“A latent morality pervades the film” — are you suggesting that morality only exists with a supreme being, or, more broadly, with religion? Are you suggesting that an atheist (ignorant of Christianity, as Gervias is not) has no innate moral compass? But for your belief in God, are you suggesting, you’d rape and murder whenever it benefitted you? If that is so, I urge you to reexamine your world view. I hope you don’t stop and think of the divine consequences before choosing not to steal from your neighbor. If nothing else, societal organization for the betterment of all should impel you to act properly before God does. Look to the non-zero-sum relationships you form with those around you to help explain your morality. I would never want to be “good” if I were only “good” for fear of punishment. Any decent parent will tell you that when their child is good solely to avoid punishment, then s/he is not really acting good at all. That is the boldest and most despicable form of self-interest.

Love,
Andrew

Look, by your logic, I could easily label any movie or book where a god is proven to exist despite doubt as “theist propaganda”. (Believe me, there are a great many of them.) However, I don’t, because I’m not an easily-ruffled ninny who can’t stand the thought of someone actually possessing and expressing beliefs contrary to mine. Yes, surely this man is trying to antagonize all people of faith! Honestly, if I see someone in a work of fiction get saved by some celestial entity, I say: “My, that’s interesting! What will happen next, I wonder?.”

Get over yourselves, you frustrating little children. You’re not an oppressed minority; far from it. A movie that ends with the belief that there is no god does not warrant an idiotic pep talk. Nobody is going to lose their faith because of a film.

And because I find Jordan’s comment to be particularly madness-inducing, let me just grab this little section:

“i think that the only people who would find this hatred funny would be atheist who think that christians are all too stupid, idiotic and simple.”

This sums up what’s annoying me pretty well. Look, Jordan, no part of the movie claims that people who believe in a god are stupid. It’s someone else’s viewpoint. This viewpoint is being expressed through a rather entertaining film. Now, I understand that some of the more aggravating theists just love to think that atheists are out to destroy religion, but that just isn’t so. Look outside of your bubble. Talk to a real atheist. Even you might learn something!

Oh, and if you think this post is a little patronizing, that would be because of the truly astounding ignorance that would be necessary to make such a silly post. I even had to make an account just to BAW about it.

i think that the only people who would find this hatred funny would be atheist who think that christians are all too stupid, idiotic and simple. and that after viewing this movie more people would be less likely to become christians. this article really helped me open my eyes wider and i hope your correct in that people who see it might want to start questioning their existance and come to know our sweet lord.

i apologied to my wife for taking her to see this trash as it soured my mood the rest of the night. anyone know a better film out that we could go see.

I’m a former Fundalmental/Evangelical Protestant, which is what made me successful as an RCIA instructor. Catholics and Protestants use the same words, but they mean something different to either one. So, I could “translate”. During breaks, I would share something relevant to the lesson from Scripture, and every year, without exception, someone would ask how many times I’d read the Bible. When I answered, they would make appreciative comments, to which I responded……

“In 10 years, you expect to be 10 years older than you are today, don’t you? Then, why don’t you expect to have read the Bible 10 times through? It’s not hard: you pick it up, open the cover, read the left-hand page, read the right-hand page, and turn the page. When you get to the end, you turn the book over, open the cover, read the left-hand page and keep going. In 10 years, you will have read it 10 times.
“Now, let me ask you a question. Have you ever received letters from a boyfriend who was in the military, or a girlfriend who was away at college? Did you read them once and throw them away, or did you keep them and read them over and over? Why? Because the letter was from someone you loved and you knew loved you. Same thing: God wrote us letters to tell us how much He loves us! Why wouldn’t we read and re-read them? God loves you! Go read His letters till you figure out why!”