By CHRIS VOGNAR

The sacred and the profane coexist more intimately than most would care to admit, but rarely has the combo caused a bigger stir than with "Dogma."

Kevin Smith's very earthly and deceptively pro-faith Catholic satire has more than enough nerve to tread on hallowed ground; its relentless irreverence has already earned the stern denunciation of the Catholic League and other religious organizations. "Dogma" has proved to be such a hot potato that its original distributor, Miramax, had to unload the film amid complaints from the corporate honchos at parent company Disney. (Art-house distributor Lions Gate picked it up.) "Last Temptation of Christ"-like protests are a strong possibility, yet another confirmation that freedom of religious expression hasn't quite found a home here.

It would be nice to report that all the fuss is about a great movie. "Dogma" is indeed gutsy and frequently funny, with a loaded cast that includes Chris Rock, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Salma Hayek and plenty of other hot or familiar faces. But it's also about a half-hour too long and far more juvenile than Mr. Smith's last film, "Chasing Amy." Say what you will about Mr. Smith, but he has a way of lightening up our ever-expanding cultural gutter.

Mr. Smith wrote the script at about the same time as his oral-sex- obsessed "Clerks," which helps explain why his new film doesn't shy away from a dirty joke or sexual innuendo. Yet this is a man whose profane flights of fancy can't disguise a knowledge of and passion for Western religion – Mr. Smith was an altar boy – and who isn't afraid to humanize the sacred in a manner that can send the more ascetic and literal-minded among us into a tizzy. Even in its comedic excesses and self-indulgence, "Dogma" is one of the freest-thinking religion-themed films of its time.

You won't find many of the film's main characters in the Old or New Testaments. What you will find is a fantasy that knows the philosophical basics and has fun mixing the immortal with the very flawed, often leaving us to figure out which is which.

Take Loki and Bartleby (Mr. Damon and Mr. Affleck), a pair of fallen angels sick of their life in Wisconsin and eager to get back to the Kingdom of Heaven – which, of course, would spell doom for the rest of us. But first, they have to pass under the blessed arch of a New Jersey cathedral. "Dogma" is the epitome of the "just go with it" movie, one that defies you to scrutinize, just so it can laugh in your face.

The more you can stand this approach, the more you'll be willing to cut "Dogma" some slack. The high jinks can grow tiresome, especially with new characters arriving to do shtick with what feels like every scene: Mr. Rock as "Rufus, the 13th Apostle"; Ms. Hayek as the muse Serendipity, who moonlights in a strip bar; and Jason Lee as the manipulative demon Azrael.

Ms. Fiorentino is actually the central character, an abortionist given the task of intercepting Loki and Bartleby and saving the world. But "Dogma" often seems so pleased with itself that we're encouraged to drift away from matters of who's supposed to be doing what. If it wasn't so brazenly unique in its nose-thumbing of sacred cows, "Dogma" could easily be described as a mess.

But at a certain point, you just have to give up and give in. Maddeningly erratic and at times flat-out stupid, "Dogma" wears down much resistance through sheer force of purpose and will. At a time when the issue of faith is as divisive as ever, Mr. Smith's goofy fable succeeds in shrinking religion down to very human size and scoffing at the very ideas of piety and intolerance. There's enough weirdness here to keep you guessing, and just enough genuine humor to deflate most pretensions. "Dogma" may very well be the best bad movie of the year.