Vatican Paper Reviews Avatar

Yahoo Movies has the story of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, review of Avatar.

L'Osservatore said the film "gets bogged down by a spiritualism linked to the worship of nature." Similarly, Vatican Radio said it "cleverly winks at all those pseudo-doctrines that turn ecology into the religion of the millennium."

"Nature is no longer a creation to defend, but a divinity to worship," the radio said.

Pope Benedict XVI has been very outspoken regarding our stewardship of the earth but obviously warns about some kind of neo-paganism. We don't want to go around worshiping it.

In a recent World Day of Peace message, the pontiff warned against any notions that equate human beings with other living things in the name of a "supposedly egalitarian vision." He said such notions "open the way to a new pantheism tinged with neo-paganism, which would see the source of man's salvation in nature alone, understood in purely naturalistic terms."

The pope explained in the message that while many experience tranquility and peace when coming into contact with nature, a correct relationship between man and the environment should not lead to "absolutizing nature" or "considering it more important than the human person."

Overall, the review says basically what I've heard a lot: great effects and little substance to the plot and characters. Many conservative bloggers have been speaking about how this movie is thinly veiled criticism of U.S. imperialism, greed, and the Iraq war along with the themes of environmentalism.

Necco Wafers!

The catechists favorite First Communion practice wafer, Necco, is now all natural!

The revamped product is now using red beet juice, purple cabbage, cocoa powder, paprika and turmeric to replace the artificial ingredients that had been flavoring and coloring the wafers for years.

Mmmmm...beet juice and purple cabbage! I am very disappointed that the green wafers didn't make the cut. However, I am intrigued by the wider variety of chocolate flavors (dark, milk, mocha and white).

Book of Eli

So, a new Denzel Washington movie is set to release in January 2010. The Book of Eli is a post-apocalyptic action film. The year is 2043 and Washington's character (Eli) is traveling through the remains of civilization with a book that contains knowledge that could redeem society.
Now, from the trailer and what people have been buzzing about, this book appears to be the Bible. Lots of explosions and Washington killing and maiming people.



My questions are what happened to end civilization and why wouldn't people know what the Bible is? Might be interested to see how the Hughes brothers (directors) answer this. I wonder if he's got all 73 books in that Bible. Is Eli a reference to Elijah?

Find My Family

Here's a clip from ABC's new show Find My Family. The basis of the show is to reunite families that have been separated for various reasons. Monday's episode was about a woman who gave her daughter up for adoption.


In this clip the mom talks about entrusting the safety of her daughter to St. Jude and giving her a medal that the daughter has kept with her her whole life. In a letter to her birth-mother the daughter writes "thank you for giving me life."





Later in the episode when the mom and daughter meet, the daughter says "thank you for giving me life" and the mother's response? "It wasn't my life to take from you."


That statement pretty much sums it up. These are lives we are talking about. No matter what kind of semantics you try to get into the fact of the matter remains that a fetus is a human life. An innocent baby. Separate and distinct from the mother. We don't have the right to take that life.

Robin Hood is Catholic of course

Check out the new trailer for Ridley Scott's Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe.
Towards the end, Robin kneels beside a fallen soldier and makes the sign of the cross.





I'm interested to see how the movie portrays the Church. In the movie, Robin has just returned from fighting in the 3rd Crusade. Of course there's King Richard and Friar Tuck as well.

Babies!

We all know babies are cute. Well, now they have their own movie!



Babies is a documentary film by Thomas Balmes, depicting the early lives of four infants growing up in Mongolia, Namibia, San Francisco and Tokyo, respectively. The film is scheduled to be released in the United States by Focus Features on April 16, 2010.

Thanks to Gretchen at SimonPeters.org for the video.

Update: Legal Religious Discrimination

Here's an update on an earlier post.

From the Associated Press:

PORTLAND, Ore. – An Oregon legislative leader plans to introduce a bill to repeal a 1923 state law that bans teachers from wearing religious garb.

House Speaker Dave Hunt, D-Gladstone, said he will push to "allow teachers to have the same religious free exercise rights as every other Oregonian" when legislators meet in February.

Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian and state schools Superintendent Susan Castillo, who recently sent letters to every lawmaker asking them to drop the ban, also support such a proposal.

The Legislature passed a law this year allowing all workers except teachers to wear religious dress at work in most instances. Its passage led to questions about why the law remains on the books, given that Oregon is one of only three states with such a ban.

The law, which was aimed at keeping Catholics out of public schools, has not been tested in court since the Eugene School District won a 1986 Oregon Supreme Court case that upheld its firing of a Sikh teacher for wearing a turban.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, which has long supported the ban, said the Legislature should not end it without enacting additional protections for Oregon students. The Oregon Education Association has not taken a position on the issue, a spokeswoman said.