Hundreds of teens surrounded by flashing lights, honking taxis and rushing pedestrians are staging a rally against U.S. pop culture Friday in the heart of urban America – New York City’s Time Square.
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(Photo: AP Images / Jason DeCrow)Traffic moves south through Times Square at 45th Street Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007 in New York.
Teens are waging a so-called “reverse rebellion” against a culture which they say is hurting their generation. The hundreds of young participants in the Recreate ’08 rally represent some 400,000 teens of the Teen Mania movement, a Christian mission organization for the younger generation.
“I want my generation to understand how important it is to stand up and take action if you see something you don’t believe in,” said rally participant Brittany Serra, 14, in a statement.
The rally highlights teens’ concerns about how today’s pop culture is promoting harmful ideas of what is “cool,” such as substance abuse, violence, premarital sex and Internet porn.
During the rally, teens are showcasing what they are doing to Recreate entertainment, fashion, the arts and the Web into products that “build up, not tear down” their generation. The rally features some of their generation’s favorite products, including graffiti art and dance, in a positive way.
“We are fed up with culture telling us it’s cool to be rebellious,” said Zim Tahir, 17, a former gang member.
Former “cutter” Nina Ringely, 18, said, “I want to tell teens I’ve tried it all (drugs and alcohol) and nothing filled the void.”
The teen ministry is also sending a list of eight questions to the presidential candidates that reflect Teen Mania teens’ top concerns, including youth exposure to Internet pornography; the AIDS pandemic; human trafficking, media glamorization of drugs, sex and alcohol; abortion; and freedom to practice Christianity.
Following the rally, more than 10,000 teens will gather at New Jersey’s Izod Center for a two-day Recreate ’08 event featuring New York Yankees’ pitcher Mariano Rivera, six-time Grammy Award winner Kirk Franklin, the David Crowder Band, Bishop T.D. Jakes, and Teen Mania founder Ron Luce.
Teen Mania was founded by Luce in 1986 in his van. The former self-described “teenage party animal” was raised in a broken family and led a broken and reckless life abusing alcohol and drugs. At the age of 16, Luce became a Christian and committed his life to inspiring young people to follow Jesus. Luce has spoken to more than 12 million teenagers in more than 50 countries, according to Teen Mania.
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Merkin,
You said the Constitution was a moral structure, now you are backing down from that position? Here is the point you dodged, secularism as a worldview, does not have a given set of morals, it just says, whatever the society decides. So, if society decides that women are objects for sex, then it is not bad. Of course we know better, but it is not due to our superior secularism that we know. Also, are you saying that sex outside of marriage is amoral? I do not understand your guideline by which to judge such things, you say that rape is bad, because it is assault? Why is assault bad? Christianity has clear reasons for this, secularism just says, "Well we don't like it, and society would probably be negatively affected if we allow this" Well I hate to tell you, this doesn't make it immoral, it only makes it undesirable. Why is sex outside of marriage amoral, while sexual assault is immoral? Why not both be amoral and we just decide which one, if not both are undesirable?
Chris, I doubt you're going to read this, so I'll only take the time to respond to your last point. I think the Constitution does represent a (mostly) valid moral structure. It doesn't tell you WHAT to do with your life, generally it only tells you what is NOT permissible. Of course it's in bad taste to talk about raping anyone—but it's just stupid, it's not immoral in any important sense. If you are threatening rape, you've crossed the line and it amounts to assault. As for premarital sex, I don't see how there's a moral problem IN ANY SENSE WHATSOEVER, provided that it's taking place between consenting adults.
Merkin,
Good, I am glad that at least you will admit that musicians are promoting these things. I will add that it is wide spread, and has penetrated nearly every genre of music (in the popular culture). Rap and Rock are by far the most popular with young people and they are by far the leaders in this hateful, violent, pro-drugs, pro alcohol, and pro sex with whoever you want. (Rap is by far the worst but Rock music is pretty bad too) This is only one aspect of popular culture, we could talk about the t.v. that young people or watching or the messages being sent out through campuses and various other mediums such as the internet, but music is by far one of the biggest aspects of pop-culture, nearly every young person has an I-pod, and they spend nearly every free moment they have listening to it. This music is stupid, the opinoins voiced in it are stupid, as you have rightly pointed out, and what is more is that they do have a negative affect on young people. You said that these behaviors don't represent secular culture, well of course not, no one said they did, they only represent the youth aspect of secular culture. Secular culture is a wide and varied culture just like religious cultures, the Teens above are not "maniacs rallying against a list of behaviors they dont approve of, and then pretending these represent secular culture" They are fully justified in what they are doing. Reread your first post and see if it makes any sense.
For that matter you said the Constitution does just fine to represent secular morals. No it doesn't, it doesn't represent morals at all, it represents a secular system which is based upon morals (mostly gleaned from the Christian framework). Also, the Constitution has had to have been ammended and changed, it probably will have to be, and it really isn't all that comprehensive. It cannot even tell us what is right or wrong, for instance free speech, is it right to speak about raping children? That being said, secular society does not agree with you, I am sure the British secularists do not want to follow our constitution. What you need to do is give a real moral system, what does secular society say about sex outside of marriage?
That should read, "give an example of a secular moral structure."
Chris333, I'm not 40, I'm 25, and no, I don't live in a bubble. I am very much aware of the fact that there are musicians out there who promote violence, or drug abuse, or whatever. It's easy to find examples of EVERY kind of idiocy if you look for them. The First Amendment gives people the right to voice stupid opinions. My point is that some Christians (and Muslims) take all of these examples and set them up as a sort of monolithic, evil culture to rail against—a "straw culture," if you will. Rather than acknowledging that these are the worst examples picked out from a wide variety of sub cultures, the insinuation is that they represent the ethical norm once you've strayed from the light of Jesus (or Mohammed).
As for your challenge to give a secular moral structure, I'd say that our Constitution is a pretty good example.
AlanJohn, I have no idea what you're trying to say.
Also SheQuon
Suppose you had two decisions, one was to expose your 5 year old to videos of racist Nazi Propaganda, and the other is to not do it. Which would you choose? If you say no, then why on earth should we not protest the "pop culture" which is indeed "propagandizing" sex, drugs, alcohol, and violence? If you said yes, then I think your answer speaks for itself.
Shequon,
Who said that?
Well merkin it seem to me that these people are doing just what your are doing. If it is all right for you to protest what they are doing why is it wrong for them to protest what society is doing?
Must be nice to be able to blame all your individual poor choices in life on "pop culture".
Merkin, listen to rap music, listen to rock music, if you still think this is not true then you must be a deaf person, for you to even have made such a comment I would think you must be a 40 year old, or a highly out of touch young person. Christianity is morally superior to secularism, because secularism has no defined set of morals. If it does then tell me just what does it say about moral issues, and then explain why you are able to define that.
What bogus nonsense. They define "pop culture" as a nebulous, yet somehow unified, agenda that promotes violence, drug abuse, teen sex, and Internet porn! It looks to me as if the Teen Maniacs are just rallying against a list of behaviors they don't approve of, and then pretending that these represent secular culture—a pathetic frame-job to make Christianity appear morally superior. Bogus I say!