There probably hasn’t been a movie that’s stirred up as much protest from Catholics as Kevin Smith’s hilariously irreverent “Dogma” is bound to. The movie, Smith’s first film since 1997’s great “Chasing Amy,” was sold to Lions Gate Films by Miramax earlier this year amid fear that there would be a massive religious protest against Disney, the studio that owns the Miramax studio.

Just a month ago, there was a widespread Catholic protest against the film, even though it was acknowledged that pretty much everyone protesting actually hadn’t seen it.

Well, to everyone intent on picketing movie theaters showing “Dogma,” here’s some advice: Go see the movie before you protest. See it not because it takes some bitingly funny shots against the Catholic Church, but because it does so while being profound about a religion not always in tune with the modern world.

The brilliance of “Dogma” is that the Catholic-born-and-raised Smith takes time to ask some real questions about faith, but does so in a way that probably no other filmmaker could. It’s unlikely that other directors would have the film’s hero working at an abortion clinic or have two angels go on a killing spree. And it is safe to say that very few would have the guts to cast George Carlin as a priest and Alanis Morrisette as God.

But Smith has done it, and all within the midst of his most complicated plot to date. The story centers on Bethany (Linda Fiorentino), a practicing Catholic who works at an abortion clinic and has pretty much lost all faith in God. One night, Bethany is visited by the angel Metatron (Alan Rickman), who takes her out for margaritas and explains that she has been chosen to take a pilgrimage to a New Jersey church. Her mission is to prevent two fallen angels from walking through its doors, winning their way back into heaven and wiping out the human race.

The two fallen angels are Loki (Matt Damon) and Bartleby (Ben Affleck), who look like two of the typical slackers who normally inhabit Kevin Smith pictures. Tired of hanging out in airports for eternity, the two have decided to lace their trip to the church with a killing spree to wipe out certain people who have violated the Ten Commandments.

Bethany’s path eventually crosses the angels’, but not before she is accompanied on her reluctant journey by two prophets, the 13th apostle and a muse. The prophets are none other than Jay and Silent Bob, the stoners from Smith’s other films portrayed hysterically by the director and the side-splittingly deadpan Jason Mewes.

The two encounter Bethany at the abortion clinic, a place Jay figures is a good place to meet “loose women.” The apostle is Rufus (Chris Rock), who is resentful of the fact that he isn’t included in the Bible because he’s black. The muse is Serendipity (Salma Hayek), who has lost her sense of inspiration and is forced to perform at a strip club for cash.

The film features a great cast of characters, and Smith keeps the pace moving briskly for the first two-thirds of the movie. Fiorentino is forced to play the serious heroine throughout the proceedings and is terrific, despite the fact that Smith hasn’t really given her a well-rounded character to play. Damon and Affleck, the latter in particular, make a strong team as the angels, and Rickman and Rock both add a good amount of comic flair to the proceedings. Even Hayek uses her limited range to good effect, while Jason Lee, Carlin and Janeane Garafolo all steal some scenes. But the movie belongs to Jay and Silent Bob. They get the movie’s funniest jokes and are so perfect in their one-of-a-kind delivery that the movie sometimes threatens to lag when they’re not on screen. As brilliant as most of “Dogma” is, it is nevertheless far from perfect. Smith has a tendency to drag his films on too long and at over two hours, “Dogma” threatens to wear out its welcome about 20 minutes before the end credits roll.

The fact that the movie gets bogged down in the mundane details of its overcomplicated plot certainly doesn’t help, nor does the fact that Smith feels obliged to include enormously bloated and cheesy special effects. For a director who is most successful at staging smart and edgy dialogue, the end of “Dogma” feels disjointed and overblown, right down to Alanis Morissette in a cringe-inducing appearance as a giggly and cartwheeling God.

Still, flaws aside, “Dogma” is worth seeing, as much for its big laughs as its surprisingly thought-provoking ideas. It’s obvious a lot of people are going to hate this movie for taking a different and fearless look at religion. But the joke’s on them. What Smith has really accomplished is a cutting-edge satire that’s laced with religious jokes, yet nevertheless is a testament to faith, and even more amusingly, to the comic antics of Jay and Silent Bob.