’)The notoriously idiotic right-wing organization that speaks for a fringe group of Catholics is going to attack the upcoming Angels & Demons movie. Donohue & Co. went after The Da Vinci Code and the movie just eked out $758 Million worldwide.
I am sure Opie is quaking in his boots. His really expensive, Oscar-nominated boots.
UPDATE: The Catholic League is (snicker) selling an anti-Angels & Demons “pamphlet” for the princely sum of $5. These guys are like the Bernie Madoffs of right-wing religious outrage.
You know, Dan Brown’s stories are a fantasy. Almost completely total bullshit. That’d be why they’re in the fiction section. But I just love these Catholics that act like insecure teenagers everytime somebody says anything that could be construed as anti-doctrine.
Say what you will about Dennis’s political views, guy doesn’t flip out every time somebody bags on religion.
Say what you will about Dennis’s political views, guy doesn’t flip out every time somebody bags on religion.
He did take offense when Oliver pointed out that the ashes on the forehead dealio was weird, which is totally is. Talking snakes and virgin births are bullshit but not weird. And child rape and covering up serial and extensive child rape is not so much weird and bullshit as it is horribly evil. The Inquisition was pretty shitty too, though with time it gave us the iconic Python sketch. That’s funny.
But I just love these Catholics that act like insecure teenagers everytime somebody says anything that could be construed as anti-doctrine.
Really, the only difference between this sort of reaction and the Ayatollah’s to The Satanic Verses is the extremity of penalty. And a few hundred years ago, the Catholic Church would have issued an edict of death against Dan Brown.
When history of religious intolerance discussions arise, the anti-organized-religionists usually bring up the Inquisition as one of the indictments against Christianity or Roman Catholicism. Which of course it is, but I think it is far from the most serious one. I wish more Americans were aware of European history and especially the Thirty Years’ War. Had that war gone differently there would likely be no such thing as Protestantism in any of its variations today, and this conflict caused the destruction of nearly a THIRD of the entire population of what is now Germany. The male population of the German states were reduced by almost half, with about a third of all German and Czech towns destroyed. Heidelberg Castle is still in ruins today from this conflict. The 30 Years War is far more terrible and destructive than the Inquisition and the Crusades combined, IMO.
Plus it has the added advantage of being the only war I know of started by literally throwing someone out a window!
Parthenon: <i.But I just love these Catholics that act like insecure teenagers everytime somebody says anything that could be construed as anti-doctrine.
But that’s the standard Church approach. Always has been, always will be. Rather than try to convince someone they are right by putting forth a superior argument, instead try to silence the other side.
Remind you of anyone?
This is wonderful! When Bill Donohue goes against Dan Brown, we all win no matter what.
SpiderJ et al, I think if the Catholic hierarchy regained the power it once had, we’d see the worst abuses start again within a few generations. And while that seems unlikely, they’ll certainly do anything they can to convince people their hierarchy represents God on Earth (which belief seems like the major source of their old authority). Their secular critics, with the obvious exception of the 8 remaining Communist Party members, emphatically do not want that kind of power. We tend towards suspicion of anyone who concentrates power in one person or post — see the far left on Obama.
Tom Hanks is actually a practicing Christian and, by many accounts, religious. He regards the Dan Brown movies as fantasy fiction which appeal to a crowd who aren’t especially deep thinkers. But, hey, it’s Tom Hanks’ job. I don’t think Samuel L. Jackson lost much sleep over the quality of “The Spirit” and “Snakes on a Plane,” either.
There are good people in every religion and they get my attention because they are comforable with their beliefs but are willing to accept those who worship differently. They promote their beliefs by living it, not forcing them on you.
There are more of them than the rabid zealots but they need to force themselves to the front of the line and denounce the zealots in their own religion.
As for the zealots, I treat them like the crazies they are because they are beyond reason.
Umm, have they actually read “Angels and Demons”? It wasn’t a particularly anti-Church. The characters are priests, cardinals, and popes, but it is no more anti-Catholic than the Godfather movies (especially Godfather 3, which was aweful, but still my point).
If I recall, Hanks’ character actually tries to “save” the Church. Did I read the book wrong?
Maybe they should not just assume that Angels and Demons is Anti-Catholic just because Davinci Code seemed to be.
I concur with the room. I make it a point not to attack people’s religious beliefs (though saying something is weird is certainly not an attack), and it’d be nice if they made it a point not to flip out when their view of the nature of the goddamned universe was questioned.
kickingleft: Maybe they should not just assume that Angels and Demons is Anti-Catholic just because Davinci Code seemed to be.
That would be the Da Vinci Code that ends with Hanks’ character kneeling reverently before (well, above, actually) Mary’s tomb?
Well, it ends that way, but in the meantime you have the Vatican’s albino assassin on the loose. And we all know: the Church would never do something so heavyhanded to ensure their power over their flock.
It’s going to suck critically and not do as well at the box office. That’s my early prediction.
I’m flummoxed. How can I fight the forces of Donohue & Co without seeing this almost certainly craptacular movie… Buy a ticket, but then go see Watchmen?
That’s easy; pick up the book used somewhere, read half of it, get disgusted with the stupid and over-long plot, read the other half because you can’t believe it’s really going where you think it’s going, and then throw the book away. That’s what I did, anyway.
He did take offense when Oliver pointed out that the ashes on the forehead dealio was weird, which is totally is.]]
The first time I got ashes as an adult, it blew me away. Getting such a stark, physical reminder that you’re going to die changes your whole perspective on life.