Movies are often used as a platform for not only making money, but also expressing and addressing certain issues. Hollywood has an interesting way of trying to spin certain issues and try to lead our decision making. About a month ago I saw a movie called “The Book of Eli.” For those of you do not worry I will not spoil any of the movie; however, I will talk about one of the talking points that I took away from the movie.
The movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting and the main character is Denzel Washington (so you know the movie is pretty good). For the most part the movie was very entertaining and I definitely recommend watching it if you haven’t. The movie brushed upon a topic that I have thought about and debated against heavily. Is religion a way of controlling people, or, does it help give people guidance.
I support the latter. I believe that religion is what helps guide us through difficult periods of time and is not simply to control us of give us mere rules to adhere to. Now do not disregard that while I am saying this I do believe that religion gives us a strict code of ethical laws we must follow and that can seem demanding. But, I would never describe this as being controlling. We still have the ability to make our own personal decisions and have to ability to choose what we believe in and what we do not.
Religion is not a force that binds us to a strict black and white policy. This is why there are so many different religions represented in sovereign nations all over the world. The US has more religions in it than I can fathom, and yet, we are all able to operate well without some sort of anarchical mayhem. We have the rules that are set by religion, and then the rules that are set by the government in the places we live in. Few modern societies combine both (referring mostly to western societies).
Therefore, based on this ideal I believe that religion should not be considered a controlling force. It is not a means of getting control over the masses of people. It is, however, a good way of setting up a moral code for it’s followers. It allows for people to have solace and comfort from the very confusing aspects of our life. It is one of the greatest support system that a person can have.