The War on God article in Eye

Interesting article in Eye Weekly.
I wonder why members of the Center for Inquiry (CFI) and other such organizations expect atheists
to be included in interfaith discussion events organized by members of organized religions. CFI sounds like it has
more potential as a porn spoof title of CSI. If you didn't get invited into Mensa, it's nice to know smarties who
consider themselves scientists have a group they can join.

The slogan, "You are probably not going to get a book published, so stop worrying and watch Idol (or Scooby Doo,
as it turns out)." CFI makes the extraordinary claim that their outreach efforts and advertizing do not seek to
persuade or convert anyone, merely to gloat perhaps. I'd like to see evidence of their intentions, and that there is no
hate involved (often defined as desire to inflict emotional, psychological stress as bullies do). But it wouldn't
be cheeky enough to demand that evidence of their intentions.

For some people, crop circles were proof of UFOs. I don't recall reading the rational explanation for them. Atheists
often cite the Bible or other holy books and incidents from the history of flawed human institutions such as churches
as if religion or faith is a house of cards. There is God the security guard we blame for doors that we leave open
for our own convenience and God the parent who we refuse to let control us and who told us all they could about
how to live life and may end up being blamed or abandoned when we (or some of us) do horrible things.
Bill Maher's "Religulous" ends with a mushroom cloud and talk of how great science is and how dangerous faith is,
forgetting that the A-bomb which provided such a great go-to graphic was a product of science. And I don't know
about Oppenheimer, but Einstein was an atheist.

It perpetuates the polarization that makes most debates possible or easy to follow: believers are this and
atheists are that. My high school in Ontario was Roman Catholic, and yet we learned about evolution in history class.
The religion class I remember became World Religion and then Man in Society, more like sociology.
And this was in the nineteen-eighties. It's easy for someone to look at Westborough "Baptist" Church and make
them spokes people for believers. The Pope and the Vatican don't help, but Catholics I know are fed up with
the old boys' club and Rome putting its foot in its mouth to embarrass us every now and then. That doesn't mean
rejection of "love your enemy" or a respect for Jesus as a figure whether he existed as written or not.

The best case scenario for a group like CFI is to pathologize religious ideas and push churches underground.
That way, hey, only the most zealous people will seek it out and endure sneaking around in order to connect
with their fellow believers. And of course that breeds nothing dangerous at all. At least then it won't be a
boring routine attendance to be seen as part of the flock. No, that can be reserved for the Center for Inquiry,
center of the universe, where all the oxygen is sucked out of the room by free-form jazz and people playing
Six Degrees of Charles Darwin.

Funny thing about the "There probably is no God, so don't worry. . ." slogan is that people who believe there
is a God actually aren't worried about it. The line seems to address people in fear of hell. What they could
be doing to keep company in Hades with Hitler, I don't know. It just seems like a childish exercise, but if
they want to spend money lumping God in with Bigfoot (never disproven) and acupuncture (which actually
did help my back once and apparently eases muscles that can't be helped by massage) I suppose CFI is
entitled to making their little duty and we will applaud them for the size. I do think some vulnerable people
are hurt and injured by it, and may feel despair if they aren't used to really vetting what bullies tell them.
But again, that's not for me to enforce. If they start actually trashing churches and kicking out believers like
the officially atheist People's Republic of China, maybe it'll draw wider criticism.

I have broken my rule about piracy

I have seen illegal versions of movies I had actually intended to pay to see,
but this is the nature of pre-Oscar season. We end up finding some good copies of screeners that have been uploaded by thoughtful criminals.

Here are the titles I have seen as pirated versions on-line this year:


Black Swan is stylish and in love with itself. This movie is indeed well acted and might engage people who have no interest in ballet and backstage rivalries real or imagined. But those cultural trappings won’t hurt it with people who do have a keen interest in all things artsy. Comparisons to Dario Argento are a bit overstated, since there is very little horror and only some pain. A few stabs to reflect upon, but for me it felt forced and engineered so that a character’s journeys become pathologies . I think people are prepared to impose deep meaning on unfortunate outcomes.

True Grit The Dude assumes a signature role of The Duke in this remake about a Marshall and a Ranger both engaged by a 14 year old girl to track her father’s killer. Hardship, infighting and frontier justice are brought to life with natural bits of humour that play to a modern audience without creating distance. I still want to see Jeff Bridges play stoner Lebowski again, but at least he is back with the Cohens and enveloped in the world of True Grit. Of special note is James Brolin’s characterization of the villain.

The Fighter Meddling family members highlight this boxing drama. Mark Wahlberg is committed as a labourer who is also pursuing his vocation as a boxer, in the shadow of his one-time promising brother played with note perfection by Christian Bale who has ended up spending more time in a crack house than functioning as a manager.

Get Low Reflective and slow-starting, the movie is more accessible once it introduces Bill Murray as a funeral director in a town where there isn’t enough death. Robert Duvall’s hermit with a guilty conscience plays his cards so close to his vest that some viewers may at first become restless although his back-story proves to be engaging and moving. The rustic setting feels like a western, though it is the nineteen-thirties or thereabouts.

The Town is an entertaining crime thriller directed by Ben Affleck within the world of Boston he had previously explored in Gone Baby Gone and as co-writer of Good Will Hunting. The nature of friendship and loyalty are explored as well as justice and corruption in their many guises. Sam Hamm has amusing moments as the antagonist who should be the protagonist. Top notch cast even for small parts give them respect relative to their position in the main guy’s mind. Chris Cooper is the father behind bars and Pete Postlethwaite is the flower-keeping crime boss who is determined to clip the balls of others. On the other hand, it helps that I didn’t recognize the leading lady Rebecca Hall centers the movie for non-criminal and non-FBI viewers. In fact, her character is an outsider to Charlestown itself.