13 Scandalous Movies That Sparked Religious Controversy

6. Hail Mary (1985)

Retellings of great stories are numerous, but when French director Jean-Luc Godard decided to write and direct Hail Mary (1985), some Christians were far from happy with the results. The Virgin birth is looked at from a more modern-point-of-view, where Mary is a student, an ardent basketball player and employed at her father’s gas station, while Joseph is a high school dropout and cab-driver. In protest, one Versailles theater came under attack as demonstrators broke in with the purpose of destroying film reels. Groups took on the cause and both the the Alliance Against Racism and for the Respect of the French and Christian Identity, and the Confederation of Catholic Family Relations lobbied for the film to be censored or banned. Most notably, Pope John Paul II bashed the film and was very vocal about his position on it. Why all the fuss? With full frontal nudity and blatant religious themes, there was no way Hail Mary was getting in under the radar.