In the article Pop-occulture’s top 24 movies/TV shows on angels and fallen angels we noted the following with regards to the Kevin Smith, aka “Silent Bob,” 1999 AD movie “Dogma”:
Two fallen angels, Loki and Bartleby, find a way to get back into Heaven after being cast out by God (via a loophole in Catholic dogma) due to an inebriated Loki, with Bartleby’s encouragement, resigned as the Angel of Death (Note that Loki is a god of Norse mythology). A movie poster reads, “Get ‘touched’ by an angel.” The movie is really about the paradox created by this return as, “existence is founded on the principle that God is infallible, their success would prove God wrong and thus undo all creation.”
This movie created a lot of controversy (for example, there is a character named Rufus who is said to be the thirteenth apostle who was left out of the Bible for being black) and yet, the premise takes solid aim at the Catholic concept of indulgences—a scam whereby Catholicism trades works for forgiveness, salvation or just time off of Purgatory—about which you can learn more by reading here—the works can consist of everything from, you guessed it, donating money to that which the fallen angles decide to do. They come upon a Catholic church celebrating its centennial anniversary with a plenary indulgence. This means that the church is trading forgiveness of sins for the work of passing through the doors of that church—this is the kind of real life stuff that the Catholic church has done for centuries.
Metatron makes an appearance; within Jewish folklore/tradition he is God’s scribe (and also makes an appearance in the TV show Supernatural wherein his name’s resemblance with the robotic Megatron is noted—see here). Loki becomes human, having had his wings have been torn off by Bartleby, and Bartleby then becomes human when his wings are shot off with a submachine gun.
To make a long plot short; God, played by a woman, had been comatose on Earth after having been beat up during one of her occasional jaunts to Earth to play seek ball. She resurrects one of the female human characters who has been killed along the way and conceives a child inside her.
Within a 2005 AD Q&A session, he Kevin Smith was asked about a Dogma sequel and replied:
So weird you should ask this, because ever since 9/11, I have been thinking about a sequel of sorts. I mean, the worst terrorist attack on American soil was religiously bent. In the wake of said attack, the leader of the “Free World” outed himself as pretty damned Christian. In the last election, rather than a quagmire war abroad, the big issue was whether or not gay marriage was moral. Back when I made “Dogma”, I always maintained that another movie about religion wouldn’t be forthcoming, as “Dogma” was the product of 28 years of religious and spiritual meditation, and I’d kinda shot my wad on the subject. Now? I think I might have more to say. And, yes — the Last Scion would be at the epicenter of it. And She’d have to be played by Alanis [Morissette]. And we’d need a bigger budget — because the entire third act would be the Apocalypse. Scary thing is this: the film would have to touch on Islam. And unlike the Catholic League, when those cats don’t like what you do, they issue a death warrant on yer ass. And now that I’ve got a family, I’m not as free to stir the ****-pot as I was when I was single, back when I made “Dogma”.
I mean, now I’ve gotta think about more than my own safety and well-being. But regardless — yeah, a “Dogma” followup’s been swimming around in my head for some time now.[1]
And behold, the reason why this one belongs in the Unbelievers Compliment Christianity archives is made clear. When it comes to Christianity, sure, besmirch at will but when it comes to Islam you have the right to remain silent…Bob.
Indeed, Bobby realizes that the worse that the Catholic League and Christians at large will do is say, “Better not to watch this one; let us pray for Kevin Smith.”
But he knows that he is, literally, risking his life and the lives of others worldwide were he to tread where the majority of the world fears to tread; on Islam’s toes.
Thus, Bobby has gone, at least, close to a decade now cowering in fear of Islam and things on the world stage have only gotten worse.
Let us close by stating, “Hey Kevin, you are welcome, I love you and you have nothing to fear from me except for a bad review.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Source:
Kevin Smith, The View Askewniverse Message Board, November 27, 2005 AD (retrieved June 18, 2009 AD).