Holy Crap

It’s good that the MTRCB showed some balls and let The Da Vinci Code be shown here tomorrow as an R-18-rated movie despite vocal protests from certain groups of people. I haven’t read the best-selling book, and to be honest, I’m not excited to see the movie, but I’ll catch it as soon as I can. Critics at Cannes aren’t too fond of it, reportedly.

Expect non-SM theaters to be packed. Oh well. I hope Glorietta and Robinson’s have multiple theaters devoted to screening it simultaneously. There’s nothing like controversy to pique the curiosity of those who want to see what the fuss is about, indeed. All these debates have assured that it’ll be a moneymaker in the next few weeks. Much has been said about the book and the film, which detractors claim, besmirches the good name of the religion’s messiah figure.

It’s tiring to read rants about not allowing it to be seen, actually, and the supposed damage it can and will do to the faithful. I’ve no interest in joining that fray; whether Jesus is less divine or not because he had sex and fathered children, I don’t care. I have trouble believing in the existence of the person in the first place, so I can’t claim to know what the guy did behind closed doors. That’s none of my business.

What I’m concerned about is the Pope’s recent smug comments about gay marriages and unions. “Only the rock of total and irrevocable love between a man and a woman is capable of being the foundation of building a society that becomes a home for all mankind,” he said last week. “It has become urgent to avoid confusion between (marriage) and other types of union which are based on love that is weak.” (reuters.com, May 11)

So okay, there you go. It’s a strange, strange thing, when people go bonkers over a fictional book and a fictional movie that question the origins of their faith, and they stay mum when their current-day leader declares further intolerance against people they should be building bridges with. Not only has that attack stressed that countless, working gay relationships are weak or invalid, it also reaffirms that there’s no real progress that the GLBT communities the world over can expect from the Catholic Church anymore. After John Paul II’s adamant stance against homosexuality when he was still alive, well, it was only a matter of time before his successor followed suit. It’s not that surprising, but it’s still despicable and awful.

The fact that he wanted gay seminarians weeded out last year has been an obvious dreaded sign. That still puzzles me, how they were able to conclusively confirm that certain young people who wish to serve as priests were truly and undeniably gay. The idea that one’s sexuality is evil, or that it can be turned off or be “cured”, that’s just really stupid. But the sad truth is, many people still believe those things. To be devalued by someone this powerful is dehumanizing. Someone who should be encouraging understanding and love between fellow human beings is doing a damn good job at alienating and inspiring rigid thinking.

If Jesus was indeed real, I’d like to think that he hung out with the subversives, as he himself was one, according to that religion’s holy book. I’d imagine that he’d value those whose relationships were genuine, regardless of who they were and what their genders were. I’d like to think that he’d be standing by the outcasts, and telling them that they’re special, and the establishment is just made up of dinosaurs that survived the great flood.

I obviously don’t capitalize my pronouns, “he” or “his”, when pertaining to the man, because, again, I just don’t believe. But I can acknowledge that the religion espouses selflessness and openness to others. It’s just sickening that the person's wonderful, soothing messages of love and redemption can be so misinterpreted and ignored in this day and age by some people who purport to follow him and his teachings, and consider themselves faithful.