The only reason he became a priest was to make his parents happy and then he says that when he looks at a crucifix all he sees is a man dying on a cross. The film never confirms this but it seems to me he was.
shareMaybe in a sense.
shareI would say he was an admitted agnostic, perhaps contemplating atheism. He looked confused and depressed. The good son who dutifully obeyed his parents but ended up as an unhappy and disillusioned adult.
This film gets tossed aside as some cheesy relic from the brief disco trend, but it really has a lot of rich stories and characters in it.
“Agnostic” and “atheist” are describing two different things.
Theism is whether you accept theistic claims that there is a god
Gnosticism is whether you claim to have absolute certainty.
You can be an agnostic atheist as in you don’t accept there is a God but you don’t claim to know there isn’t one.
I just think Frank looked jaded and undecided. He was looking at the cross trying to find some faith, but sad that he wasn’t stirred by that image. He looked as if he was ashamed of himself for not having faith. People who are committed to their beliefs, whether theistic or not, are not usually ashamed.
shareThat’s a good point, I think it’s pretty clear though that he became a priest only to make his parents happy which is similar to Tony’s situation with the Disco and paint store.
I can say this that when someone’s been indoctrinated into a religion and then they start questioning it they do feel ashamed and as if there’s something wrong with them, eventually that wears off and they just stop caring (at least that’s how it was for me)
Not sure he was an atheist as much as his career choice wasn't making him happy.
To me, there's no doubt he became a priest primarily due to family pressure and to make his mom happy. A lot of people have faith but don't want to make a career out of it.