(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

[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...