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Jessica Young
A01296969
21/02/2013

The Philosophical Explanation of Religion


In the film “The Mission” is based on events surrounding the Treaty of Madrid in 1750 which Spain allowed part of the Jesuit Paraguay land to Portugal. The Spanish Jesuit priest Father Gabriel and the monk, Rodrigo Mendoza are set off to maintain the mission and convert the Guaraniindigenous people to Catholicism, so they will be maintained and be kept under order of the Church. Although while they are trying to work on this process, the Jesuit priest have to undergo an extreme challenge to protect the Guarani from being enslaved by the Portuguese colonials. They allow Papal emissary Cardinal Altamirano to come to their mission and decide which, or if any, missions should beallowed to remain under the Portuguese territory. The Cardinal is forced to choose in favor of the colonists which allows Portugal Government to enslave the indigenous. If the Cardinal chose the Jesuit order the Catholic church would be condemned by the Portuguese and the European Catholic Church could fall apart. When the Guarani find out about this Treaty they are forced to fight for their mission andland due to all the economical success they have completed. When a joint Portuguese and Spanish force attack on the mission, Father Gabriel is debating whether to leave and not fight or to fight in the war for his mission even though it is said in the Bible that violence is a direct crime against God. The main question that viewers have about the movie is, does God exist and if he does, why isthere innocent suffering happening all around the world?

Many people believe that God is real due to the perfect nature of our Universe. Religious believers think there has to be a cause or reason for the existence of humans since we are the main species of our Universe. People around the world believe there is a cause for whatever happens in their lives, but they do not question the uncausedcauser (God). Many religious followers do no question or challenge the idea of how and why on earth would he allow a 3 year old baby be murdered by someone? If God is so good and has so much wisdom then why would he allow evil to take over? Although everyones excuse is “God works in mysterious ways.” No one has never seen God or met him so how can we determine what he wants. In the film while thecardinal is telling the letter writer what to say to the Spanish and Portuguese Government, The Cardinal states “We are not the members of a democracy, but we are the members of an order.” This is a great example about how the religious followers extremely misinterpret Gods wants and needs. If God was so pure and great then why would he want innocent people to die because they are fighting for theirhome and land. If God had those beliefs of taking over land and killing innocent people in his way then how come he has not presented himself on our universe and invaded our home. This argument is self contradictory to think that all things must have a cause or a reason.

The other argument that philosophers speak of is the problem of evil and innocent suffering when regarding to theideologies of God. The main problem that is focused on in the movie “The Mission” is the problem of theodicy which is justifying an omnipotent and omniscient God in the face of evil. Especially closer to the end of the movie when the Portuguese and the Spaniards are at war against the Guarani’s due to the refusal of leaving their mission to become enslaved by the Portuguese. When Priest Gabriel, all thechildren and woman come out of the mission to sing a prayer to god and the army men in order to bring peace, the army men still continue to fire their weapons. Since they are men of God, supposedly, why would they kill innocent people who are not armed and are trying to find peace in the face of evil?

The militants believe that the innocent people they murdered will either end up in Heaven or...