Ted Baehr calls Angels and Demons an “anti-Christian message” that faith in Christ is “outdated.” The Vatican calls the film “Two hours of harmless entertainment.” Which is it?
Well, as luck would have it, Hollywood Jesus came up with a list of ten other films that failed to destroy the “genius and mystery of Christianity.”
10 – The Passion Anti-Christian? This film? A graphic depiction of our Lord’s suffering? Unbelievably, yes: a lot of watchdogs declared Gibson’s masterwork a sacrilege.
For me, besides being an interesting – if some what drawn out at times – look at the Easter story, The Passion was great for making a mockery of church leaders who decried without thought, any movie that came with an ‘R’ rating, but once the Passion came out, practically insisted that every Christian should see this “masterpiece.”
9 – Priest These days it’s hard to imagine an independent film like this stirring up much of a ruckus. But in 1994, Miramax was hot and the “culture wars” were just starting to get toxic…
Is the idea of an actively gay priest offensive? Perhaps. But the last decade’s news about very real clerical sex abuse highlights much worse problems in the Church.
Personally I haven’t seen this movie, but I have to agree with HJ, the church can’t try and pretend that it’s perfect, especially with the number of real cases that have come to light over the years.
8 – Jesus Camp It’s even harder imagining a documentary posing a threat. Even with good press support, nobody sees docs like this one, which failed to gross even $1 million.
Apparently I’m nobody, although I only saw this on DVD! As far as destroying Christianity, Jesus Camp only cemented my feelings about militaristic, charismatic Christianity.
7 – Saved! This satire about a Christian high school really offended a lot of folks… but most of them, I suspect, never actually went to a Protestant Christian school or knew anyone who did.
Being a Christian doesn’t save you from being a teen, and it doesn’t save you from being imperfect, pompous, or misguided. Sometimes fiction looks like life.
Saved! hit the nail on the head in so many ways, and if you can’t laugh at yourself you’re doomed.
6 – Religulous Get a big name like Bill Maher behind an anti-religion screed, and you can get some traction. This doc, at least, cracked the top ten for the genre in 2008.
But it may have done Maher more harm than the Church. The film only proved that comedians can, when the stars align, be less entertaining than faith.
This is another one I haven’t seen, and have no interest in seeing. People will always see through you if you have a strong anti-something agenda, and Religulous is only preaching to the converted.
5- Dogma Kevin Smith may be vulgar, but unlike Maher, at least he’s funny when he’s mean… and he’s a Catholic, too, so he knows what he skewers.
The truth is, Smith’s “Buddy Jesus” and other gags, are just too accurate to be incendiary. And four-letter words have gone two thousand years without doing more damage than sticks and stones.
I loved this movie! As far as destroying Christianity, it falls under the same banner as Saved!; it constantly hits the nail on the head, and if you can’t laugh at yourself…
4 – The Life of Brian A musical number from the cross? Truly mind-boggling. But so many people lost sight of the fact that the film wasn’t about Jesus, whose path merely crosses that of fictional Brian.
Besides, Monty Python satirized absolutely everything. So when they turn their sights on faith, it’s just like an out-of-control firehose. Everything gets soaked.
Another one that I haven’t seen, but one that I want to see. From the clips I’ve seen on YouTube it looks as funny as anything Monty Python have done, and in no way does it look the slightest bit offensive.
3 – The Last Temptation Watchdogs like to take credit for killing Scorsese’s very personal film at the boxoffice. But film historians can tell you that the studio wasn’t about to back this horse anyway.
No, Universal was much more interested in the other films in this multi-picture deal. This was Scorsese’s own pact with the devil. At least it worked for him!
Yet another one I haven’t seen, and have no interest in seeing, not that I’d avoid it because I’m scared of being offended, but purely because there’s plenty of god films out there still waiting to be watched.
2 – The Golden Compass Uh, this didn’t kill Christianity. It just killed the studio. Sure, Philip Pullman’s book, on which the film is based, is anti-religion (and specifically anti-Catholic). But New Line miscalculated.
When the smoke cleared and the film had tanked in the U.S., the sequel was dead, Bob Shay was sacked, and New Line was defunct. The Church lives on.
Can’t really say anything else except that the books so called anti-religious themes are so outdated that they don’t really have any credible argument against Christianity.
1 – The Da Vinci Code If the Church really does bite the dust, it’s going to take something intelligent to do it… not this. It didn’t help that Ron Howard’s film watered down the bile while making it dumber.
Dan Brown writes fun fiction. But even he knows that when you look closely, his work is just an alternative set of smoke and mirrors. Enjoy the prequel… if you can!
Loved the book, not Dan Browns best literary work, but entertaining enough. Sadly however, the movie seemed to suck all the fun, action and intrigue and replace it with sheer monotony and boredom. Apparently the squeal is far better. I’ll be waiting for the DVD.
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