The biggest religious film controversy since Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, Dogma unleashed a storm of controversy because it had the temerity to - GASP! - poke fun at religion. The Catholic League picketed screenings of the film and distributed fliers declaring that:
"This film mocks everything we hold sacred - God, the Church, the Mass and Mary's virginity. It condones what we condemn - murder, obscenity, violence, profanity, drugs, drunkenness and rebellion!"
Pretty serious stuff for a film that features a rubber poop monster. Smith himself joined in with the fun, attending a local protest in his home state of New Jersey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QepgKVOVfZ8 Whilst that may be funny, there was a dark edge to the whole ordeal, with Smith receiving hate mail and death threats. One threat was mailed into the Miramax offices, addressed to Harvey and Bob Weinstein and simply stating that, "You Jews better take that money you stole from us and start investing in flak jackets because were coming in there with shotguns". Again, for a movie that features a rubber poop monster. If only they'd just watched the film first, before kicking up a fuss about it. The controversy eventually died down and everyone got on with their lives but, for a time, there was definitely fear that the threats were real and that people may be harmed as a result. There's a reason Kevin Smith followed Dogma up with the relatively harmless Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, you know.
