizes Jesus, considering it blasphemous.
Habit is about a woman (Bella Thorne) who has a Jesus fetish and escapes a violent drug deal by dressing as a nun. She’s visited by Jesus (Paris Jackson) a few times during her escape. While the plotline of lesbian Jesus wasn’t revealed by Donovan Leitch, One Million Moms apparently got the scoop and ran with it, gaining signatures to ban Habit.
Paris Jackson plays Jesus
Habit isn’t the first time the conventional portrayal of Jesus was subverted. From The Last Temptation of Christ to Black Jesus to art films presented at The Smithsonian, anything other than vanilla (pun intended) portrayals of Jesus H Christ has stirred anger. Paris Jackson, daughter of deceased pop icon Michael Jackson, is next.
Not because of Michael, rather, because Paris Jackson is a woman. We know Jesus was a man, and we know this is a movie, so we’re still trying to parse out the harm in portraying a fictional character’s envisioning of Christ as a woman. Jesus is also a form of God, and an alternative perspective on God isn’t allowed for some reason?
Jesus is a lesbian
Curiously, in the post-production press, there’s no mention of Jesus being a lesbian. In an interview with director Donovan Leitch, it’s revealed that Jesus sees the main character of Habit a few times in dreams. It’s never mentioned that Paris Jackson’s Jesus has a lesbian relationship, is a lesbian, or has anything to do with a lesbian.
But One Million Moms somehow drew the conclusion that Paris Jackson Jesus was a lesbian because she showed up in a girl disguised as a nun’s dreams. The post-production release mentioned Habit’s protagonist had a Jesus fetish, but a character’s fetish does not make Jesus lesbian.
Blasphemy?
The definition of blasphemy is showing a lack of reverence for a deity through a profane portrayal. Here’s the thing about Paris Jackson Jesus. By saying that portraying Jesus as a lesbian woman is blasphemous, is that because it’s an untrue portrayal, like Jesus being caucasian, or is there an implication that women and lesbians can’t be sacred?
A persecution complex
Paris Jackson Jesus, or any portrayals of female or lesbian Jesus have never been used to oppress Christians. Women and lesbians have had their rights limited and Christian doctrine has been used to limit those rights (marriage, contraceptives, adoption, buying a wedding cake without being discriminated against, etc. – look it up).
Oppression would be if we made every Christian see Habit. Oppression would be if a lesbian Jesus or Paris Jackson Jesus was an image used to pigeonhole Christians into a stereotype, deny them jobs, make it harder for them to get housing, or give Christians accused or convicted of crimes harsher treatment versus non-Christians.
Not all Christians care about Paris Jackson or Habit. So we think it’s a little rich that a group of Karens is speaking for all Christians and are up in arms about a Paris Jackson movie. Plus, since they’re mad about it, they don’t think anyone else should see it.
Maybe just don’t see it?
If it’s against your religion to see Jesus portrayed as Paris Jackson, or a lesbian, or a woman, don’t go. By telling other people they can’t host the movie, you’re forcing your religious beliefs on others, making the movie less accessible for people who want to see it.
This isn’t the first time One Million Moms and their ilk have demanded something be taken away due to their personal religious stance. It’s also not the first time a petition provided some otherwise-ungranted publicity for a movie they didn’t want anyone to go to. With this publicity, Paris Jackson’s royalty check will grow.
