Beliefs 3

I was going to start you off today with a video clip, but I can't find it. So here is the script instead.

(From "Dogma". Rufus is supposed to be one the disciples of Jesus, come back to help Bethany find her destiny. No more spoilers. Great movie.)

INT TRAIN - NIGHT

Bethany and Rufus sit across from one another. They stare out the window.

                                   RUFUS

How you coping, kid?

                                  BETHANY

It's weird. just when I think I've got a handle on things. something
wholely unbelievable presents itself. Sometimes I wish I had just stayed
home.

                                   RUFUS

You sound like the Man.

                                  BETHANY

(beat)

What was He like?

                                   RUFUS

Jesus? Black.

                                  BETHANY

Besides that.

                                   RUFUS

The brother was centered. I mean, He was God, right? But I think He felt
left out because He was more than human, you know? We used to sit around
the fire - me and the other guys - and we'd be talking about what ass-holes
the Romans were or getting laid...

                                  BETHANY

Some things never change.

                                   RUFUS

...and He'd just sit there listening and smiling. We'd ask Him why He never
joined in the convo, but He said He just liked to hear us talk; about
anything. Said it was like music. I think He just wished He had unimportant
shit to talk about himself.

                                  BETHANY

How does He feel now?

                                   RUFUS

He still digs humanity, but it bothers Him to see the shit that gets
carried out in His name - wars, bigotry, but especially the factioning of
all the religions. He said humanity took a good idea and, like always,
built a belief structure on it.

                                  BETHANY

Having beliefs isn't good?

                                   RUFUS

I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a
belief is trickier. Life should malleable and progressive; working from
idea to idea permits that. Beliefs anchor you to certain points and limit
growth; new ideas can't generate. Life becomes stagnant. That was one thing
the Man hated - still life. He wanted everyone to be as enthralled with
living as He was. Maybe it had something to do with knowing when He was going to die. but Christ had this vitality that I've never encountered in another person  since. You know what I'm saving?

                                  BETHANY

He was big on life?

                                   RUFUS

It was more than that. He was the only person I ever knew who never engaged
in that most ancient of life-affirming activities.

                                  BETHANY

Sex.

                                   RUFUS

Debate. That's the only way people know how to reaffirm that they're alive
- by debating. In all it's forms. People spend their whole lives debating:
we fight about who's right and who's wrong, we fight ourselves, we fight
each other, we fight death, we fight over beliefs, we fight over fights. We
believe that to stop debating - in any fashion -is to stop living and give
up. People say that life's a struggle, but it's not. Life is living. I'm
even guilty of it myself, the way I go on about Christ's ethnicity,
fighting for the truth to come out. And I'm dead. Even in death, the only
way I know how to live is through debate. That's sad, isn't it?

                                 BETIIANY

Not if you believe it's important for people to know.

                                   RUFUS

A belief's a dangerous thing, Bethany. People die for it. People kill for
it. The whole of existence is in jeopardy right now because of the Catholic
Belief structure regarding this plenary indulgence bullshit. And whether
they know it or not, Bartleby and Loki are exploiting that belief, and if
they're successful, you, me. all of this... ends in a heartbeat.

(beat)

All over a belief.

Bethany nods. Rufus looks around.

Some people, it goes without saying, find all this a bit irreverent, and as a result miss the point. And yet I've personally spoken to a septegenarian Catholic priest who enjoyed it immensely and encourages people to see it.

I have an opinion in fact, that if people are afraid to look at religious beliefs objectively, then it's actually superstition.

I've accused a few people of this too, and they don't like it. But the conversation ends there, obviously.

To round off this topic, for now at least, because it just doesn't go away, I want you to do a little test for me. It's not a new test, it's been around since I was frequenting Usenet, and that feels like a lifetime ago. They've just updated it, and now you have to give an email, but you can give a fake one, as you'll get your results at the end just fine.

http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Quizzes/BeliefOMatic.aspx

Don't forget to take the political one that follows.