"Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson US essayist & poet (1803 - 1882)

Friday, May 19, 2006

Oh The Humanity.....

DaVinci Code... It was a great read, some neat twists and turns and i loved it. I wonder how many protestors took the time to peruse it?

Remember the islamic uproar over "The Satanic Verses"? i seem to remember christian people defending the author. i remember statements similar to it was fiction and muslims should be more accepting of different viewpoints.

i seem to remember Jewish communities anxious over the release of "The Passion..." and possible backlash over the portrayal of Jews, and anti-semitism. Again, christians spouted their superiority due to the acceptance of different views. After all, free speech must always be defended!!!

but....

Dan Brown must be the devil!!! How dare his fictional book, with just a wee bit of truth, used to add some spice, question Jesus. More than anything, i think organized religion is questioned, not Jesus. Remember, i've read the book unlike most of the protestors, who blindly follow spoutings of evangelicals who are most likely bandwagonning to further their induh..vidual careers with the personal integrity of an old west snake oil salesman.

Ironically, Karl Marx said "religion is the opium of the masses"

Notice he didn't say Faith, or Belief in God, he said Religion

i know i'm not all the way through the bible yet, so i'm no expert, nor will i ever claim to be, but i haven't come across anything yet about not honoring your religion. Not honoring God, you bet it's there, but nothing about religion itself. i'll keep looking for it though...

beginning 2nd Samuel tonite

running long tonite as well

thanks again, keep the comments coming....

6 comments:

Gknee said...

It was a great book and I look forward to seeing Tom Hanks run around in the wonderful adventure that Dan Brown created. As a Catholic I didn't find anything that I hadn't heard before.

Maybe the protesters are afraid that they will be struck by lightening if they question their religion? I know that growing up Catholic I had always been taught that questioning things was a good thing. *shrug*

Animal said...

I just saw the film last night, and as a mystery/thriller I give it a solid "B" as a grade. Not something I need to buy on DVD, but something I'd watch with someone ELSE who hadn't seen it. Tom Hanks was, as usual, very good, Audrey Tautou was jaw-droppingly gorgeous (although she could stand to gain 20 pounds!) and the surprise pleasure of the night was Ian McKellan who was wonderfully recognizable as both Gandalf AND Professor Xavier.

I only saw two couples walk out, and that was at the "big reveal" 20 minutes before the end. Lots of talk in the movie about Jesus Nazareth being "just a man," but no one threw his (stale, cold) popcorn at the screen. Theatre was packed, just as you'd expect for the first real blockbuster of the summer.

My feeling? About 20% of the population thinks the whole thing is heretical, about 20% is conspiritorial and thinks it's all true...the rest of us recognize a good thriller when we see it and don't let it confuse what we already know our relationship with god to be.

'Nuff said!

Mike said...

animal...

don't you mean magneto?

Animal said...

Uh...yeah...

Nitmos said...

Mike, Do you remember the furor over The Last Temptation of Christ in the late 80's? Protests...boycotts...Falwell everywhere on TV. The movie was decent but the book is excellent. Nikos Kazantzakis wrote it and he was a very religious man. Still, he was called a heretic. In the book, like the movie, Christ choses his pre-ordained fate rather than the simpler, easier life of the flesh. Interesting perspective. I think people that react by silencing people with different views are not comfortable with their own. If you are confident and can defend your views to your own self satisfaction, an alternative view poses no threat.

Mike said...

well said.