fnordboy wrote:Judging by your last few posts, I think you are failing to see that Moore was just joking with that statement.
I just thought it wasn't very funny is what I am saying. Especially after hearing it 10 times.
I'm not convinced he was attempting to be funny. Look at the rest of his acceptance speech:
"On behalf of our producers Kathleen Glynn and Michael Donovan (from Canada), I would like to thank the Academy for this award. I have invited the other Documentary nominees on stage with me. They are here in solidarity because we like non-fiction. We like non-fiction because we live in fictitious times. We live in a time where fictitious election results give us a fictitious president. We are now fighting a war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's the fiction of duct tape or the fictitious 'Orange Alerts,' we are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you. And, whenever you've got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up."
The rest of the speech is certainly serious. It's true that the Dixie Chicks comment
is ridiculous, but I'm not sure Moore sees that (particularly considering the seriousness with which he made the ridiciulous comments about "fictitous times").
I personally have not heard anyone using the Pope's stance as a way to completely back their own anti-war views. It is just funny, how Bush is so outwardly religious in his views and "job", but doesn't agree with the Pope.
How is that funny? Christianity is not monolithic and hasn't been since the Reformation. Shall I count the ways that Catholics and Protestants disagree?
- The Canon (Catholics have the Apocrypha / deuterocanonical books)
- Whether the Canon is the sole and authority for doctrine and practice (Catholics also rely on the apostolic tradition of the popes)
- Papal infallability
- Justification (Catholics assert faith and works while Protestants assert justification through faith alone)
- The Sacraments (Catholics have seven, most Protestants affirm only baptism and communion -- even then, there are major differences in the belief of who participates and what happens during the act).
And, Protestants affirm that Catholics are their Christian brothers, but the door has not always swung both ways.
Above all that, many Protestan denominations emphasize "sole competency," our individual responsibility before God. That belief is
bound to create difference between believers.
I myself have said "wow this is the first time me and the Pope agree on something". No one is saying that since the Pope says no, we must all say no, except for maybe the few who actually do fully support the Pope and all he says and does.
But the implicit argument of many is that the Pope's opinion on this matter
is important. Again, I believe one must explain why the Pope is actually right on this issue if one is going to invoke his name.