10 Movies That Were Condemned On Religious Grounds

By Andrew Dilks / March 28, 2014

Darren Aronofsky's blockbuster retelling of the epic Biblical story of Noah and the Ark, Noah, is set to touch down in cinemas soon. Unless, that is, you live in Indonesia, Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait or the United Arab Emirates, all countries which have banned the movie on the grounds that Islam prohibits the depiction of Biblical figures, also backed by some Christian groups, who claim that Aronofsky's vision is not in line with the Scriptures. Losing the Christian audience in America has also been a huge concern for the studio, not least on account of the potentially devastating effect this could have on box office takings. Erring on the side of caution, in March Paramount attached a disclaimer to all forms of advertising:

The film is inspired by the story of Noah. While artistic license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide. The biblical story of Noah can be found in the book of Genesis.

Aronofsky and leading man Russell Crowe sought the blessing of the Vatican earlier this year - the box office success of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ was largely secured thanks to a Vatican statement issued before the release which described the film as "the cinematographic recounting of the historical fact of the passion of Jesus Christ according to the Gospel accounts" - and recently Pope Francis gave his blessing to Noah after granting Russell Crowe an audience. Noah isn't the first film to stir up a huge amount of controversy among religious groups - throughout movie history, a number of films have been condemned - or outright banned - for theological reasons. Some of the reasons for controversy are to be expected, as is the case with Noah. Others, however, may come as a complete surprise...