All hail @MarkBurnettTV & @RealRomaDowney’s hilarious, white-washed @History channel @bibleseries!

History? No, no. We don’t trouble ourselves with fact or evidence.

Here’s a recap of the first episode.

Yes, yes. I’m white. Never mind my Semitic ethnicity.

I wrote about this when I first heard about it (and boy have the whiny, self-righteous, dishonest Christians come out of the woodwork since then!). The first episode has since premiered and, much to my dismay but complete lack of surprise, the ratings have been excellent. This of course means that more religious horseshit will most likely start pouring out of Hollywood. I actually have no real problem with that; H’wood’s a business and so will do what it thinks will make money, but I do have a number of problems with the series itself.

But rather than gripe for too long about that, I’ll let a couple others jump in here first.

My Conversation with Summer M. and Tammy B.

This conversation started as either Summer or someone else posted something on Facebook about some church corruption involving political contributions or the like. I don’t recall why I felt compelled to speak up as the germ of the conversation almost completely escapes me, so it must not have made any real impact. No matter as the
conversation quickly turned. My text is in italics. Summer’s and Tammy’s are in bold. Comments are in plain.

Summer M. See it all the time here in America In different ways. Wrong priorities. God’s church is not a building it is His people.

Though I never brought this up with Summer, I find this idea interesting and perplexing. If God’s capital-C Church is His people, then why do so many of those people build so many churches? Why not just meet in parking lots or each other’s houses? I know that happens with things like Bible-study groups. I imagine one reason is space and a sound system for the pastors to preach, but couldn’t that be done in parks? Isn’t that what was done during the great 19th century revivals? It just seems a bit of a false sentiment the whole “people” part.

Summer M. The whole world is corrupt not just churches, take politicians for example… If politicians really cared about our country they would use all those funds they are good at raising to build the economy up instead of building themselves up with advertising. Imagine if Mitt Romney and Barack Obama chose to use the money they raise to help people. But that will never happen.

It really bothers me when people say shit like “politicians are corrupt.” To me, it’s the negative equivalent of saying “babies are cute.” Yes, your statement usually is true, so what’s your point?

Anton Hill This is no surprise. Churches, like governments and corporations, exist to perpetuate themselves. Not too different from organic life.

I wish I’d gone into more detail on this as I think it was actually a pretty good point, but I just let it sit there in its underdeveloped, no-examples-cited glory.

Anton Hill @Summer Political campaigns cost money. How are politicians supposed to get elected?

Summer M. Believe me if they gave their money to help people it would make the news everywhere, if they truly gave with their heart people would notice. I know I’d vote for them. Think about how drastic of a thing it would be. Instead of talking abou…

She didn’t say anything further that would knock your socks off.

Summer M. Yes I do live in a fairy tale of dreams haha lol

And starring @AngusTJones as @4runner777′s bitch!

I don’t give a shit that Angus Jones is a Christian. I don’t even care that he’s an Adventist. I’m a little disappointed. He’s a cute kid with a well-funded future ahead of him, and it’s always my hope that young people don’t get swept up in indoctrination, but he has and it’s his life.

There were, however, a couple of bits that stuck out to me about this:

“I like black people. I’m not afraid to say it.”

–Angus T. Jones

Uh huh. Why would you be afraid to say it? Because it’s controversial? What, is this 1955? What a fucking weird thing to say. And notice how uncomfortable The Forerunner looks. Like, “Get off the ‘black people’ thing, kid. You’re digging yourself deep.”

“And I think that day, he showed me what the Bible taught about Hell… It’s there in the Bible. It’s there. And there’s no evidence for the opposing views.”

–Angus T. Jones

What he Hell?? (Ha ha.) At first, I thought he was saying that because the Bible is clear on Hell (I disagree), and because the opposing views have no evidence, that, therefore, Hell is real. Now I’m not so sure. It’s possible he was referring to any or all opposing views to Adventism. And I can’t really comment if his statement were that general because I’m neither an expert on Christianity in general nor on Adventism in particular.

But I can comment on Hell. It’s a well-documented fact that the concept of Hell evolved over the centuries starting with the vague notion of the grave/the abode of the dead (Sheol), to closer to a place for the wicked, based on the burning garbage heap of Gehenna which lay outside Jerusalem, to finally the modern concept, heavily embellished by extra-biblical narrative such as Dante. So this whole “what the Bible teaches about Hell” is only a piece of the story.

And it’s bullshit.

My Conversation with Linda on 9-23-12

The following conversation happened at Support Atheism in the comments section of my article Keeping Religious Friends. Two highlights were Linda’s insistence on Christian persecution and her appeal to her dislike of the fact of death as her reason for believing. Her text is in bold. Mine is in Italics. Comments are [in brackets].

Hi Linda,

Thanks for your comments. Following are my responses.

“I’m a Christian, don’t shoot me,”

I’m pretty much a pacifist, so wouldn’t dream of it.

“but this article is about the same struggles we have. We have been hated by people if we talk too much about God in our lives, but if we don’t we then deny a big part of us that we absolutely love.”

Except there’s a difference. There is far greater social acceptance in this country to religion in general and Christianity in specific. I’m sure you’ve been in awkward social situations, but politicians live and die by your vote. Not so with mine.

And this whole “God in our lives” thing is your choice. You don’t have to live that way. You choose to. Thus, as with any choice, the consequences of your choice are yours to bear.

@ChickfilA Has Got-To-St-A or @keishacory Is Full of Shit or Monkeys Handle PR for the @hensoncompany

Before I get to my thoughts (including why I’m picking on poor Keisha Cory), I’ll let Dusty Smith have the first word.

PART I: I DON’T GIVE A FUCK

I’m one of the lucky ones. Before about a year ago, I’d never heard of Chick-Fil-A. I’ve never had to go through this personal crisis of such-good-chicken/such-crap-morals. I was walking around in Hollywood, happened upon a construction site, happened to see the announcement sign of the forthcoming Chick-Fil-A restaurant, looked them up out of curiosity, and decided not to give them my money. That was it. That was all.

Then a few weeks ago, everyone discovered how to use the internet and learned how to read. What vast, arcane knowledge did the intertubes spew forth? Exactly what I’d learned a year ago. Chick-Fil-A has never hidden their beliefs. They’ve stuck them in plain site. It’s not like they up and decided to be homophobic assholes last year.

And that’s what they are. Homophobic assholes who cherry-pick the Bible for what they want, versus what they don’t. Cherry-picking Southern Baptists? I know. Stop the presses.