Fourteener Films

I’ve mentioned before on this blog, that the original screenplay upon which our current project is based was inspired by David’s emotional roller coaster ride immediately after the events of September 11, 2001. The absolute emotional devastation and intellectual bewilderment caused by the flying of those planes into those buildings in the name of God was tough on the entire world. It really got David to the point where he – a recovering Catholic – is now in regard to organized religion in general (see his recurring theme of ‘horseshit’).

People all over the world were quick to point out that the word ‘zealout’ and not ‘fundamentalist’ describe the terrorists who took those planes. Equating their perversion of the peaceful Islamic faith to the American Ku Klux Klan – who pervert the context and meaning of the Bible to fit their end – is an accurate comparison. So the fair statement to make there is that we can’t blame religion right?

Well …

No, that event should not have cast the Islamic faith into the same barrel as the those rotten apples. But has organized religion not been a cause of a lot of death in the name of a creator that I don’t think wanted us to go around killing His handiwork? Do you suppose we were meant to pass divine judgement – in other words act as God – and righteously take ‘Gods greatest gift’ from another in His holy name? Yet that is a recurring theme.

Look at what is going on in Israel and has been for centuries. Look at the entire history of the Crusades. Look at the shooting of the Pensacola abortion doctor by a ‘religious fanatic.’ Look at New York City circa 2001. Look at what has happened since.

Here’s a question – what if the Bible was really, actually, and truly written by humans? Humans, fallible and swayed by basic human needs and desires may have actually written that holy text. Astounding. No matter how inspired they were, they were human. But people go so crazy over the ‘word of God’ as if the book literally materialized out of God’s mouth.

Now, I’m not going to say what happened because like EVERYONE else, I don’t know. I take it on faith. But I certainly don’t think I should I have the right to kill anyone for disagreeing with me.

Living in the deep south right below the buckle of the Bible Belt, I often saw a bumper sticker that said ‘If it ain’t King James, then it ain’t Bible.’ To me, that epitomizes the hypocrisy. You’re going to tell me that a version so blatantly political that it was named after the MONARCH who HAD IT REVISED to his liking is the version that is CLOSEST TO THE WORD OF GOD?

Organized religion has always been big business. Long before the Jimmy Swaggarts and Jim and Tammy Bakers of the world ever showed just how corrupt of a business it could be. Churches have manipulated governments with tools like excommunication and defining monarchs as God’s instruments on earth. How is it that anyone, no matter how strong their faith can be so blind to that? How can they NOT wonder if maybe, the basic human principles like kindness, love, faith, forgiveness, trust, gratitude,honesty, generosity are all God intended us to take from His word and the rest is marketing?

I mean, why is it that God MUST be perfect? If he can get angry enough to reduce an entire city of rapists to salt or to cause a flood that kills all of the world except the folks in the big boat, doesn’t that tell you something about the basic humanity of God? We call that ‘the wrath of God.’ Wrath. One of the seven deadly sins. If God is capable of committing one of his own deadly sins, I’d say we’re calling Him fallible. And if He’s fallible doesn’t that take some pressure off of Him?

In ancient religions, gods were fallible. Zeus and all of the Greek gods were subject to wrath, jealousy, spite and making mistakes because of their very human flaws. Is it not possible that over the centuries, Christians have idealized God to the point of making Him this perfect being? Perhaps God is feeling a bit resentful? Perhaps God gave us things like intellect, free will, and, you know, thumbs so that we could make choices, make mistakes, live our lives and not expect Him to live and think for us?

As I step off of this soap box upon which I suddenly find myself standing (I’m a bit embarrassed), I’ll leave you with this. My whole point was to talk about the thoughts and questions that inspired the Arkangel series. There will be shots taken at the picture painted of God, Jesus, angels, the devil, our relationship with God as humans, and God’s relationship to the human condition. If that’s a problem, maybe the real question is the strength of the doubter’s faith. Or perhaps the strength of the foundation upon which they chose to build that faith.