In a bold message posted on the Archdiocesan Facebook page, Cincinnati’s Archbishop Dennis Schnurr condemns the controversial Fifty Shades of Grey movie, calling it a “direct assault on Christian marriage.”
With the movie set to debut tonight, Archbishop Schnurr posted a bold message on the page, asking both the clergy and faithful of the Archdiocese to inform people about the destructive message contained in the film, which glamorizes sado-masochistic sex and male domination.
“The story line is presented as a romance; however, the underlying theme is that bondage, dominance, and sadomasochism are normal and pleasurable. In the story line, a young Miss Steele is urged to sign a contract becoming a sex slave and agreeing to an abusive and degrading relationship,” the Archbishop writes.
“This movie is in direct contrast to the Christian message of God’s design for self-giving and self-sacrificing love, marriage and sexual intimacy. The movie is a direct assault on Christian marriage and on the moral and spiritual strength of God’s people. We need to inform our people about the destructive message of this movie and to highlight the beauty of God’s design for loving relationships between a husband and wife in the bond of marriage.”
The Archbishop is hardly the only voice criticizing the movie. Not even the reviewers have anything good to say about it.
The New York Times called it a “terrible movie”, describing Jamie Dornan’s performance as Christian Grey as having “the bland effect of a model, by which I mean a figure made of balsa wood or Lego” while Anastasia’s character “makes no sense.”
Rex Reed of the New York Observer writes: “Maybe in future installments there will even be something that resembles a plot. For now, the entire movie is about as sexy as a root canal.”
About the only thing this movie has going for it is the hype – which will probably carry it through a weekend or two of big box office receipts before it disappears into the dustbin of history. The only problem is how many souls will it take along with it?
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