A couple of weeks ago I was watching the film Doubt.  As I was watching there was a line uttered by Meryl Streep that made me jump up and get a pencil.  I backed the film up to listen to the line again and wrote it down.  The reason I did this was because I felt the line was a PERFECT line for Dogs in the Vineyard, perhaps even as a character Trait.  This was the line:

"In the pursuit of wrongdoing, one steps away from God."

I was highly amused (and somewhat vindicated) when the line was repeated in the film's final scene.

I don't know if the film is in any other way relevant to Dogs in the Vineyard but I really wanted to share that one line.

Jesse

I remember that line! It struck me at the time as a powerful statement of the film's themes.

It's an interesting idea.  I guess not being religious (or having any investment in faith at all), it's not powerful to me on a personal level, but as a way of understanding the world, it's fascinating (and, as you point out, a great idea to explore in Dogs).