Need to get a few things off my chest

Hey all...

First off, Veillotron, I looked up Snoop Dogg's recent output, and there isn't much to review here. Apparently his last couple of releases are just tapes of outtakes where you have a million collaborations, but not much Snoop... But if your wish is to have my input in regards to those releases, I'll gladly oblige. Keep me posted.

Now, tonight the Oilers won again and are now leading the Series 2-0. Better yet, they are winning convincingly. Yeah, the Ducks are getting their chances, but Roloson is standing tall, the defense is constantly clearing the front of the net, and the fowards keep scoring timely goals. And so the Oil is making me look like a dork for predicting the Ducks would win in six. But boy are they making a believer out of me. Throughout these playoffs, I've been hoping for the best and preparing for the worse. Well, at this point, if the worse ever comes, I think I won't be ready for it. This team really looks like one set on going the distance. And I can honestly say that I am now 100% on the bandwagon. I'm a believer baby!

That being said, I need to let something off my chest. It's about this whole Da Vinci Code thing going on right now. We've all read the "Breaking the Da Vinci Code" books or seen the "Beyond The Da Vinci Code" shows on History Channel. So we know that the book (or the movie for that matter) are works of fiction, and that no real fact in the story can actually be proven. So then what is all the controversy about and where is it coming from? Well, I'll tell you where it comes from: from an increasingly nervous Catholic Church.

The Da Vinci Code, the book itself, is written a like a good suspense movie, and so it's a very entertaining read. So it's no wonder it was such a success. But it's based in what I have come to see as one of the great conspiracy theories of our time. Really, when you look at it, none of the facts stated in the book can be proved, nor can they be totally disproved. So we're looking at theories that don't have enough to stand on to become facts, nor can they be swept with the back of a hand. And isn't that what a conspiracy theory really all about? I mean, maybe Flight 93 was gunned down by the army, or maybe it was crashed intentionally by the passengers on board. Maybe there was a second shooter in the JFK assassination, or maybe Oswald acted alone. And maybe Aliens do exist, as the X-Files suggested for more than 5 years. But the fact is, there was never any such outrage at any movie that dealt with those subjects. Yet, every time a movie dealing with Christianity comes out, it's the same thing all over again (see Stigmata, Dogma, The Passion of the Christ). But this time it's bigger than ever, because of the popularity of the book.

The fact is, these are tough times for religion. Religion's presence has forever been linked with explaining the unexplainable. Pagans used to justify climate changes by linking them to the ever changing moods of a God or Goddess. Everything in life had a corresponding God or Goddess. And because we couldn't explain much, it all made sense. Then monotheist religions came around. God, Jahve and Allah were seen as the Creators of the world, and its forever ruling King. But as the world has evolved, these beliefs have come to be put in question. The theory of evolution came around, as did countless other discoveries and scientific advancements. What we know today has made religion in general a much more useless entity. But instead of taking a backseat, religions have struck back in the biggest way. And so, along with the rise of science and technology in the last 50 years has come the rise of Fundamentalism.

In America, we see Christian Fundamentalists blame the attacks of 9/11 on Americans, saying it was God laying down his wrath upon the country for being too tolerant of gay people. We see the President saying he would like to see the concept of "Intelligent Design" (God created the world, the whole Adam & Eve thing) thaught alongside evolution, because both "could be true", even though there is no debate here. We see constant discrimination against gays emaning from the Catholic Church. The Church still says that no woman can be priest, nor should they be able to decide when to have a child or not. And then, you have your Bin Ladens and your Talibans. The reality is that while the world keeps evolving, religion doesn't. And thus the need for Fundamentalists. But while these Fundamentalists are being heard loud and clear, the fact is less and less people are agreeing with the beliefs that they hold, perhaps because it doesn't fit the intellectual mindset of today's societies.

Let's face it: 50 or 60 years ago, towns were empty on Sunday morning, as churches filled up. Nowadays, it's rare to see a church half-full in the same hours. The Catholic Church has lost a large portion of its following, and so it is understandable for it to feel threatened by a book such as The Da Vinci Code. But why is the Church following the lead of Fundamentalists? Or if not following their lead, at the very least condoning their speach, by claiming the book and the movie are discriminating against their religion? Why is the Church being so radical?

Discrimination is what the Holocaust was. Discrimination is what slavery was. Discrimination is what racism is all about. Discrimination is a woman being paid less than a man would for the same job. Discrimination is gays being refused to right to marry (in a town hall, mind you, not a church) because of some other people's spiritual beliefs. Discrimination is being pointed at and being laughed, still today, because of occult spiritual beliefs, such as withcraft and wicca. And as hard as I'm trying to find it, I still can't point my finger to how The Da Vinci Code does this to Christianity. This book offers an alternate way of looking at the historical "facts". Sure, it paints Opus Dei as a bunch of lunatic extermists. But the monk who commits murder is also an albino, and you don't see the albino community plastered all over the newspapers. Sure, it paints the Catholic authority as hiding some sort of huge secret, but isn't this the same church who pretended for hundreds of years that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute? I mean, really, where does it say that Christians are terrible people, that they shouldn't have the same rights everyone else has? And where does it say that Jesus Christ was a fraud? The fact is, it doesn't.

The Catholic Church has become more and more weary of people putting the scriptures in doubt, and given the fact that they're losing followers to atheism or other religions every year, I can understand that. But to lash out against people who disagree with their teachings or beliefs is not the way to go. Didn't Jesus preach that everyone, people of all faiths, rich or poor, were children of God? Didn't he preach tolerance? The Catholic Church should've taken a calmer, more rational position. It should've proclaimed it didn't support the book or the movie, not attack it. By doing so, it has portrayed itself as a intelorant and hypocrit organization. But it's not the first time, and certainly not the last. And the one thing we can learn from this is that while Jesus, married or not, was a great man, one who spread a word greater than himself, the men who have followed in his footsteps have once again failed to live up to him. And when we see all the hatred that is spread in the name of religion, all the wars that have been fought because of it, it's a real shame to see that the very men who are the embodiement of religion probably even can't look at theirselves in the mirror with a straight face. THAT is a real shame. And while the Christians all around keep babbling about how horrific the way they are being treated is, all I see is a bunch of people who are so narrow-minded they can't even realize how intolerant and self-centered they are. If being like that is the gateway to Heaven, I'm more than ready to welcome Hell.