Movies and religious beliefs

A few days ago I posted a review in two parts of Kingdom of Heaven. There I mentioned the way Ridley Scott managed to present a fair balance between religious beliefs. A couple of days later, while giving a quick overview to some discussion forums on the IMDB I was surprised to see that people were not arguing about the film but of religion.

It may come as a surprise to some -I've seen it too many times now in so many places that I'm used to it- but it seems like Christians are the most intolerant kind of people, which contrast with their idea of a religion based on forgiveness. It seems like the thing that bothers'em the most about the movie it's that muslims are not presented as the uncivilized and savage barbarians we all know them to be. Right. And we also know that the Pope is elected by God himself and that George W. Bush has a private line to Heaven.

Comments like "Crusades history according to Osama" were quite common through the discussion. There were also muslim people on the forum and they struck me as rational and sensitive individuals, trying to reason rather than confront, but it seems like when a Christian fanatic puts his mind on to something he can be worst than any fundamentalist regardless of its origin.Their narrowminded and stuborn "arguments" became so lame than somebody wrote to ask everybody to aknowledge than westerner does not mean Christian by default, and that even among Christians it's not a rule to be such a moron.

People then started to try to distend the growing tension by calling to reason and conciliation. Along came some lighthearted jokes and a couple of tests, and one of them caught my attention -mainly because it had caused further infuriation among the pseudo-psycho-christians, who apparently had ranked as candidates for agnosticism, paganism or even islam-. The test is Which religion is the right one for you? and my score is as follows:

You scored as Satanism. Your beliefs most closely resemble those of Satanism! Before you scream, do a bit of research on it. To be a Satanist, you don't actually have to believe in Satan. Satanism generally focuses upon the spiritual advancement of the self, rather than upon submission to a deity or a set of moral codes. Do some research if you immediately think of the satanic cult stereotype. Your beliefs may also resemble those of earth-based religions such as paganism. Satanism 96% atheísm 67% Buddhism 58% agnosticism 58% Paganism 50% Islam 42% Judaism 33% Cristianity 21% Hinduism 21% Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com

I know what satanism is so I have no problem with the results, but I know that members of my mother's family would be shocked to see this. Sadly, I yhink none of them reads this blog. Anyway, I don't put to much credibility or faith in this kind of test but sometimes I found'em amusing.

And if in the process of taking those tests I get to make some relatives mad, well, I won't even try to resist the urge.