How often have you seen Christians treated with real respect in mainstream media in recent history?

You can probably only recall a handful of times given Hollywood’s penchant for casting as much disrespect onto Christianity as they can. Almost every Christian character is a caricature. They’re displayed as paranoid, frumpy, selfish, stupid, or downright evil.

The trope is so tired that seeing anything that displays Christian people as anything but the above is like finding a unicorn in the wild. It can no longer be hidden as a piece of artistic expression. It’s now pure, unadulterated disrespect and bigotry.

Enter Rainn Wilson, popularly known for his role as “Dwight” in the hit comedy show “The Office.”

Wilson was watching HBO Max’s “The Last of Us” when he noticed yet another example of anti-Christian bias in the media. One of the characters, a preacher, was leading a group of cannibals in the show. The group quotes scripture as a way to justify their atrocities.

This prompted Wilson to tweet his opinion about this exhausted trope as well.

“I do think there is an anti-Christian bias in Hollywood,” tweeted Wilson. “As soon as the David character in “The Last of Us” started reading from the Bible I knew that he was going to be a horrific villain. Could there be a Bible-reading preacher on a show who is actually loving and kind?”

After his tweet got picked up by Fox News, Wilson did some damage control by hating on the network a bit and making it clear he’s not even a Christian. He also wanted to go the extra mile to point out that Christian activists are creating division in society, but he did double down on how good Christian people are.

“But most Christians that I know are kind, accepting and loving and seeking to make the world a better place. They should also be honored in the media,” tweeted Wilson.

But most Christians that I know are kind, accepting and loving and seeking to make the world a better place. They should also be honored in the media.

— RainnWilson (@rainnwilson) March 13, 2023

While Wilson is lacking some nuance about Christians here, the fact that he even spoke out about this issue makes him legitimately brave given his position and profession. Not only will some of his colleagues not look too kindly on Wilson saying this out loud, but the very loud and angry internet will not allow this breach in the mainstream bubble to be forgiven or forgotten.

I don’t imagine Wilson’s mentions are going to calm down for at least a few days. Hopefully, he’ll get quite a few positive responses for taking a few steps out of Hollywood’s approved boundaries.

What would be nice is to see Christians represented as real people and not exaggerated fantasy versions that Hollywood likes to portray. Christians are flawed humans just like everyone else, but they have a perspective that has them dealing with the world differently than others. Despite Hollywood’s claim, these methods rarely involve a “holier-than-thou” attitude.

That’s not to say they always have to be portrayed as pious and meek either. Despite what popular media likes to portray, Christians could make excellent action heroes over their sense of duty and charge to selflessly protect others from danger.

If Hollywood were to make a competent action film where the lead was an open Christian, it’d do pretty solidly in this day and age.

We need more “Book of Eli” types.