Caryn James has an interesting article in the New York Times entitled, “God and Man on Screen: Big Questions as Entertainment.” (You may have to register to read the article, but it’s free.) Here’s a salient quote:

What’s surprising — especially in a country with a politically organized religious right — is the skepticism running through these films. Institutional religion is often villainous here, while genuine matters of faith are given the familiar Hollywood bromide treatment.

It’s another way of saying that Hollywood still finds organized religion (and particularly the Catholic Church) a very safe target, even when they’re trying to suck up to people who regard themselves as “spiritual”, whatever that means—and it usually means whatever anyone damn well wants it to mean, as long as its accompanied by fine feelings, with or without fine principles or fine ideas. My only surprise in the article is that the author finds this somehow “surprising…in a country with a politically organized religious right.” That “PORR” has never had much traction in Hollywood to begin with, and neither has “organized religion” in general, whether Left or Right, let alone Third Way. And while the startling success of TPotC has certainly given many Christian artists of every media and persuasion a much-needed adrenaline boost, I’m not yet convinced that its box-office success will lead to a genuine shift on Hollywood’s part (as a whole) towards casting traditional religious belief in a more positive light. Let’s look back in ten years, should any of us live so long, and see what’s what.