The Problems of Religion as Seen Through Monty Python's Life of Brian

The main teachings of many the world's most popular religions are to spread peace,   love,   and kindness,   yet each of these religions cannot seem to refrain from arguing,   attacking,   and scapegoating each other.   Hardly a day goes by where one cannot turn on the news without hearing about people killing each other in the name of religion.   In Israel,   Palestinian terrorists suicide-bomb crowds of Israelis.   In India,   Hindus fight with Muslims.   Such violent religious dissent is not only attributed to those of different religions,   even people who follow the same religion,   but of a different sect,   are known to do battle with each other.   The Sunni and the Shi'ite Muslims in the Middle East are constantly at odds with each other.   Although not violent,   all the different sects of Christianity argue about which one is best following God.   In the film Monty Python's Life of Brian,   directed by Terry Jones,   nothing illustrates more how a religion can forget its true goals than the People's Front of Judea.   Their main goal is to support each other in unifying the Jews and regaining the rule of the Holy Land of Judea from the pagan Romans,   but their anger towards the Romans is forgotten and redirected towards the splinter groups:   the Judean People's Front and the Judean Popular People's front,   who have identical goals but different methods.   As exemplified by the warring religious factions in Monty Python's Life of Brian,   many religions in the world today are
hypocritical because they obsess over trivialities and procedure and lose sight of the true goals of group's founders,   causing in them to act in a manner that contradicts the teachings of love,   kindness,   and respect for all human beings.
Early in the film,   Brian meets a group of Jews discussing how they are oppressed by the Romans.   He also feels oppressed by the Romans and wants to join them but when he mistakenly asks if they are the Judean People's Front he is met with hostility and learns that... [continues]

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