Why does evil exist? This is the question theodicy asks. Why would an all-loving, all-good, and all-powerful God allow suffering to take place? In this class, we’ve tried to understand varying answers to this question and others from many different perspectives: psychological, feminist, artistic, and African-American. Throughout this course we’ve read many authors who have tried to, if at least partially, solve the problem of suffering for themselves and for all of us as well. The movie Dogma displays many of these points- of-view in a single piece of artistic expression. It touches on concepts which have been espoused by psychologists such as Freud, feminists such as Saiving and Noddings, and African-Americans authors such as Jones and Cone. The most clearly discernable reference to the argument of Freud in relation to religion and suffering occurs close to the beginning of the movie in Loki’s conversation with the nun. After giving his theory that Through the Looking Glass is a critique of organized religion, he says, “Organized religion destroys who we are or who we can be by inhibiting our actions and decisions out of fear of an intangible parent-figure who shakes a finger at us from thousands of years ago and says, ‘No, no!'” She asks him, upon finishing their conversation and being convinced to leave the Church, what she should do now.
Loki tells her to, “Just get out there and taste life!” Freud would agree completely that religion is, in fact, detrimental and partially even a cause of human suffering. Through its work in civilization, it places restrictions upon the actions of the individual and causes the individual to suffer guilt as a result of a natural desire to overcome those restrictions. Religion serves on behalf of civilization to inhibit the individual from acting upon instinct (FOI 47).
The Essay on Civilization And The Civilizing Process Freud And Elias
Civilization and the Civilizing Process: Freud and Elias For many years the name of Norbert Elias was almost unknown in the sociology. However, his work on civilization, The Civilizing Process finally made the authors famous and brought him respect he deserved. This book put its author at the line with such famous author like Freud, as the authors tried to explore the civilization and the nature ...
Freud would add to this, however, that religion’s primary purpose for humans is to act as protector of the individual against Nature, Fate, and to “compensate them for the sufferings and privations which a civilized life in common has imposed upon them” (22).
So, while it acts for the purposes of civilization, it gives the illusory hope of some salvation resulting from the hardships a civilized life has imposed upon the individual. The use of the phrase “intangible parent- figure” in Loki’s remark is interesting because Freud uses the exact same type of imagery for God as being an imaginary “father-figure” who sits in heaven ready to protect the believer and to make all things better.
While the view of the religionist, at least in Freud’s mind, may seem to be comforting, it is damaging because there is a much better view to be had which is void of any guilt-feelings. This is the view of reason and science. By following reason, Freud feels we can greatly reduce our current mental suffering. Loki’s suggestion to the nun to “Just get out there and taste life” is an indication of what that life without religion would be based upon-living in the moment and experiencing life completely for what it’s worth in the here and now. By doing so, according to Freud, “they [humankind] will probably succeed in achieving a state of things in which life will become tolerable for everyone and civilization no longer oppressive of anyone” (63).
By ridding ourselves of religion altogether, argues Loki, we would be shedding much of our suffering. Freud would enjoy the remarks of Loki in the movie. Some of the ideas of the feminist authors we’ve read on the suffering of women are also contained in the film.
The Essay on Life – Religion
In my opinion, there is no specific meaning of life. There also is a part of me that thinks that life really doesn’t have a meaning at all. But, since I have to try to define life, I would have to say it’s a combination of things in your life that you are living for, or the purpose of you being on this earth. Everyone most likely has a different purpose for being alive. Whether it is family, ...
Saiving would like the movie because in it Loki and Bartleby are kicked out of heaven for committing the sin of self-assertiveness through disobeying God while Bethany, on the other hand, finds the spiritual fulfillment she has been seeking only when she accepts her autonomy by undertaking the task she is called to do and asserts her will over the will of the two male angels and to a lesser extent against the sexual advances of Jay, the prophet. Saiving argues that one of the reasons women suffer is because the whole idea of sin should actually be different for each sex. Men have imposed their own notion of what it is to be sinful upon religion and women- namely that sin comes from, “pride, will-to-power, self-assertiveness, and the treatment of others as objects rather than persons” (THS 35).
This masculine view of sin is enforced by the patriarchal religions upon women, causing them to be oppressed and to avoid doing anything which might assert their independence. Such is inappropriate for women, argues Saiving, and should be replaced by a concept of sin which includes “selflessness” and being only for others by neglecting one’s own needs (41).
This new concept of sin would cause women to seek a balance between their focus on themselves and others, thereby alleviating much of their current suffering, as was the case with Bethany. Noddings would appreciate the movie because it reveals the exclusion and scapegoating of women in religion. Even though God is obviously female in form in Dogma, the male figures refuse to refer to God as Her, even though they know the truth.
Noddings would agree completely with Serendipity when she tells Bethany that God was made into a male figure by the male writers of the Bible. She would also add that this is because men wanted to dominate women by having them seek salvation and protection from an exclusively male deity (TDG 54).
Noddings might also note that all of the women in the movie are associated, at least at some point, with their bodies as sexual objects. This is evident in Jay’s constant taunts to Bethany and Serendipity’s occupation as a stripper, both hinting that males see the female body as sinful and evil, thereby leading to their suffering at the hands of those same men (36).
The Essay on Religion And Freedom God Religions Man
Do you see that religion limits the freedom of the human beings In other words, do you think there is a contradiction between being a subject of god and at the same time being a free man To begin with, lets define what is the meaning of the word religion. The word religion is derived from the Latin word "re ligo" which derives from the verb "reli gere" which in English means relate or link. It ...
Saiving and other feminists might also agree with this interpretation of the movie. The African-American authors we’ve read would find much to talk about in Dogma as well. Jones sees much of black suffering and oppression to be caused by white domination of religion.
The character of Rufus, the black thirteenth Apostle, serves as the carrier of this argument in the movie. Because he was black, and the church fathers were uncomfortable with this, they simply left him out of the Bible. But not only that- Jesus was black too! White people, he says, would not like the idea of putting their salvation in the hands of a black man, so they simply changed a few words of scripture to transform the person of Christ into a white man. This”Whiteanity” is “mis-religion” according to Jones and should be rejected. He argues that blacks should seek their own liberation from oppression outside of the confines of Christianity and instead find it in the humanocentric Black Humanism (IGWR?).
Rufus would probably disagree with Jones on this point, however, as does Cone.
Cone would be heartened by the call of Rufus to Bethany to correct the mistakes of the Church in relation to its misrepresentation of blacks. He believes Christianity can be completely appropriate for African-Americans and can be a driving force in helping them to fight for liberation (GO).
For them to recognize Jesus as black could only help in this respect. In the end, though Jones and Cone may disagree on the relevancy of Christianity in helping their people out of suffering, they would probably both admit Dogma brings up many important questions about black oppression in the Church. All of the different approaches to the problems of evil touched upon in the movie and in this course-psychological, feminist, artistic, and African-American-fail, ultimately, in answering the question of why evil exists in the first place. They all argue, however, that we can reduce the amount of suffering we experience by doing something, ourselves, to promote the causes of freedom, justice, and equality in the world. We should continue to ask questions, but we should not neglect the needs of our fellow man and woman in the process.
The Essay on Black Like Me White Griffin Man
Greg Trumbold Black Like Me In the Fall of 1959, John Howard Griffin set out on a journey of discovery. A discovery of his own nature, as well as a discovery of human nature. With the help of a friend, Griffin transformed his white male body into that of an African-American male body. Through a series of medical treatments, the transformation was complete. He spent the next several months as an ...
Freud, Saiving, Noddings, Jones, Cone, the other authors we’ve covered, and the makers of Dogma would agree.
Bibliography:
Dogma. Dir. Kevin Smith. Perf. Linda Fiorentino, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck. Lion’s Gate Entertainment, 1999.
Freud, Sigmund. The Future of an Illusion. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1961. Saiving, Valerie. “The Human Situation: A Feminine View,” in WomanSpirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1992. Noddings, Nel.
Women and Evil. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989 Jones, William R. Is God a White Racist? A Preamble to Black Theology, 2nd ed. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998. Cone, James H. God of the Oppressed, revised ed.
Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1997..
