SG at the Movies: Religulous is Alright by Me

Last week, Mr. CVD and I went to see Religulous. I wanted to go earlier, but Mr. SG claims he hates Bill Maher and refused to go. That's fine, I don't think he would have appreciated it.

You all know how I love documentaries, espeically ones about religion, right? Well as much as I wanted to wholehearteldy endorse this film, I found myself irked at times. I think I, more than anyone, can appreciate poking holes in religious theory. I've been doing it for my entire life. I was that kid in catechism that always asked "why" far too many times. I was that teen in youth ministry that disagreed with planting politics into religious discussions. I am that adult who views religion as having both good and bad attributes. And normally, I am that writer who can appreciate poking fun at religion.

Alas, I yearned for more.

I did like parts of the film. Bill talking to the Catholic priest outside of the Vatican was a great scene, remenecent of my own views on Catholicism. Bill talking to the fake Jesus at the Holy Land themepark was also a great visual and logical treat. Bill asking truckers at the truck stop church about their beliefs in a candid discussion also gave me joy.

The problem is that these clips were few and far between. The movie's 101 minutes seemed disjointed from minute 2 forward. Often, I found the film to be scratching merely the surface of the idiocies contained in our beliefs, while trying to belie them at the same time. It can't be done. You can't challenge people for having faith in ridiculous things and just leave your argument at that. You have to do something more. Sure it's crazy to believe that a woman gave birth to a son without having had sex, but just saying it's crazy isn't really anything new. People have been saying that for years. Just criticizing peoples' beliefs brings nothing new to the conversation. It just makes us lapsed Catholics giggle. Which is precisely what this movie felt like for 75% of the time. The other 25% it felt as if the movie was trying to take aim at other religions (primarily Islam) just to compensate for the fact that it hit Christianity so hard in the beginning. I felt as if the arguments about Islamic extremism and whether the extreme nature is ingrained in the religious doctrine needed more depth, more development. Instead, I was left with another second-camera view of Bill and Company getting kicked out of yet another holy place.

I like Bill Maher. He can get on my nerves and he has beliefs of his own that are as ridiculous as the ones he condemns (PETA and their comparisons of meat eating and the Holocust, anyone?), but I felt as if the message and the man were stiffled in this film. While the film touched on the ridiculousness of certain beliefs, like evangelicals being able to cure homosexuality, or the jihadist beliefs in Islam, it never got further than introducing them. And that, in and of itself, is Religulous.

I'm all for religious freedom

...but this is just enough of this. I have a hard time being able to form an opinion on the state of women in certain religions because I'm coming from a white Catholic perspective and so there are a lot of things that are not normal to me. But usually I see the value in these things and learn to accept them.

For some reason, fundamentalist Mormons who engage in polygamy have never been one that I've been able to accept. One of my favorite shows, Big Love, took a long time for me to get into because it involved the idea of plural marriage (which is the PC term for polygamy). I'm even watching a history of the Mormon faith that was produced by PBS's Frontline. Yet I still don't get it. I now get that Big Love is more than just that (and it's a different take on it as well) but I still find myself begging the female characters to take off and do what they want. Yet they never do.

So throughout this whole Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints situation in Texas I have found myself somewhat unnaturally and uncomfortably on the side of the government agents trying to get the women and children out of there. The stories started--especially about the one girl who alerted authorities to her marriage at the age of 15--and I've watched in somewhat sad amazement as hundreds of women and children dressed as pilgrims left the Texas compound in droves.

And I still can't help but believe that the women went back because they feel compelled to--not out of a sense of faith or religious belief, but out of a brainwashed and disturbing form of group consciousness. Now the children are engaged in a custody battle that is factually scattered, legally tense and politically poised for disaster. Some of the girls have been pregnant at ages as young as 13. THIRTEEN. And it's not that they engaged in intercourse out of their own experimentation or free will, because I'd be a lot cooler with that, but they were taken advantage of by a system that told them they had to--a system run by older men. The whole thing just reeks of abuse of the mental, physical and sexual kinds and it's scary that this happens en masse in America these days. It's one thing when you hear about children having babies after becoming sexually active at a young age on their own, but it's quite another to have a system by which girls (and yes, they are still girls) are given away (and yes, they are given away) to older men (and yes, they are older men) as some sort of prize to redeem (and by redeem I mean marry and exploit). It's the kind of thing that drags the hardcore radical feminist out of me and angers her to the core.

Religion is a hard thing for me. I'm still trying to find a path of my own. But I can tell you this, religion that comes at the cost of the innocence of youth is no good religion at all.

Forgive me Father

Kwame will be addressing the city tonight from his church. HIS CHURCH.

This plays into so many things I'm done with I can't even count them.

He should be addressing them to turn in his resignation. Otherwise, I don't want to hear it.

Lines Have Gotta Be Drawn

A British teacher who teaches in Sudan was sentenced to 15 days in jail and deportation today.

Why? You ask.

Because she allowed her students to name the class teddy bear Mohammed.

I'm not even kidding. Now I'm all for religious tolerance and all, but I really don't get this. The reason she was convicted was because they said she was inciting religious hatred.

Um...yeah. Because teddy bears are so offensive. Come on. Cut the games. Honestly.

I'm going to get me a teddy bear and name him Jesus. Why? Because I can in my religion.

No one wants you here

Pope Bene XVI is coming to America.

Why can't we get another JP2 figure? It's like every time I start thinking about delving back into my faith, attending services regularly, etc, this guy spouts off and reminds me why I stopped going in the first place. He's what's bad about Catholicism.

Cut the games....seriously. Cut them.

So some Muslims in Malaysia are apparently pissed off about the movie "Evan Almighty." Are they mad because of generic humor? Overexposure of Steve Carell? The possible exploitation of animals to build an arc?

No.

They're mad because a human (namely Morgan Freeman) plays God. They are also mad because the whole flood thing was turned into a comedy.

Here's an idea: get mad about something worthwhile. Leave the mediocre movies alone. You have bigger issues than the depiction of biblical events in Hollywood blockbusters. Many more problems to deal with...many more. And, FYI, you just sound silly by getting worked up about this.

Nothing like starting a holy war

The Vatican, under Pope Benedict (still doesn't sound right) has issued a document stating that non-Catholics are not full Christians. The story states that:

A 16-page document, prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Pope Benedict used to head, described Christian Orthodox churches as true churches, but suffering from a "wound" since they do not recognize the primacy of the Pope.

Yeah...I'm sure they're really suffering. I mean, Pope JP2 was a good guy. We didn't agree on everything, but he was a healer. This guy has done nothing than throw gasoline onto already raging fires.

Have we yet to remember that the whole thing about Jesus and being Christian is acceptance? As Catholics, we have got to cut the games. This is exactly the reason why I can't fully believe in the teachings of the Catholic church. Things like this. It's not the religion that's wrong--it's the politics of it. And because it's such a paternalistic organization, the politics are determined by old, white, crusty men. Men without any real clue about what it means to have true faith.

And yet, the Vatican believes this is not a bad thing.

"But, as you know, it is fundamental to any kind of dialogue that the participants are clear about their own identity. That is, dialogue cannot be an occasion to accommodate or soften what you actually understand yourself to be."

You're right--dialogue shouldn't compromise, but for Christ's sake (quite literally) maybe a morticum of understanding that people have different ideas and none of us probably have it all right. (There are probably none that have it even 80% right.) And a church that built itself on many occasions of war, torture, and bad foreign policy has no right to start asserting a moral high ground until it learns to apologize for its mistakes and ensure they don't reoccur.

Flat out. What would Jesus do? Jesus would cut the games. That's what he'd do.

BrickHead

In a vallant effort to forgo working on this day, I came across The Bright Testament site. It's the Bible acted out by Lego people.

Here's God taking a rib from Adam to make Eve:








It's basically a Lego slideshow of the bible. And it's freaking GENIUS.

You might want to get Jesus in on this conference call

I just had a good discussion witha co-worker about religion. Now religion in the workplace really doesn't work, but we were discussing me getting married in the Catholic church and our problems with the church, etc. But she made some comment about how when it was her day it was just going to be her and God and no one else...unless they wanted to look on.

Then I thought, what if your judgment day were like a big business meeting.

God: Is everyone on there? Jesus?
Jesus: Yeah, I'm here (typing noises in background).
God: Mary?
Mary: Yeah, sorry I'm late.
God: St. Peter?
* Pause *
God: Peter?????
* Pause *
Jesus: I think he said he was going to be late.
God: Alright, then. Let's get this started. We're here to decide the cosmic fate of one SamanthaGrace.
Jesus: Can we speed this along? I have a meeting with Martin Luther King Jr. about some problems in the south of Heaven.


I think it'd make a great movie. Of course, the Catholic church would probably boycott it.