Hey Ellisar- thanks for moving this topic to GD. I saw it died off in the Order.
Incidently, I am noticing a rash of religious threads here. Two weeks ago, spam. Now religion! Oi. Notice how the hot chick thread is concentrated in one place. What does this say-hot chicks are better than religion.
ANyway, for those interested- once again, the Economist has something to say (as it seems to have something to say about just everything).
Ok, I will add comments-
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2460540
The power and the Passion
Feb 26th 2004
From The Economist print edition
The storm caused by Mel Gibson's film is yet another indicator of America's moral and cultural divide
IN THE wake of Bill Clinton's election in 1992, Irving Kristol, the godfather of neo-conservatism, proclaimed that “the culture wars are over—and our side lost.” Now, with the crucifixion of Christ vying with homosexual marriage for the nation's attention, it is clear that the godfather was wrong. The culture wars are raging as savagely as ever—and the conservative side, if not triumphant, is more than holding its own.
Yes, I would say that the cultural wars are actually being won by the conservatives.
So more religion less drugs, more abstaining less sex, more country less rock n' roll. More guns less social welfare, more corporate tax cuts less good jobs.
Wasn't it internal corruption that led to the fall of Rome?
The latest conservative champion is a semi-Australian actor who first captured public attention as Mad Max, a “road warrior” struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Now Mel Gibson hangs out in very different circles. “The Passion of the Christ”, his film about the last day of the life of Jesus, is galvanising religious America as no film has for decades. It opened on 2,800 screens on February 25th, Ash Wednesday—a remarkable achievement for a work that eschews both Hollywood stars and the English language. Christian congregations have pre-booked whole cinemas. The Cinemark theatre near Dallas started showing the film at midnight on Tuesday and kept it going for 24 hours. At 6am the cinema started showing it on all 20 screens.
Oh Texas...... You used to be such a fun place.
Yet “The Passion” has also galvanised non-Christian America. It has provoked accusations of anti-Semitism for months past, but the criticism goes well beyond that. The New Yorker's review is illustrated with a cartoon of Mr Gibson on a cross being doused in buckets of blood. Andy Rooney, a TV commentator, has accused Mr Gibson of being a “wacko” and “a real nutcase” who is exploiting Christ's crucifixion for monetary gain.
So why not exploit Christ? He did die for our sins. I mean come on, what holiday hasn't been exploited or created for money.
Actually the attacks on Mel have been pretty serious. I was a bit put off on NPR when they said that all Mel's movies have been about anger and violence.
Is such comment worth noticing, or is it just the usual “buzz” that Hollywood types are so talented at manufacturing? Mr Gibson has certainly been skilful in marketing his film, in which he invested $25m-30m of his own money, and in turning the row about anti-Semitism to his own advantage. His marketing machine is selling a host of tie-ins, including a book, lapel pins, key-chains, coffee mugs and T-shirts. The latest fashion item is two-and-a-half-inch nails like the ones used to nail Jesus to the cross.
Get those nails! Actually they have been selling pieces of the Cross for years out in bethlahem. But if there is a place that could use religion as a business, it's Bethlahem. It's those new $120,000 units to live in a good "christian community" that bothers me more.
Religion, the second oldest profession. Where else can you make money as a Public Affairs agent for God and not have to pay the principle?
Some one should write an updated Dante's inferno.
Yet, for once, there are good reasons for paying attention. “The Passion” is as good as it gets when it comes to religious films: a blood-drenched depiction of Christ's last hours that manages to be both riveting and profound at the same time. Mr Gibson's two bravest decisions—to use no stars and to make his actors speak in Aramaic and Latin—turn out to be strokes of genius. The film has a remarkable feeling of authenticity.
Monica Belluci is not a star? Oi!
(Yet another shameless attempt to get a monica bellucci pic posted).
Yet “The Passion” is also disturbing. Mr Gibson tells us little about Jesus the healer or Jesus the soother of worldly cares. Instead, he focuses relentlessly on the physical details of martyrdom—on bloody flagellation and agonising crucifixion. Within 15 minutes of the film's opening Jesus's right eye is swollen shut. The welts on his body are shown in gruesome detail. The Roman soldier who is ordered to make sure that he is dead is showered in blood.
I mean really, it's a crucifixion. What did you expect?
A bunch of guys nailed on a cross singing, "Oh look on the bright side of life" ?
The charges of anti-Semitism have certainly been overdone. The most sadistic characters in the film are the Roman soldiers, and the most sympathetic are the Jewish bystanders who come to Jesus's aid. The hand that drives the first nail into Jesus is Mel Gibson's own. But, that said, it is hard to watch “The Passion” without a certain sense of unease, given the film's raw power and the resurgence of anti-Semitism around the world.
Ya know someone is going to say.....
Hey Jewish folks, I mean really. If you didn't want anti-semitism, then maybe you shouldn't have killed Christ. You see what the death penalty gets ya? 2000 years of payback.
(I am just joking here folks)
And for those of you good Christians who support the death penalty---- be careful what you wish for.
A clash of paranoias
“The Passion” will also remain controversial because Mr Gibson has chosen to plant his crucifix at one of the contentious crossroads of American life. America is one of the most religious countries in the industrialised world. Over 80% of Americans claim to believe in God, compared with 62% of the French and 52% of Swedes. About two-thirds of Americans claim membership of a church, 40% go to church once a week, and 43% describe themselves as born-again Christians. Three times as many people believe in the Virgin birth as in evolution.
Yes, it's probably true. Incidently, when I was oversees I talked to a woman who had been hired to teach at a religious school and was shocked to hear that her students were rejecting evolution for creationism.
That law suit has come up here and creationism has been attacked as an advocacy of religion in the public school classroom and a violation of church and state.
Note that this issue comes shortly before the whole school voucher nonsense and the advocacy of more private education and the dismantlying of public education.
The alliance between Republicans and Christian Evengelicals has got to be the worst thing for civilization since the alliance between Klingons and Romulans.
Religious groups are also exercising a growing influence on America's political and cultural life. The so-called religious right has established a lock on the Republican Party. Religious gurus and groups are getting ever slicker at marketing their wares. Rick Warren's “The Purpose-Driven Life”, which has sold more than 11m copies, is being used to launch a flotilla of products from devotional volumes to scripture cards. One company produces a magazine-like version of the New Testament that intersperses the scriptures with articles on “Beauty secrets that you never heard before” (use the time you spend applying sunscreen to talk to God) and “Are you dating a Godly guy?”
Beauty Secrets from the Bible? A couple weeks ago I saw "Bad Girls from the Bible" on the shelf at Price Club. Maybe these Christians are more fun than I thought.
apparently this has been a big success because now we have-
Maybe we learn about her?
But probably not-
Time for more good all religiously inspired repression against women?
Gosh I love it. The sanctity of marriage is at issue by the same folks that market religion.
Are you a Godly guy?
Forget it Meg, you don't come close. But that probably puts you in good company with Sander. But suddenly Paladin Solo is the hot commodity in the dating scene?
Surely this is the end times.
But America is also one of the most secular countries in the world. The constitution guarantees a rigorous separation of church and state, and secular groups are assiduous in using the courts to enforce that separation. (On February 25th, the Supreme Court ruled that states could withhold scholarships from students studying divinity.) Public schools recoil from even the mildest religious imagery. More than 29m Americans say that they have “no religion”, a number that exceeds all but two religious denominations, Roman Catholics and Baptists. For the most part, the people who run America's media industries in New York and Hollywood are aggressively secular, combining intellectual hostility to Middle America's religious fundamentalists with a generous measure of cultural disdain.
ANd note that the Catholics are generally pretty liberal
Liberal intellectuals have long accused the religious right of demonstrating a “paranoid style”, claiming that it is motivated by a belief that the country is in the hands of a secular cabal. Now the paranoids may well be the secularists themselves, horrified by the new conservative grip on the culture. The clash between these twin “paranoid styles” is hardly a pretty one, as demonstrated in the row over Mel Gibson. But it could help to shape American politics for many years to come.
Where is ratty with his conspiracy theories? He needs to weigh in on this one.
Jewish Cabal running America, or is it the Free Masons? Or is it the Cult of Cthulu at last?
