You're not supposed to talk about sex, race or politics in polite American society. Yet the movies' first blockbuster - D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" - did all three in 1915. And although it was immediately met by protests by the NAACP, it went on to become an enormous hit.

Yet even while moviemakers continued to tweak American sensibilities, there was one taboo they tried to respect. Religion might be treated in the movies, but it would not be mocked.

Current controversy surrounds the new "The Da Vinci Code," which portrays the Roman Catholic Church as a hotbed of conspiracy and turns on a plot twist long condemned as heresy. Given the reaction that the films below engendered, it might not be a bad idea for multiplexes to post an extra security guard or two this weekend, if only to prepare for the crowds. And to keep the angry picketers - and avid ticketbuyers - safely separated.

An absurdist farce about a "very naughty boy" who is mistaken for a messiah, this film is a mockery of some Christians, rather than of Christ (as the Pythons later claimed, they weren't blasphemers, just heretics). Nonetheless, it was still protested in America, and banned in Ireland, Italy and, surprisingly, Norway. It was re-released in 2004 and its "crucifixion song" - "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" - is now featured nightly in Broadway's "Spamalot."

A boy who once dreamed of being a priest, Martin Scorsese was drawn to this imaginative story of Jesus' tribulations, and labored for years to bring it to the screen. The fact that the novel it was based on had been condemned by the Church should have warned him there would be protests and picketers. But who would have expected that the film would be banned in some Catholic countries, and a Parisian theater showing it would be bombed?

After years of parochial-school scandals, movies about clerical corruption - including such horrific exposes as "The Magdalene Sisters" - are now commonplace. At the time, however, this story about a gay priest had to lose seven minutes before its U.S. release. When, with typical thumb-in-your-eye provocation, Harvey Weinstein's Miramax then opened the film on Good Friday, the protests became personal - something this slow film never managed.

Kevin Smith admitted he expected criticism for his metaphysical comedy about murderous angels. He expected it, however, to come from long-time fans of his stoner, secular farces. Instead, it was the religious right that screamed, leaving the film to be dropped by one distributor, and angrily protested when it finally reached theaters.

A devout and conservative Catholic, Mel Gibson committed his own money to bringing this living Stations of the Cross to the screen. Yet its violence upset even some Christians, and the Anti-Defamation League said it dangerously blamed Jesus' death on the Jews, rather than on the Romans who hammered in the nails. The film, an enormous American hit, did poorly in Europe. It was, however, a smash in Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.

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