After acting in a Westerner-discovers-Eastern-peace movie, Eat Pray Love, Julia Roberts the famous Hollywood actress is now a practicing Hindu. Eat, Pray, Love is a book by Liz Gilbert of her quest for peace and spirituality which takes her from the USA to Italy, India and Bali (Indonesia). Her quest matures in India and ends in Bali with the adoption of Hinduism. The movie follows the same plot with Julia Roberts in the lead.
Synopsis of the movie: Liz Gilbert (Roberts) had everything a modern woman is supposed to dream of having – a husband, a house, a successful career – yet like so many others, she found herself lost, confused, and searching for what she really wanted in life. Newly divorced and at a crossroads, Gilbert steps out of her comfort zone, risking everything to change her life, embarking on a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self-discovery. In her travels, she discovers the true pleasure of nourishment by eating in Italy; the power of prayer in India, and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of true love in Bali. Source: IMDB.
Amusingly enough, Julia Roberts also follows Liz Gilbert in her real life by adopting Hinduism and becoming a “practicing Hindu” as she calls herself shortly after finishing the movie. The movie has, unsurprisingly, failed to become a hit at the box office.
We rightly ask, “so what?” We recognize religion as an individual’s personal quest and choice and if Julia Roberts chose Hinduism after rejecting her Catholic upbringing, we leave it at that.
However, she is a celebrity and the Catholics are fuming and fidgeting that they have lost a member of their ‘flock’. (Treat humans like sheep and you’ll indeed lose them! (sorry for the poor joke, couldn’t help it.))
And how do the Catholics react? By bad-mouthing the East, the director of the movie and ultimately Hinduism. No surprises here – they have done this for 2000 years.
“America” Magazine from New York, which calls itself “The National Catholic Weekly”, wrote about “Eat Pray Love” movie: “It is potentially dangerous. It will exploit the common desire among women for the diligent joy which Gilbert so beautifully names with products that falsely promise such contentment”.
Catholic News Service headquartered in Washington DC, apparently talking about Rome portion of the movie, said: “Though she seemingly hits every restaurant in town, she gives the churches a pass, the implication being that she knows better than to look to Catholicism for insight”. Its description of the India ashram (hermitage), which Liz Gilbert (played by Julia Roberts) visits, includes, “The unhealthy atmosphere of semi-idolatrous worship…”. It blames Emmy nominated director Ryan Murphy’s movie for “…negating, or at least ignoring, the spiritual resources of Christianity…”. It gives the movie a classification of “L”, which includes “films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling”.
“National Catholic Register” from North Haven (Connecticut) argues: “Her strange incuriosity regarding Italy’s spiritual heritage is all the odder in light of her spiritual aspirations during her time in India”. It adds: “Even Eastern religion is all very well up to a point…” Source: Forum for Hindu Awakening
When will Christians mature and leave individuals to live as they please? Perhaps they have reason to fear courtesy Hollywood embracing Hinduism through movies such as Prince of Persia and Avatar.
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