(no subject)

[crankylex]

From http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/23/volcano.movie.ap/index.html:

IMAX theaters in several Southern cities have decided not to show a film on volcanoes out of concern that its references to evolution might offend those with fundamental religious beliefs.

"We've got to pick a film that's going to sell in our area. If it's not going to sell, we're not going to take it," said Lisa Buzzelli, director of an IMAX theater in Charleston that is not showing the movie. "Many people here believe in creationism, not evolution."

Do a lot of people really believe this? I thought the whole bruhaha about schools teaching evolution vs. creationism was only in a particular school district. The thought of not believing in evolution just boggles my mind.

So, let's get this straight. When theaters refused to show "The Passion of the Christ", it was a huge deal and all the fundamentalist Christians got together and had a collective hissy fit, even thought that movie would definitely offend some people.

But it's okay not to show a film ABOUT FUCKING VOLCANOES because it might offend THEM?

Give me a fucking break.

Whenever I read these kinds of things, I feel badly for all my friends who happen to be Christians, because these wackos are making their side look bad.

Comments

[stephanierb.livejournal.com]

So let me get this straight. Not only are there places in this country where fundamentalist Christians are insisting that creationism be taught alongside evolution as another "theory" of how this world came to be, but we have places in this country where evolution isn't being mentioned at all. Are we just going to ignore scientific fact completely?

This is both sad and frightening.

[crankylex.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is, until I was an adult, I had no idea that there were people who didn't believe in evolution. I had no idea these creationism people even existed.

Of course, I grew up in the heathen northeast. LOL!

[ladyoneill.livejournal.com]

Well, there are enough people in my stupid state that believe in creationism that it's an issue before the state school board AGAIN, thus making Kansas look more stupid AGAIN.

*sigh*

It's not creationism anymore, by the way, it's intelligent design. :P

[crankylex.livejournal.com]

Like I said above, I didn't know creationism even existed until I was an adult, let alone that they've decided to sex it up by calling it 'intelligent design'.

Intelligent design by what? Or whom?

Babe, I have to admit that the first time I encountered people that didn't believe in evolution was when I was IN Kansas.

The parents of my cousin's fiance asked me if I practiced the "Babylonian Mystic Religion". I had NO FUCKING IDEA wtf they were talking about until Jason (the fiance) explained that it was Catholicism. That was when I had to admit that I was not a Christian and they all almost dropped dead.

Then they said, "I bet you believe in EVIL-lution too!!!"

That was when *I* almost dropped dead.

[margotlefaye.livejournal.com]

I appreciate your sympathy, lex. People generally sprain their brains trying to reconcile the fact that I'm a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, rabidly liberal believer in evolution with the fact that I'm a born-again, even evangelical Christian. I tell people that Christ was a communist, I explain the evidence that many believers feel reconciles science and scripture, and I can point to scripture that seems to me (and some biblical scholars, as well) to show that David and Jonathan were married in the Old Testament, but amongst the Christian right that usually gets me labeled as either, a) a run of the mill blasphemer and heretic or b)the Devil, Herself, quoting scripture for my own purposes.

Well, Christ said it wasn't going to be easy to follow Him...

It is amazing how many people who swear that the Bible must be taken literally, who insist that it the only authority by which to live one's life, are ignorant of what the Bible actually says.

But, that's a rant for another day.

One of the many things that bothers me about all of this is that the fundamentalists don't seem to understand that the barriers they are breaking down between the church and the state are the barriers that are actually protecting their rights to believe as they do. Look what happened to English Catholics when Henry the VIII decided to break with the church. And, look what happened to English Protestents when his daughter, Mary Tudor, tried to return the country to said church. Some sociologists are quietly predicting that in the not too distant future, Christianity will be the minority religion in this country, as new waves of non-Christian immigrants become establised and their own faiths spread. So, how would the Christian Right feel if they woke up one day and found that their grandchildren were being taught the Hindu or Buddhist views of how the world came into being.

I never wanted my daughter taught creationism. I felt it was my right to teach her my religious views on the formation of the world, and my duty to reconcile for her any disparities between religion and science that she might believe existed. I believe the teaching of creationism or whatever the hell they are calling it infringes on that right. But what do I know?

Sigh. Really. Another rant for another time...

[the-kitty-kat.livejournal.com]

You should also feel bad for those of us who live in the stupid stupid South. Maybe I *want* to watch a "heretical" movie about volcanos. Sheesh.

Also, to margotlefaye, you rock. If more Christians were like you, I might still be one of them.

[crankylex.livejournal.com]

Dude, I don't know HOW you stand it. There is no way on Earth that I could ever live in the South or the Midwest. I would die a little bit more every day.

Either the Northeast or West Coast for me.

[(Anonymous)]

...and don't forget Lex you're always welcome up here in the Great White North or Canada as it's fondly called by some, we seem to have a fairly low psycho-obsessive religious to sane people here.

[crankylex.livejournal.com]

If the idea of letting Bush and crew run me out of my own country didn't gall me beyond belief, I'd already be in Canada. :-)

And hey, next time leave your name, okay? :->

[spikesleman.livejournal.com]

I'm a Christian. I just don't consider those who act like morons (as in those the IMAX theatre people were afraid of offending) to be ON my side.

Period.