If you’re here, you’ve probably seen those social media posts which claim that Netflix is specifically taking down Christian movies. This isn’t this rumour’s first rodeo on the rumour mill, as it has surfaced year after year since 2016.
So, is Netflix removing Christian movies? Yes. Is Netflix removing all Christian movies with a hidden anti-Christian propaganda? No. We’re here to explain what actually is going on in this article to give you some clarity on it.
The Rumour
In 2021, several Facebook posts claimed that Netflix has removed Christian movies or is planning to soon. First things first, this rumour is false. Netflix has issued official statements to Reuters and USA Today that they haven’t and definitely don’t plan to remove all Christian movies from their site. But what about the films which have been taken down?
Well, this has a perfectly reasonable explanation. Netflix’s catalogue is ever-changing, meaning that movies are added, while others are removed at regular intervals. The corporation does this to include newer media, diversify their content, and avoid stagnation. You wouldn’t want to watch the same old stuff over and over again, would you?
Moreover, it is important to note that Netflix buys the rights to broadcast media on their site. These licneces aren’t permanent, and so when they eventually expire, Netflix has to remove the media, be it a movie, TV show, short film, or documentary from their site.
So, when you see that a Christian movie is no longer available, it might be because of one of these reasons. Don’t you worry, though! There are many more movies and TV shows to choose from, and it definitely helps that new stuff is regularly added to the catalogue.
To make things easier for you, Netflix has a separate category called “Faith & Spirituality” under which you can find an abundance of Christian movies like The Case for Christ, God’s Not Dead, and Heaven Is For Real. In addition to movies, Netflix also offers viewers a TV shows based on Christian faith, such as The Chosen, VeggieTales, and The Bible.
No Smoke Without Fire – The Source Of The Rumour
Now that we’ve cleared the air and dispelled any pesky rumours about hidden propaganda, let’s get down to how this rumour even came to be.
It all started with a joke, no really. In 2016, a UK-based satirical website, News Thump published an article entitled Netflix to Remove All Christian Content After Complaints From Muslims. This (very) satirical article claimed that Netflix was removing all Christian content following backlash from the Muslim community.
The article also included fake quotes from made-up people, such as “We demand you remove this terrible material from your website immediately. It’s bad enough we have to pay for bulls*** we can download for free anyway, without Dawn French’s infidel face being thrust into our televisions.”
As one (assuming they are an informed person) knows, satire is socio-political commentary encoded within a humourous text, and is not meant to be taken literally. In simple terms, satire uses an unrealistic context to prove a point. Some (uninformed, by the looks of it) people completely missed this point and, you guessed it, took the article to be real.
What’s more? While there was no satire tag on the article, the website itself expressly states that it produces satirical content.
USA Today points to News Thump’s article as the source of the rumour that Netflix targets Christian movies specifially, which, says a lot about the legitimacy and credibility of the “news” one finds online.
Also read: How To Download Movies On Netflix Offline?
Conclusion
To conclude, no, Netflix is not anti-Christian. If a Christian movie or TV show has been removed, they are most probably just updating their content by removing the old to make space for the new. It’s really not that deep in this case. Lastly, we can all agree that if there was one takeaway from this, it would be to take information found online with a pinch of salt, yeah?
