For our fourth movie in the spring 2021 semester of REL 310, we watched a film called Answer Man. Now, instead of looking at what this movie’s message is about religion, my intention is to use this film along with our accompanying resources to critique the idea that “religion” is a belief system and what that idea affects in modern society.
Throughout Answer Man, we witness Arlen Faber, a popular author who wrote a book titled “Me and God,” as he attempts to grow closer to Elizabeth, a chiropractor who just moved to town. From the beginning of the film, it is evident that Arlen is not the “spiritually enlightened” man that most readers of his book take him to be. In fact, he seems very disillusioned with the idea of God and religion in general. Instantly, when seeing the popularity of Arlen’s book, I thought of how the “religion” section of a store like Barnes & Noble is filled with books tailored to Christians (and monotheistic views in general); it seems like many of those books hold claims that “in n steps, you can grow closer to God.” Now, I do not intend to share any of my own religious beliefs or question the validity of Christian books that fit that stereotypical description, but rather investigate why this behavior exists. In the film, it seems that people around Arlen feel very enlightened by “Me and God,” and some main characters are very insistent on asking Arlen very deep questions. They believe that the answers given in Arlen’s book meant Arlen was inherently more spiritual. Answers are very comforting to society; whether they are correct or not, they give the idea of safety and security. Consequently, since the “religion” book market is flooded with books that promise answers—or at least steps to find answers—it is not very surprising that people are drawn to that type of media. In fact, I believe that Arlen used this notion of answers along with the public’s perception of him to try to woo Elizabeth and make her feel comfortable around him.
So what about ideas of religion that conflict with this “bookstore” belief?” Professor Steven Ramey believes that if you limit religions to beliefs in a higher power, “then you have eliminated these counter-examples from that category by definition” (Do all Religious Adherents Believe in the Concept of a Higher Power? p. 32). Ramey discusses some of these different views, such as Unitarian Universalism, atheistic Jews, and Theravada Buddhism. When it comes to the field of religious studies, this is the fundamental issue with having a single concrete definition of religion: something will almost always be excluded. So, since it is nearly impossible to encompass all possible religions under one concrete definition, the field of religious studies should not be about classifying what is or is not religion. Societal categorizations (such that religion is only a belief in a higher power) should not limit scholars in the field of religious studies.
At the end of Answer Man, Arlen admits to Elizabeth and readers of his book that his book was not the result of a heavenly revelation. Rather, that he wrote questions out of frustration from when his dad was dying. Then, one day, he simply started writing answers to his questions. While this disappoints many of his supporters, I believe that it shows that no singular person has the answers to every question. Throughout the film, the modern stereotypical view on religion as beliefs or answers is what strains Arlen’s relationship with Elizabeth and his new “friend” Kris. Following these events, I wonder what would happen to Arlen’s book. Would it be taken down because it no longer fits society’s “religion” genre?
Ultimately, while the film was a bit awkward at times for me (but it is technically a romantic comedy, and those can usually be awkward), I feel that its portrayal of how religion is treated in society—though a bit exaggerated—is fairly accurate. The societal definition of “religion” tends to be moving more towards a casual protestant view; with that being said, it is important that we as scholars do not also take this view when studying religion so that our work can include those outlying counterexamples mentioned earlier from Professor Ramey.
Tyler Blair- REL 310 Blogs 