Fuck off, Howie. Just because Lord Summerisle pointed out that the Jesus story is itself very silly (can't remember what exactly he said, something about a virgin and a ghost being involved, but it made me LOL).
No country is tied to any particular religion, so away with that bullshit, you stuck-up copper!
This is the correct Wicker Man. There can be only one.
shareGiven that the Head of State in England is also the head of the Church of England, it's not that nutso an idea to call England a Christian country. Furthermore, there were still plenty of blasphemy laws in England and Scotland (where the film was shot), so Howie isn't really wrong in a technical or legal sense.
Now, he was really strident with his faith and pushy. He shouldn't have gone raving about against the beliefs of the islanders, particularly while on-duty. Dislike them? Sure, but not go rattling off like that.
Then again, he also had a point with certain aspects of their religious pursuits. The public fornication, for instance, must have been illegal, and I doubt that school curriculum was up to standards.
I don't know... When you see at the end that they practice human sacrifice it kind of vindicates him in holding their beliefs in contempt.
shareWe see eye-to-eye there for sure. But even before that, I did highlight aspects like public fornication and (probably?) school curriculum.
It's okay to dislike a cult or speak against it for sure. I was more just saying that, with the knowledge he had upon arrival at the island community, he probably should have been more polite. After he saw certain aspects of their cult, he could have dialed it up, but he was pretty self-righteous from the start. Had he arrived at the island in time to witness a human sacrifice, I'd say his responses - anything less than full-on violence, in fact - would be mild.
...When you see at the end that they practice human sacrifice it kind of vindicates him in holding their beliefs in contempt.
No, you wouldn't be able to eliminate pure coincidence with a sample of one to judge from.
shareHa, good point!
Still, if it was a bumper harvest then at least we'd have to consider that there may be some merit in human sacrifice...
Personally, I think we should have got a sequel where the crops failed again and then seen how Howie's Christian spirit of teeing Lord Summerisle up to be literally next up went!
"No country is tied to any particular religion,"
Incorrect.
Many countries are. England to Church of England, Germany to Lutheranism, Vatican City to Catholicism, Russia, Serbia, Greek, etc. to [that country] Orthodox, most Muslim countries apart from Iran to Sunni Islam, India to Hinduism, Tibet to Vajrayana Buddhism, Thailand, Sri Lanka to Theravada Buddhism, Japan to Shintoism, etc..
Few countries have explicit separation of church and state. China is explicitly tied to lack of religion, that itself carrying religious information not equal to 0, and tied to a state-sponsored revival of Confucianism.
Edit: OP sounds like someone who's never been outside of the US, and assumes the whole world is like the US.