There are two quintessential Woody Allen lines in his film
”
Hannah and her Sisters
”
that keep running through my head as I read the opinion page of
The Dispatch.
There are two quintessential Woody Allen lines in his film “Hannah and her Sisters” that keep running through my head as I read the opinion page of The Dispatch. The first line is spoken by Allen’s character as he starts a spiritual journey which is a result of his sudden confrontation with his own mortality. After deciding to convert to Catholicism, he is asked by the priest why he has chosen to become Catholic. Allen’s response is “the Catholic religion is a very beautiful religion. Of course I’m talking now about the pro-choice, anti-death penalty, pro-worker, against prayer in the public schools wing.”
As Dennis Taylor wrote about the religious right, it never even occurred to me that some people would classify the Catholic religion as right wing.
Some of the most liberal people I know are Catholic; most of those liberals were educated in Catholic schools. With the exception of being against abortion (while not supporting all of the legislation on it), I am a Woody Allen Catholic. If the election were held today, I’d be voting for John Kerry.
It has always disgusted me to have anyone tell me how to vote. However, I especially despise people telling me who to vote for as a Catholic, as if Catholics have some voting standard that falls outside the realm of other religious groups.
Somewhere along the way, being an anti-abortion candidate became the perceived yardstick for appealing to Catholic voters. I don’t know why, because there are so many other issues which could be the yardstick. If I were to vote for someone based on my understanding of Catholic social justice issues, I would never be able to vote for any serious contender for elected office. If I were to vote for someone based on their opposition to the death penalty, I could only vote for liberal Democrats. Therefore, I look at the big picture, and usually wind up voting for someone who is pro-choice. I am voting for John Kerry because I find his beliefs and values to be more in line with my Catholic beliefs than President Bush.
The second Woody Allen line that I love is spoken by the actor portraying Allen’s father. In this scene, Allen’s character has just told his parents that he has converted to Catholicism. His mother is sobbing behind a locked door, questioning why her son has abandoned his own people. The mother implores her husband to explain to his son why there were Nazis. The father says “how on earth can I explain the Nazis, I can’t even figure out how to use the can opener.”
I think of this line when I read the debate on these pages over gay marriage. As a species, we are very primitive. Human love is too big an issue, we can’t figure it out. In our quest to know the truth about love, we seek guidance. People look to their churches and their bibles to guide them. Peoples‚ values are greatly influence by their brand of religious teachings.
Our country was formed by people who held religious beliefs, which is why one of the truths we hold self evident is that we the people were endowed by a Creator. We the people believe that our country guarantees its citizens the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet slavery existed alongside this belief, women were second class citizens while we held these very truths. We the people are confused over the bigger picture, so of course we can’t figure out gay marriage (the can opener).
I predict that America will use the same tried and true method to deal with this issue as we have in the past. For a long time, we ignored the issue. Time is running out on phase one.
Now we are heading towards acknowledgment. This will be followed briefly by bitter division, succeeded quickly by bad decision. An example of this from our recent history is our “separate but equal” phase. Bad decision will cause the term “civil union” to be an everyday utterance. Bad decision will be around for too long, while adept legal minds argue over exactly who among us was endowed by our Creator with an asterisk next to our rights.
It won’t be fast, and it won’t be pretty, but we will get to where we are destined to be if we the people continue to believe that all Americans have the right to their pursuit of happiness. Eventually, my children and their generation will figure out how to use the can opener.
