April 03, 2014
Russell Crowe
Perhaps these ancient Semitic myths were passed down to Aronofsky through his Jewish household, and refracted in the prism of his scientific training. In Aronofsky’s vision of the flood, “The Creator” destroys humans because they rape and murder one another, and because they consume irreplaceable life-forms. He simply expands upon the Torah’s simpler story. That’s how mythology works in a free society. The stories pass from mind to mind, constantly evolving, and occasionally, in good hands, they are improved.
The Internet boasts a thousand articles describing Aronofsky as a self-described atheist. The only self-description I found is this hippified, quasi-pantheistic statement:
…We”re all just borrowing this matter and energy for a little bit, while we”re here, until it goes back into everything else, and that connects us all….
I don”t share Aronofsky’s view, but I really don”t care. What’s important is the artist’s vision, not his personal beliefs.
The fundamentalists” obsession with orthodoxy and absolutes is amazing. They are just like their opponents, the hard-line rationalists, who have no use for any literature that is not literally true. These dogmatists cling to the pages of a book while the Spirit passes them by. That is one reason why modern children don”t take their Christian parents seriously anymore, and the Western tradition is declining. Many churches are filled with old folks chanting ancient verses in an echo chamber. What a waste.
The other day I heard a church radio program that made me want to puke split pea soup. Two hysterical ministers were losing their minds about Noah‘s environmental “propaganda,” warning listeners that the “Cult of the Green Dragon” is coming to steal their children from Jesus. At first I thought they must be talking about teenage layabouts puffing legal weed and bitching about, like, unsustainable communities or whatever? But no, “The Cult of the Green Dragon“ is what insecure Christians are calling “radical” environmentalism, aka the New World Order agenda pushed by movies like Avatar and Noah. This movement includes people who care about preserving biodiversity, even if that means less sprawl and more efficient cars. Go ahead and add tighter immigration control to the list of evil environmentalist conspiracies.
Not every conservationist is a tree-hugging Illuminatus, and nature preserves are not slippery slopes to One World Government.
I am well aware that Al Gore flies in a private jet to promote a smaller carbon footprint. Gore is a self-serving hypocrite, but his behavior doesn”t make climate change a hoax any more than Pat Robertson’s nonsense makes the Gospel a fairy tale. Yes, “Climategate“ showed the world that scientists can be weasels, too, but that doesn”t change the fact that it is foolish to pump exhaust into the air like you just don”t care.
I thought it was the role of “progressives” to stumble blindly off the edge of a cliff. Does it not matter so long as every soul lands on Jesus?
These sorts of “Christians” somehow manage to spoil both the earthly and the divine. Their New Jerusalem is a city of gold built on a lifeless desert. And who knows? Maybe God will just mold new species out of dirt. Maybe their Father will forgive them for their indifference. They”d better hope so, because their children are going to be furious as they pick through the wreckage.
