South Coast Repertory’s 2007 Production of Doubt – Anti-Catholic, Doubtless
Catholics are easy punching bag targets. Just look toward San Francisco and ask Mayor Gavin!
November 11, 2007
A good number of us recall the recent (Jyllands-Posten ) Muhammad cartoons debacle, which began shortly after twelve editorial cartoons depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005. The newspaper announced that this publication was an attempt to contribute to the debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship: Danish Muslim organizations, who objected to the depictions, responded by holding public protests attempting to raise awareness of Jyllands-Posten's publication. The controversy deepened when further examples of the cartoons were reprinted in newspapers in more than fifty other countries. This led to protests across the Muslim world, some of which escalated into violence with police firing on the crowds, including setting fire to the Norwegian and Danish Embassies in Syria, storming European buildings, and desecrating the Danish and German flags in Gaza City.
More recently, saying that Islam is evil in Finland and the rest of the Scandinavian countries, can be considered hate speech, and is actively being prosecuted.
On this side of the pond, gay activists recently desecrated a Catholic Church in San Francisco – apparently not an issue for re-elected Mayor Gavin. On September 4, 2007 a Muslim woman, represented by the ACLU sued the sheriff because her religious rights were violated when deputies forced her to remove her head scarf – even though the woman was arrested for parole violation.
The current Los Angeles Police Antiterrorism Plan is drawing fire, despite the overwhelming data on actual terrorists, because it is tantamount to ethnic profiling, according to critics - To what Deputy Chief Michael P. Downing says that these “people don't really understand what we are doing.”
Then you have what is being passed as a “family movie” scheduled to be released in December, The Golden Compass by an atheist British author Phillip Pullman whose stated goal in writing the books is to be the “Anti-Narnia” series and to lead children into atheism.
The 2007 South Coast Repertory’s Production of John Patrick Stanley’s Doubt, a Parable, is not more than an artistic manqué, anti-Catholic play. Not unlike Time Magazine’s David Van Biema’s alleged Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith
"What do you do when you're not sure?" Father Flynn asks the audience in the opening line of this play, setting the stage for an imbricate story of suspicion and moral uncertainty. He goes on to explain that trying to undo harm caused by gossip is analogous to retrieving all the feathers blown by the wind when a pillow has been destroyed,
The story unfolds with a pasquinade view of a dysfunctional Catholic school system, the Catholic organizational structure and the human frailties of a priest who wants to do good. The messages in the play are reticulated with icons and symbols of the Catholic faith- – it should be noted that the play provides plenty of secular progressive tips, but lacks practical biblical-based advice.
In the end, the ultimate message is that if you are a Christian, you are taking the easy way out – that is doubting is OK – for as dramaturg Megan Monaghan asserts using Alfred Korzybski’s thoughts: “There are two ways to easily slide through life; believe everything or to doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking”
Linda Gehringer plays well the immoral, feminist character of Sister Aloysious Beavier, bent on doing all she can to bring down Father Brendan Flynn, played by James Joseph O’Neil. In the end, a most promising teacher Sister James, played by Rebecca Mozo, , making here SCR debut is but collateral damage. This SCR production of Doubt, a Parable, showcases the artist’s talents, including Mrs. Muller, as played by Kimberly Scott. As to the anti-Catholic message, what is the problem? Catholics are easy punching bag targets. Just look toward San Francisco and ask Mayor Gavin!
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