The Most Controversial Religious Movies of All Time

The Exorcist

Anyone who's seen this 1973 horror classic will probably tell you there's nothing creepier than a little girl possessed by the devil. Especially one who spews curses--and vomit--on men of the cloth and whose head can rotate 360 degrees. The special effects are graphic and frightening, particularly the wounds young Regan MacNeil, played by Linda Blair, inflicts upon herself, and the scene in which when she forcefully violates herself with a crucifix. When the film was released in theaters, many people couldn't tolerate the violence and blasphemies, and there was an outcry over the general scariness of the film. Some clergy, like the Rev. Billy Graham, felt the movie itself was satanic.

--Dena Ross

Dogma

Director Kevin Smith made his name and reputation with smart, snappy comedies about suburban life, like "Clerks" and "Chasing Amy." In 1999, he released "Dogma," the story of two fallen angels (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) who arrive on earth to find Jesus' last descendant--a woman who works in an abortion clinic. Other characters include the 13th disciple of Jesus (who claimed he was left out of the Bible because he's black) and God herself (played by Alanis Morrisette). Foul-mouthed comedian George Carlin has a cameo as a cardinal, and the f-word is used more than 100 times in the film. Catholic groups around the world staged protests, and Smith received several death threats. Perhaps to head off controversy, the film's title sequence contained a disclaimer, which included the line "Even God has a sense of humor--just look at the platypus."

--Lilit Marcus

Battlefield Earth

Most of the criticism of "Battlefield Earth" was about the movie's bad dialogue and strange plotlines. But the film was based on a book by Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and was produced by and starred John Travolta, an outspoken member of the Church. "Battlefield Earth" depicted Scientology's origin story, in which the evil alien overlord Xenu exiles human beings to earth. Although most reviews eviscerated the film based on its production quality and not its subject matter, "Battlefield Earth" helped bring the controversial religion into the popular consciousness, where it has remained ever since. John Travolta, for the record, says he'd love to make a "Battlefield" sequel.

--Lilit Marcus

The Birth of a Nation

Is "The Birth of a Nation" a Christian film? Director D.W. Griffith seems to have thought so. In his 1915 dramatic history about the post-Civil War era, black people are unsuccessfully integrated in the South and chaos reigns in America...until men of "Christian goodwill"--the KKK--ride in with pointy white hats and cross-festooned robes to save the day. A blockbuster in its time, "Birth" is a horror show to modern sensibilities. "This film has no Christian material in it," says a reviewer at the website Christian Spotlight on the Movies, but Griffith clearly intended his movie to reach a mass audience of white Protestants sympathetic to his views. Today, Christians will find that the movie is a horrifying reminder of the systemic racism of yesteryear, and they will be grateful that, though prejudice is still with us, a film like "Birth" would be roundly condemned by religious and secular alike.

--Patton Dodd

Stigmata

This 1999 Rupert Wainwright film is controversial among Catholics for the way it depicts stigmata, in which a person is physically inflicted with the wounds Jesus experienced on the cross, usually on the hands, feet, forehead, and side. Catholics believe stigmata to be extremely rare and a miraculous connection to Jesus received by pure souls like St. Francis of Assisi. In the movie, however, an atheist hairdresser, played by Patricia Arquette, receives stigmata and looks demonically possessed. Another character, a former scientist and Jesuit priest, discovers a connection between the stigmata and one of the Gnostic Gospels, books dismissed by the Vatican for, in some cases, challenging the necessity of the Church.

--Dena Ross

The Da Vinci Code

Ron Howard's "The Da Vinci Code," based on the best-seller by Dan Brown, places the Catholic Church at the center of a (fictional) conspiracy to cover up the truth about Jesus--that he was married to Mary Magdalene and the father of a child whose descendants have been protected from the murderous Church ever since. What's more, this denigration of Mary Magdalene's "rightful" place as Jesus' wife is portrayed as part of a larger Church conspiracy to stamp out devotion to the divine feminine, which was at the heart of early Christian worship. In the months leading up to the film's 2006 release, most Christian organizations refrained from calling for an outright boycott, instead using the film to spark discussion about Jesus and to challenge the story's claims. Despite poor reviews, the film took in a reported $758 million worldwide, making it one of the highest grossing of 2006.

--Michael Kress

Water

While filming "Water" on location in India, the Canadian-Indian filmmaker Deepa Mehta shut down production after the set was vandalized by angry mobs angry at the film's depiction of Hindu traditions. "Water" is the story of an ashram for widows in the late 1930s, where the women--some just young girls--are expected to live out their lives in poverty, never remarrying, and in some cases enriching the ashram by working as prostitutes. The film focuses on two of the widows, mischievous 8-year-old Chuyia, , and the beautiful Kalyani, who tries to save the child from the fate of prostitution. Mehta dropped the project after being run out of the holy city of Varanasi, but finished it four years later in Sri Lanka. "Water" was nominated for a 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

--Michael Kress

The Passion of the Christ

"Jesus used to be king in Hollywood, but they crucified him. We're trying to bring him back." Nine months before the release of "The Passion of the Christ," I heard those words in a screening room at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, where James Dobson and other evangelical leaders were gathered with Mel Gibson and his team of producers. The most successful grassroots marketing campaign in movie history had begun. Months of controversy followed. A team of scholars accused Gibson of anti-Semitism because the movie implied, following the Gospel of St. John, that Jewish leaders were largely responsible for Jesus' death. Other criticism focused on the film's violent imagery and reliance on the writings of an 18th-century nun seen by many as anti-Semitic. But the marketing campaign worked. Churches bought out entire theaters, fans attended multiple screenings, and despite the strenuous objections of Jewish groups and many liberal Christians, "The Passion" climbed the ranks of the highest-grossing films of all time.

--Patton Dodd

Submission

Outspoken Dutch director Theo Van Gogh (a distant relative of the painter) partnered with controversial Muslim feminist author Ayaan Hirsi Ali to make "Submission," a 10-minute film that criticized the treatment of Muslim women by Muslim men. One of the most shocking images from "Submission" was a naked woman with verses from the Qur'an written on her body. Many in the Islamic world spoke out against the film, and both Van Gogh and Hirsi Ali were the targets of death threats. Those threats became reality when Van Gogh was murdered in 2006. Hirsi Ali, who went into hiding afterward, has said that while she was deeply saddened by Van Gogh's death, she does not regret making the film.

--Lilit Marcus

The Last Temptation of Christ

In Martin Scorsese's "Last Temptation of Christ" (1988), Jesus (played by Willem Dafoe) is a tortured soul, driven from his home by debilitating headaches and voices. His "last temptation" comes as he hangs on the cross. An angel appears with the comforting news that he does not have to save humanity by dying on the cross. Jesus accepts the alternative, comes down from the cross, and walks into a life of work, marriage to Mary Magdelene (played by Barbara Hershey), and children. The film, based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis depicts what fans say is an appealingly human Jesus, one who is all the more inspiring because of the painful process he had to endure to become savior. But much of the traditional Christian world, shocked by the blasphemy of a sex scene involving Jesus and the suggestion that Jesus had doubts, demanded that the film be banned. Protests and boycotts were held, sermons railed against the film, and in some cases, acts of violence attempted to prevent it from being seen. The film is still not available from Blockbuster Video and some libraries.

--Holly Rossi and Patton Dodd