Vatican not too impressed with Avatar. Big on effects small on substance

We should all learn to respect nature. At the end of the day it is main reason we seek shelter at night.

God am i not surprised in the least. OF COURSE the vatican would misinterpret what the Na'Vi worshipped!!! They worship a guy from a book(like Ror said) which specifically said to NOT worship ANY establishment. But they don't recognise his words cause it would mean the end of their income. As for the Na'Vi, their deiti was not "the trees" or "nature". Jesus would have understood.

@Shaman I could not agree with you more. You know the Cathlic church is the biggest private land owner in the world.

Depends on how you think about things though doesn't it? Human beings ARE "nature". We are mammals that inhabit this planet with lots of other mammals, animals, plants etc. We just happen to have the biggest brains. Basically, we are talking monkeys. Some feel that because we are at the top of the food chain that we have the right to dominate all other life like some type of dark lord Sauron! Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to give up my life and go live in a tree, nor am I a vegetarian or an environmentalist. I do however respect that this planet deserves better than we give it. And should have a more conscientious master animal at the reigns. And as for the radical Eco Terrorists etc, well, radial or extremist anything is very rarely a good thing because they tend to lose sight of what they are fighting for in the first place and before long they are just fighting. Still, I have a feeling that if eco warriors began raping kids and trying to cover it up, there may be a tad more done about it than there was the Catholic Church.

Superdog - Just because we are on top of the food chain doesn't mean we are ABOVE it! I believe 'The Matrix' got the human being classification right, we are a virus. History shows that we do move in, take over and utilize all resources until there's nothing left and then move on to greener pastures . The "Use it for our needs and advancement. deal with it - hamburgers are good" mentality is arrogant and narcissistic. Remember, in the long run NATURE ALWAYS WINS. Two words - GLOBAL WARMING. Hope you know how to dog-paddle....

"Glub... glub... glub..." said the Titanic to the iceberg.

logan @ thanks for calling me arrogant and narcasitic for expressing my opinion. you could have made an informed argument like ror but instead you went the name calling route. so here is my response.....go fck a tree you retarded hippie!!!!!

ror@ the catholic church sucks, which is why i am not catholic. the religion is different from the church. but yes, i have respect for nature, i do not hunt, burn down forest, or rape animals....HOWEVER.....if its between me keeping my lifestyle and the death of some stupid fish or owl....guesse what im choosing. call me names, but being at the top of the food chain does mean you get to dominate all other life. thats the definition of being at the top of the food chain. thats what all animals do. you want to compare us to animals fine, pretty sure the lion doesnt give two shits about the gazelle its eating, the forest its shitting in, or whether they arent nice to the other lions. if were animals with nature, why should we act different than the other animals with nature? if we are something more than animals due to our cognotive abilities then we win the evolutionary battle and we get what we get.

oh and logan, global warming is BULLSHIT!!!!! i live in florida and its been 30 degress for 2 weeks. the whole concept is a myth, get your mouth off al gores dick and do some research.

Ror - BRAVO! WELL SAID!

"I live in Florida and it's been cold, so screw what all the global climatology science says about our planet... "

Lemmie guess, you also believe that the Earth is only 6,000 years old and that Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs in the Garden of Eden, right?

And you wonder why I made the 'arrogant and narcissistic' comment... (shall I add 'ignorant' to the growing list?)

Dog - Most (if not all) the climatologists on the PLANET (you know, the SCIENTISTS who's speciality it is to actually study Earth's CLIMATE) agree that global warming IS NOT A MYTH - IT'S ACTUALLY REAL and ACTUALLY HAPPENING! I'm citing info coming out of the United Nations here. Just because you say 'science says global warming is bullshit' doesn't make it so - where's YOUR proof? What are YOUR sources (SPECIFICALLY cite them - if you can)? Now remember, 'Fox News' don't count (Can Fox News really be called 'News'?). "Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my @ss!" Isn't it time for you to go watch Glenn Beck?

And for the record, I can't STAND Al Gore - I think he's an opportunistic SOB who's just jumping on the 'Save-the-Planet' bandwagon just for more face-time! It's bad enough his campaign back in the 80's to censor music with the PMRC (of whom his wife 'Tipper' was a memeber) failed, now he's trying to make-over his image as an 'environmentalist' to get brownie points! Suck it Al! Next thing you know, he's going to try and claim he 'invented' global warming (kinda' like he tried to claim he 'invented' the internet!) - BULLSH!T!

Global Warming- It is NOT a myth and neither is Global Cooling which ALWAYS follows Global Warming. It is part of this planet's water cycle. ANY geologist worth his salt that actually researched the Earth's history can confirm it. YES the earth is warming BUT ONLY TO COOL ITSELF AFTERWARDS. So you are both right.

Worshiping nature- THEY DID NOT WORSHIP "NATURE" IN AVATAR. NO ONE DOES!!! Being "at one" WITH Nature is NOT worshiping it!!! The same goes for being "at one" with another human being (making love), you DO NOT "worship" them. There is a whole ocean of difference between worship and love. Love is too quantum for liniary thinkers to grasp. Jesus understood, so did the buddhists, hindus, celts, mayans, incas, sumerians, native americans and many others. Only the white man goes "they must worship nature, the sun, the sky, etc. like we worship our own TRUE god". That is a missinterpretation and a very primitive one, that is still missunderstood to this day. When the white man studies a different society, they automatically establish what that society "appears" to be worshipping ONLY because the white man THINKS every society "worships" something. Because the white man "worships" a God, he THINKS it normal for every society to "worship" as well. He is blind sided by his own pre-concieved perception. The inferiors "worship" while the equals are "at one". The white man will never be "at one" with their God if they persist to "worship". Jesus tried time and time again to teach it but alas it fell on primitive ears. Being a "God Fearing Man" should NEVER be percieved as being a "good thing". Fear is merely a financial stability tool that religions(establishments) use.

Dog - I believe what Shaman is trying to say is being "at one" with nature/life is to live in harmony with it. As a practicing Buddhist, it's something I strive for every day (though OBVIOUSLY not on this thread - sorry again). In every ecosystem a balance must be found, or it will eventually collapse in on itself. It's not about 'hugging trees' or becoming an eco-terrorist (aka Ra's al Ghul from the Batman comics), but finding a way to live that benefits ALL living creatures (and not just oneself).

Shaman - I beg to differ on one point - there are people who DO actually 'worship' nature - they're called 'Gaianists'. I'm not talking about Wiccan-wannabes who dance naked in the moonlight while rubbing crystals, I'm talking about the folks who actually worship 'Mother Nature' (for lack of a better term) as a spiritual entity/embodiment.

Shaman - Oh I feel what you mean, but I was referring to the emo-poser wannabes who 'dance naked in the moonlight while rubbing crystals' 'cause it's cool, not because they have a profound understanding of their natural surrondings (which is a shame, because they're TOTALLY missing the point). It's bad enough I pissed off Dog, I don't want to be misunderstood and offend any true Wiccans / Pagans out there with my statement.

ummmm whats wrong with dancing naked and rubbing stuff on you in the moonlight? sounds like a great weekend to me :)

The one thing I agree with the Vatican on... Avatar is "Big on effects, small on substance" and originality.