Listen to Michael Medved recount some recent religion bashing films:
For Protestants there was At Play in the Fields of the Lord, a lavish $35 million rainforest spectacle about natives and their wholesome primitive ways and the sick, disgusting missionaries who try to ruin their lives. And then for Catholics there was The Pope Must Die, which was re released as The Pope Must Diet. It didn't work either way. It features scenes of the Holy Father flirting with harlot nuns and hiding in a closet pigging out on communion wafers. For Jews there was Naked Tango, written and directed by the brother of the screenwriter for The Last Temptation of Christ. This particular epic featured religious Jews operating a brutal bordello right next door to a synagogue and forcing women into white slavery.
Most amazingly there was Cape Fear, which was nominated for a number of the most prestigious Academy Awards. Last Temptation of Christ director Martin Scorsese also directed Cape Fear, featuring a released convict who is not just an ordinary maniac, but a "Killer Christian from Hell." To prevent anyone from missing the point, his muscular back has a gigantic cross tattooed on it, and he has Biblical verses tattooed on both arms.
He carries a Bible with him in scenes in which he is persecuting his family, and he tells people that he is a member of a Pentecostal church. When he is about to rape a woman, he says, "Are you ready to be born again? After just one hour with me, you'll be talking in tongues."
Medved says this about the level of bigotry toward Christians reflected in Cape Fear:
The most surprising aspect of this utterly insulting characterization is that it drew so little protest. Imagine that DeNiro's character had been portrayed as a gay rights activist. Homosexual groups would have howled in protest, condemning this caricature as an example of bigotry. But we are so accustomed to Hollywood's insulting stereotypes of religious believers that no one even seems to notice the hatred behind them.
