Questions for non-christians

I am not Christian and I love this film. It's very subjective in that it's open to interpretation. To me, it represented how twisted, self-righteous, judgmental Christianity is and how nuts the majority of the followers are.

Mimi Rogers gives the best performance of her career. Really underrated plus you get to see Dave Duchovny's ass!

It would be a wonder if a non-christian (extend that to anyone who has nothing invested in the credibility of any of the Abrahamic derivatives, in particular Judaism and its most recent major plagiarism, Islam) who is not completely insensitive to religion and oblivious to the carryings-on over religion in the present day did not enjoy this movie. I wonder how any bible believing Christian could enjoy this movie.

CB

Good Times, Noodle Salad

I'm an atheist. I really enjoy this film. I rate it about a 6, though. It drags at times. Performances are excellent, I love the ambiguity to it all. And I really like Mimi Rogers.

***Spoiler Alert***
I am a real non-christian (an atheist deconvert), so I see the movie quite differently than a lot of the commenters here. I kind of liked the movie until 1) the horrible deed, which in my opinion, could only be committed by a deranged person, not merely a committed one, and 2) supernatural "visions" started becoming "real" (as in the prison scene). It's extremely easy for me to accept that people can "experience" things that don't really exist. My own experience is that all supernatural "experiences" are delusional, and usually part of a self-induced dream-state, so I couldn't really follow this movie well through this jump, although I have been successful with quite a few others such as "Lost Horizon" and "Ghost".

Frankly, I lost it when the protagonist turned into a murderer. I don't like murderers very much, call me a bigot, if you like. The "Apocolypse" that follows looked and felt very much like a bad cartoon, even though I have read Revelations. The murderer's anger, to me, didn't appear genuine. It was the anger of any common criminal, directed against "the system"; only this time it was directed instead against her own personal system of insanity, Christianity's God and its power over her. The posts I have read on the movie make me optimistic, since I can see that many of the Christians that see the film are introspective after seeing it. However, what is most difficult for me in reading these is to realize that The Bible has convinced many of them that infanticide is a misdemeanor.

I just watched this movie on IFC on a whim and it was another good illustration of how pretentious and illogical most religious people are. As an agnostic person (defined: a person who holds that the existence of God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable), I can appreciate religious films. I thought "The Passion of the Christ" was a very powerful movie, even though I don't believe Jesus was the son of God. So watching "The Rapture", it reminded me of people I know who take the Bible literally when it suits their cause. The Bible is a book, JUST A BOOK, written and interpreted by flawed people. Yet it's treated as as the ultimate moral authority without any question of it's accuracy.

Furthermore, it was striking to me the similarities between mental illness and religious zealotry, especially the disorder of schizophrenia. Religious people often exhibit the same symptoms as schizophrenics, (1) confusing reality with fiction, (2) hearing voices telling them to act a certain way (hallucinations), (3) talking in strange ways (prayer, speaking in tongues as some Evangelicals do), (4) delusions ("All I need to do to be saved is accept Jesus as my savior"), (5) social isolation, by surrounding themselves with other Christians who think just like them, since free thought is perceived as dangerous. It is very difficult for me to take these people seriously as their world is a fairy tale based on myth rather than reality.

Even though religion is a crutch and a mild form of mental illness, I can be reasonable enough to recognize some good if it's used properly. If it teaches tolerance, humility, generosity and compassion then it can be very powerful. However, all too often it focuses on superficial things like prayer, public worship, going to church, and continuously self-proclaiming oneself as a Christian, all of which means absolutely nothing. Religion will never be worth its salt UNLESS IT SOMEHOW MAKES THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. Church-goers, priests, and pastors are just as flawed as anyone else, and shouldn't warrant automatic respect simply because they have appointed themselves positions of power in a church.

Now, as far as church goes, it serves no real purpose other than a self-serving need for born-again Christians to surround themselves with people who think/believe the same myths as they do because free thought is frowned upon in their club. Church is really nothing other than a poor man's country club. The tithe is the membership fee and it's exclusive because it only allows certain members in. If you don't pay your dues and fit the mold, you are an outsider (sinner).

So please take religion for what it is: a mild form of schizophrenia.

i am non-christian and hated it. BOOOOORing mim rogre's ta ta's were the best part. i gave it a 6 for those tig o bittys

I haven't seen this movie yet but I actually do love films with religious stories. The whole idea really is kind of fascinating to me, I just don't believe it's reality. I have two friends who are very Christian and I would bet on them not liking it before me. Not sure, since I haven't seen this, though. But they did refuse to see The Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons because they don't support "that kinda thing."

"Are you gonna shoot me?"
"That depends. Do you see me?"

I thought this movie ridiculous. So unbelievable. So full of religious cliches which mean nothing, really, like all cliches they've lost meaning. And the non-cliches are fantastic and not reality. I think this movie was written by someone who read the words but didn't understand them...who has absolutely no clue.