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Question 153

Have you ever seen films that are critical of religion or religions in general? Which is your favorite & why?

• Several Monty Python flicks were pretty merciless. I really enjoyed them. They poked fun at the pope, and I can't remember which one, but it had people being burnt at the stake or was it chopping off their heads for some religious or anti religious attitude. I wish I could remember. I just remember laughing so hard I rolled on the floor. (zach #33)

• The only one I've seen that I recall is "Inherit the Wind." My favorite thing about it is that it is an historical drama - it's about something that actually happened! (Nemo #1331)

• A number of them - but Monty Python's "Monty Python and The Holy Grail" ("Stop groveling! If there's anything I can't stand, it's people groveling all the time!"), "Life of Brian" ("...Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah!" and "The Meaning of Life ("...every sperm is sacred...") come immediately to mind. (Aaron I. Spielman #1467)

• One of the best I ever saw was a National Film Board of Canada documentary called "The Burning Times" about the women's holocaust: the Catholic witch hunts that spanned several centuries. (By some estimates, as many as 1.5 million women, and many man as well, were killed.)

  Priest and Mass Appeal are also fairly strong in their criticism of mainstream religion. (Bob Dog)

• Monty Python's Life of Brian!

  It is about the funniest film I have ever seen. That might have been helped by the fact that I was very depressed when I went to see it and the mood had been completely blown away by the time I left the cinema.

  It focused on the followers, rather than the leaders. At first I was baffled by how angry many believers were at this film, after all the one very brief shot of Jesus is quite respectful of him. Of course, it is less respectful of his followers, some of whom don't understand a word he is saying - but start fighting about what he did say!

  That's the rub of course - it was poking fun at the sheep!

  I actually know a Christian who thought it was the best film he had ever seen. But he wasn't a sheep. (Martin Thomas)

• Excoriating fundamentalist evengelism:

  Elmer Gantry. Religion as seduction...

  The Catholic Legion of Decency on some level approved of this film (the figured it helped them protect their turf, as it were), and through their influence, the Motion Picture Production Code board passed the film. They did think it a too strong for the kiddies and gave it a "B" rating (not suitable for anyone under the age of 16), but the notoriety was almost surely a publicity bonus.

  This line got the film 'Banned in Boston'

  (Lulu Baine recounting her seduction by Gantry):

  "He got to howlin' 'Repent! Repent!' and I got to moanin' 'Save me! Save me!' and the first thing I knew he rammed the fear of God into me" (Pat Kiewicz #1154)

• One of my all-time favorite films is "The Rapture" (with Mimi Rogers and David Duchovny). This film makes the 'god' of Evangelical Christians seem unfair and abusive (e.g. Causing horrible tragedies in people's lives, and then wanting those people to still love 'Him'). It's a rather odd anti-religion film because it seems to take the position that 'God' exist; but it presents the angle that this 'God' doesn't seem to treat mankind fairly.

  This film really had a powerful impact on me. It also has a couple of outstanding (and outrageous) plot twists.

  Oh, And it also has a sizable amount of kinky sex, near the beginning. I just thought I better warn ya. =) (pan #1432)