reaction to Hate Crime Law

This is amazing stuff: Christians are letting everyone know what the game is all about. Here is what Christian Anti-defamation Commission asks in order to sign an import petition:
“Within moments of Barack Hussein Obama, the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate, being sworn in as the President of the United States, the White House's website was updated. It showed that President Obama is strongly in favor of hate crimes legislation and will work to see it passed. Hate Crimes will silence Christians and keep them from fulfilling their duty to God to proclaim the truth! On his White House website Obama shows that he is determined to pass the most pro-homosexual, free-speech destroying legislation ever to come before Congress, including expanded hate crime laws, and legal "support for the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender) community." The only reason that we do not already have Federal Hate Crime Law is because of President George W. Bush's veto. President Obama has pledged to sign Hate Crime Legislation if it reaches his desk. We must stop the legislation before President Obama can sign it!”
and it continues: “If passed, Anti-Christian agencies will be funded by the government to the tune of $10 Million dollars specifically to teach things contrary to traditional Christian beliefs. Hate Crime Laws have already been enacted in many states like Pennsylvania. There they have resulted in the arrest of peaceful Christians, one who was a grandmother, for simply exercising their 1st Amendment right to speak the truth about homosexuality in the public square.”

And so on and so on. I am still amazed by their bluntness, their naïveté, their nonchalance and also their pure evilness. To say it out loud that Christian truth is hate crime sounds to me more like an insult. Apparently not for these Christians. The right to speak the truth does not include the right to spread violence first of all and to say that hate speech is a traditional Christian belief is simply cute. I know it is.

Il Vangelo secondo Matteo (1964)

regia: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Evanghelia dupa Matei, vazuta cinematic de un regizor militant ateu, gay si marxist pe deasupra. Totul ca parte intr-un dialog cu tinerii necredinciosi, propus de Papa. Pasolini nu incerca o ridicare in slavi, o glorificare a personajelor sale, e mai mult o incercare de a reda povestea neo-realist, pornind insa de la Evanghelie, ceea ce da si titlul, fara comentarii extratextuale, fara sentimentalizari si romantari. Faptul ca nu este povestea unui personaj, ci punerea pe film a unei scrieri, trebuie tinut minte de la bun inceput.

Mel Gibson a filmat The Passions in aceeasi locatie, un orasel italian foarte sarac. Desigur, cu o importanta diferenta de perspectiva!

Un film creat din imagini, aproape total lipsit de dialog, doar afirmatii rupte total de scenele anterioare, cu actori neprofesionisti (Isus e jucat de un student spaniol la economie pe care Pasolini il cunoaste accidental si ii ofera rolul), majoritatea personajelor sunt jucate de tarani iar Maria e jucata de propria mama a regizorului.

Pasolini descrie in mod poetic un radical nu chiar asa de oarecare, cu greu acceptat de orice societate, care trebuie sa dispara. Nu insista pe scenele dure ale povestii, pe partea transcedentala, ci pe programul politic.

Un film greu de urmarit, mie mi-a luat peste 20 de ore, multe pauze, reveniri, pauze etc. Austeritatea imaginii devine dificil de digerat in conexiune cu tematica atat de grea. Sentimentul meu final este unul neasteptat: acceptare a discursului religios, intelegere pasnica a demersului si dorinta de revedere a intregului film. As vrea sa il vad la cinema cu sonorul maxim. Din punctul asta de vedere, Pasolini face un imens serviciu nemeritat crestinismului.

Sartre i-a spus lui Pasolini dupa proiectia filmului in Notre Dame : Stalin l-a recuperat pe Ivan cel Groaznic, marxistii nu il mai pot recupera pe Isus. Aici sunt de acord: cred ca mesajul de stanga a fost recuperat pe o cale dibace de catolicism mai ales, cel putin la nivel estetic. Nu invers.