Monday, December 03, 2007

Blah blah blah

From CNN.com.

Religion is evil. It wrecks lives. It forces people to be who they are not and makes them sacrifice their real life for some unknown "afterlife." Religion is judgmental and forces people to live guilt-ridden lives that are based not in reality but rather forces them to take part in some ancient guy's agenda, which as we know, was and is to keep the womenfolk under his thumb. People can be good with no religion at all and most of the people that I consider to be the best wouldn't set foot in a place of worship, regardless of what that sect of people worshiped. I seriously doubt this movie will inspire people to become atheists, and in fact, will probably have less effect on religion as a whole than the Harry Potter books/movies did. The only reason people don't want to see this movie and don't want their kids to see this movie is because they're scared. They're scared that someone might have an opinion that's different from their own and their own insecurity in the "truths" they've clung to in weakness for their entire lives will be washed away by someone else's idea of what it means to be alive.

Did Harry Potter ruin anyone's life? Did parents who let their kids read HP or see the movies stop taking them to church because the kids turned into witches and wizards? I didn't think so. So shut up and let the world go forward. Stop trying to stymie our growth by not allowing us to respect and encourage the people who have actual imaginations to create interesting and engaging stories in which we have the privilege to take part. Not all of us need to spend our lives worshiping a book that was written god-knows how long ago and has been changed countless times over the centuries. And don't even get me started on the whole creepy vampiric/cannibalistic eating of the body and drinking of the blood thing.

And about this:

"Director Chris Weitz has said he cut controversial religious content to make the film more commercially viable, with the plan of being more faithful to the original material in sequels."

Dude, grow some stones. Who cares if it's more "commercially viable"?? Stick with the original story - it's brilliant. And by "being more faithful" later in the sequels you're just going to piss off the scared parents even more because they're going to see this as your way of trying to sneak something past them. People don't like to be tricked. Just ask the millions of recovering religious people out there. We like things to be what they are - not watered down, or frightened up, or make believe - we want the truth. The novels won't be the same if you change them. Don't be an idiot.

4 comments:

greeneagles said...

This type of hatred, on whatever side it may fall, makes me sad. Perhaps that is because I merely lack an actual imagination to understand it. If that is the case, then I am happy to be scared, insecure, and weak in my belief in Christ.

While I pray that more Christians would busy themselves with living the Way rather than casting their stones, I also pray to see a mutual respect for differences from atheists who so readily condemn religious faith.

SerenitySprings said...

And let me just say that you have never tried to push your faith onto me personally. In my post I'm talking about the people that brainwash others into believing that their way is the only way and if they screw up even a teeny tiny bit they will burn for all eternity in the firey pits of hell. It's the parents that send their kids to that "Jesus Camp" and home school them so they ONLY get teaching from the Bible, people that protest at the funerals of dead soldiers, people that obstruct people's entry to abortion clinics, etc etc etc. I could go on and on but I'm sure you get the point.

UnrulyDuckling said...

I've been thinking about this post all day because I was sure that you must be off the mark with a broad generalization like, "Religion is evil." But then I realized that you just weren't generalizing enough. People are evil. (Whereas a person isn't necessarily.)

If you get enough people together in a situation with the opportunity to compete for money or power or prestige - whether it be a political regime or a PTA - it's going to skew evil.

I think that's the difference between "religion" as you mean it and "religious faith" as greeneagles means it - the institutional vs. the personal.

SerenitySprings said...

You're right. I was pissed when I read the article and saw the whole "Last Temptation of Christ" and "Harry Potter" thing happening again and therefore gave my anger to the internet. But in all honesty, I wasn't trying to attack anyone's religious faith as it pertains to them personally but rather to attack all those who act like asshats and then blame their asshattery on religion. I seriously doubt that the god of any religion wants to take the responsibility for the idiocies of its followers.