Vatican criticises Avatar for promoting pantheism - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The Vatican has criticised James Cameron's 3-D blockbuster 'Avatar' for promoting pantheism. The Vatican newspaper and radio station have lambasted the film for flirting with the idea that worship of nature can replace religion - a notion the Pope warned against. They call the film a simplistic and sappy tale. "Not much behind the images" was how the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, summed it up in a headline. Cameron "tells the story without going deep into it, and ends up falling into sappiness," said L'Osservatore Romano. The Vatican critics call the alien extravaganza "bland", reports the Mirror. Vatican Radio called it "rather harmless" but said it was no heir to sci-fi masterpieces of the past. The film has also been condemned by some American conservative bloggers for being racist.