Philosophy and Religion

2004-03-18T01:09:00.000-08:00

A pensive 'Grasshopper,' a brutal killer

LOS ANGELES, California -- Globe-trotting hit man Bill may be ready to meet a bloody end, but kung fu hero Caine lives on.

David Carradine, riding a career resurgence as the title character in Quentin Tarantino's two-part saga "Kill Bill," is revisiting his martial-arts roots with Tuesday's DVD release of season one of "Kung Fu," his 1970s television series.

The two characters could scarcely be more different -- Bill the worldly father figure of a pack of crack assassins, and Kwai Chang Caine the soft-spoken refugee from a Shaolin monastery, serenely spreading wisdom and kicking bad guys' butts in the Old West.

Through more than 100 feature films with such directors as Martin Scorsese, Ingmar Bergman and Hal Ashby, Carradine remains best known as Caine. He reprised the role in a mid-1980s TV movie and played Caine's grandson in the 1990s syndicated series "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues," but most of Carradine's work the last 20 years has been on obscure, low-budget movies.

Carradine, 67, hopes "Kill Bill" will reopen doors in Hollywood the way Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" did for John Travolta and "Jackie Brown" did to a lesser extent for Pam Grier.

"All I've ever needed since I more or less retired from studio films a couple of decades ago ... is just to be in one," Carradine said in an interview at his home in Tarzana, in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.

"There isn't anything that Anthony Hopkins or Clint Eastwood or Sean Connery or any of those old guys are doing that I couldn't do," he said. "All that was ever required was somebody with Quentin's courage to take and put me in the spotlight."

Carradine was a shadowy presence in last fall's "Kill Bill -- Vol. 1," in which one of Bill's former assassins (Uma Thurman) begins a vengeful rampage against her old associates.

The first film hits home video in mid-April just before the theatrical debut of "Kill Bill -- Vol. 2," in which Thurman's character comes face to face again with Bill himself. The title implies Bill's fate, but Carradine is mum on whether the character meets his demise.

'He kills people for a living, but ...'

Though he's the heavy, Bill has more depth than run-of-the-mill bad guys, Carradine said.

"Bill is more fun than anything," Carradine said. "Bill has virtually no human problems. He's just kind of put himself above it all. He's actually a very charming guy. Yeah, he kills people for a living, but ... As far as him being a villain, there are no good guys in a Quentin Tarantino movie. Everybody has an agenda, everybody is a criminal, and everybody has a certain nobility."

The son of character actor John Carradine and brother of actors Keith and Robert, Carradine had the title role in the short-lived Western TV series "Shane" in 1966 and co-starred in Scorsese's 1972 film "Boxcar Bertha" before shooting to stardom with "Kung Fu."

He left after three seasons, saying the show had started to repeat itself. After "Kung Fu," Carradine starred in the 1975 cult flick "Death Race 2000" and played Woody Guthrie in Ashby's "Bound for Glory" the following year. He starred with Liv Ullmann in Bergman's "The Serpent's Egg" in 1977 and with his brothers in the 1980 Western "The Long Riders."

Despite Carradine's well-deserved reputation as a quick-to-anger actor and hard-drinking partier, the public image of the unflappable, inscrutable Caine lingers. Fueling that is Carradine's own continued interest in Oriental herbs, exercise and philosophy. He wrote a personal memoir called "Spirit of Shaolin" and continues to make instructional videos on tai chi and other martial arts.

Sticking to coffee and cigarettes

Yet the actor said Tarantino's Bill is closer to the real Carradine than Caine. Tarantino has "written more the guy I really am. The art collector, the musician, the philosopher and the drugstore cowboy."

Carradine, who said he has not had a drink since 1996, talked candidly about his past boozing and narcotics use, mainly "a lot of psychotropic drugs."

Now he sticks to coffee and cigarettes, saying he gave up alcohol because "I didn't like the way I looked for one thing. You're kind of out of control emotionally when you drink that much. I was quicker to anger."

Carradine has been married four times and has three grown children. He lives a seemingly placid life with his girlfriend, her four children and a couple of dogs. Questions about his wilder days have grown tiresome, and Carradine said he may just brush them off in the future.

"You're probably witnessing the last time I will ever answer those questions," Carradine said. "Because this is a regeneration. It is a renaissance. It is the start of a new career for me.

"It's time to do nothing but look forward."

2004-03-10T23:56:00.000-08:00

Ohio evolution lesson plan irks science groups

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The state school board Tuesday approved a lesson plan for teaching evolution that includes what critics contend is a religious theory "cloaked as science."

Supporters argued the lesson plan offers scientific ways to analyze evolution, but scientific groups objected and critics said they expected a lawsuit.

After six hours of testimony, the board voted 13-5 in favor of "Critical Analysis of Evolution," an optional set of lessons for schools to use in teaching science for a new graduation test.

Critics say the lessons contain elements of a theory called intelligent design, which states a higher power must have been involved in the creation of life.

"I am convinced this is a religious effort cloaked as science," said board member Robin Hovis.

At issue is 22 pages out of more than 500 that schools can use to teach new science standards approved last year for all grades. No student will be tested on intelligent design, said board president Jennifer Sheets.

The vote was applauded by the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, which supports scientists studying intelligent design theory, and says states should teach both evolution and scientific criticism of evolutionary theory.

The vote "is a significant victory for students and their academic freedom to study all sides of current scientific debates over evolutionary theory," said Bruce Chapman, Discovery Institute president.

Board member Sam Schloemer complained the lessons "further erode the status and the value of Ohio's public education system because it is without scientific evidence," he said.

Several scientific organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, are opposed to the lessons.

Others predicted the plan would be challenged in court.

"They're standing in line -- high school teachers, board members, parents, the students themselves," said Patricia Princehouse, a Case Western Reserve University philosophy professor who has led lobbying efforts against the lessons.

Board member James Turner, appointed to the board by Gov. Bob Taft, said he was impressed by the number of scientists in favor of the lessons, arguing opponents were "allowing their fear of what this lesson could lead to" to reflect their views.

The board should rely on the guidance of evolutionary biologists with experience studying evolution, argued Stephen Weeks, a University of Akron biologist.

"If someone's an expert and they're telling you they need a brain tumor removed in a certain way, that's weighted more than your mechanic's opinion," Weeks said.

The state school board a lesson plan on evolution Tuesday that critics say tries to cloak religion in science. Supporters say it offers scientific ways to analyze evolution theory.

2004-03-02T04:41:00.000-08:00

Catholics ordered to offer birth control

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- In a precedent-setting decision, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday that a Roman Catholic charity must offer birth-control coverage to its employees even though the church considers contraception a sin.

The 6-1 decision marked the first such ruling by a state's highest court. Experts said the ruling could affect thousands of workers at Catholic hospitals and other church-backed institutions in California and prompt other states to fashion similar laws.

California is one of 20 states to require that all company-provided health plans must include contraception coverage if the plans have prescription drug benefits.

The high court said that Catholic Charities is no different from other businesses in California, where "religious employers" such as churches are exempt from the requirement. Catholic Charities argued that it, too, should be exempt.

But the Supreme Court ruled that the charity is not a religious employer because it offers such secular services as counseling, low-income housing and immigration services to people of all faiths, without directly preaching Catholic values.

In fact, Justice Kathryn Werdegar wrote that a "significant majority" of the people served by the charity are not Catholic. The court also noted that the charity employs workers of differing religions.

The California Catholic Conference, which represents the church's policy position in the state, said it was disappointed with the ruling and feared that it could open the door to mandated insurance coverage of abortion.

"It shows no respect to our religious organizations," said spokeswoman Carol Hogan.

The American Civil Liberties Union applauded the ruling and called it "a great victory for California women and reproductive freedom."

Justice Janice Rogers Brown was the lone dissenting judge. Brown wrote that the Legislature's definition of a "religious employer" is too limiting if it excludes faith-based nonprofit groups like Catholic Charities.

"Here we are dealing with an intentional, purposeful intrusion into a religious organization's expression of its religious tenets and sense of mission," Brown wrote. "The government is not accidentally or incidentally interfering with religious practice; it is doing so willfully by making a judgment about what is or is not a religion."

President Bush in October nominated Brown to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. But Brown's appointment has been opposed by Senate Democrats who view her as a conservative activist who would limit abortion rights and oppose affirmative action.

Versions of the law considered in Monday's ruling have been adopted in the 20 states after lawmakers concluded private employee prescription plans without contraceptive benefits discriminated against women.

Civil-rights groups, health-care companies and Catholic organizations filed extensive position papers with the court. Most wrangled over the rights of a religion to practice what it preaches and the newly acquired rights of thousands of women employed by church-affiliated groups to be insured for contraceptives.

Catholic Charities has 183 full-time employees and had a $76 million budget in California in 2002. It does not demand that its workers be Catholic or share the church's philosophy.

The 20 states that require private-sector insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives are Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Washington.

2004-02-25T04:20:00.000-08:00

ACLU to Sue Salvation Army Over Religion

NEW YORK - A civil rights group said Monday it will sue the Salvation Army because it allegedly has begun requiring employees to identify their church affiliation and support the army's mission to "preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

The New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said the suit would be filed Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan.

Telephone messages left with Salvation Army representatives were not immediately returned Monday.

Court papers prepared by the NYCLU say the plaintiffs include a Salvation Army social worker administrator who says the charity on Sept. 16 rescinded a policy that had guaranteed equal employment without regard to religious affiliation.

The NYCLU says the Salvation Army is overlooking the separation of church and state while accepting millions in government aid.