Scary Evangelicals
[Alexandra Pelosi] the daughter of House speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled the Bible Belt to bring back footage of fundamentalist worshipers, as well as Christian miniature golf courses, wrestling federations, car clubs and theme parks. Her guide for much of the journey was Ted Haggard, president of the 30 million-member National Association of evangelicals until he resigned in November after evidence of his gay relationships and drug use came to light. The film was completed a week or so before that happened, and Pelosi chose not to revisit the interviews to make points on evangelical hypocrisy, though she might have…Well said!
Still, the parts of the film that were most troubling were not about abortion or gay marriage or even the incredibly pathetic attacks on evolution. Rather, it was the willingness of evangelicals, young and old, to accept as figurative and literal gospel anything and everything fed to them by authority figures. They appear as automatons, unable or unwilling to question the pronouncements of their leaders.
Also difficult to watch were those who, despite having elected a born-again president and established giant radio and TV networks and a political power base second to none, still feel they are a persecuted minority. If Pelosi's intent is to show that evangelical faith suffocates reason, the point is well-made.
Labels: Religion
posted by BrooklynKat at 12:43 PM
*
7 Comments:
Evangelicals are scary? How original. The whole idea that bible bangers don’t use their intellect is so bogus. And what is the comment on evolution? I’m sorry, it takes as much freaking faith to believe in the theory of evolution and all the holes in that messed up concept as it does to believe in something like intelligent design. What planet is this chick from anyway?
I always love it when people like this put the bible bangers down like they are a bunch of dumb rednecks who blindly follow whatever their told. At least they’re not responsible for the moral decay of our society? Who do we blame that on? What is the rule now? Anything goes? If it’s okay for you it okay? I get a little confused anymore. Let’s say I believe it’s okay I bash your brains in, am I good to go? We have laws against this right? Does that mean it’s not okay…just because we have laws? Who decides then what is right and wrong? Is it you…..is it me? Is there no concept of right and wrong.
Ya, you may find the Evangelicals scary, but I find people like this writer far more scary. Their arrogant attitude terrifies me.
It is impossible to argue with someone who believes in the strict word of the Bible when it comes to things like Evolution. To believe in something absolutely is both liberating and blinding. You don’t have to pester your mind with questions but neither do you grow and improve society. I am not a “godless” liberal. I do believe in a higher power, but I also know that science is fact. Gravity, for example, is an intangible idea but you know it when you fall on your ass. Evolution is FACT; there is more than ample proof that this is how life came to be. Evolution is going on right now and scientists can show you if you only would listen. Maybe if you visited a museum or read a book once in a while… but that would mean expanding your horizons, and God wouldn’t want that, would He?
On the other hand, I have read the Bible and I’m not impressed. After all, it’s a primitive work of fiction, written by Iron Age peoples who feared things like the flu.
And on a side note, I can easily argue that the Evangelicals are equally taking part in this so-called moral decay of our society. There are thousands of examples but I’ll give you the most recent – Ted Haggard, a heterosexually married man taking it up the ass from a male prostitute while snorting angel dust and coke; isn’t that morally deprived? And yet you foolish worshipers listened to this man and more importantly gave him the money to fund his “habits.” If only you would be a conscious, curious, critical human being, you hard core religious-types might not get so easily duped over and over and over again by your “spiritual leaders”
A couple of things BrooklynKat-
Science as fact is a silly notion that has grown since the Enlightenment replaced Aristotelian-style thinking. But science is not fact. That is, if you believe fact to be an ever present, unchanging truth. Certain facets of it are. Sure, gravity is certain...on earth...under standard conditions. Just like anything else, however, it can be manipulated...say somewhere without gravity or in a chamber here on earth. Science is always evolving and always proving itself wrong or misled or misunderstood. New scientific breakthroughs are constantly blowing/opening the minds of those who thought the science before it was fact. Say for instance the development of our understanding of the atom. We are all stuck on a "factual" notion of the atom. Who is to say that new science won't reveal something completely different about the atom and its functions in the future. If those new revelations are opposite of our current factual scientific beliefs, well I guess we were all a bunch of ignorant believers then.
You can detest Christian belief because it is so simple minded (in your opinion), but at least it is hard-line. The beauty of "science as fact" is that when everything turns on its head, you can just attribute is to the wonders of science...the all mystical, ever-evolving god. The problem is you're never held accountable for believing what was wrong because you just fall back on the fact that, hey, science will do that to you.
Your points are as naive at times as me calling you an idiot for falsely believing Pluto was a planet. I mean come on, we all know now that it is scientific fact that it isn't...even if it was scientific fact that it was for our entire lives before the recent change.
Evolution, certainly an interesting and compelling idea, is just about as easy to prove as any religion. Why? Because you have to convince people of it...just like a religion. Evolution, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, etc., all require a step beyond simple, Enlightenment-style reason. At some point, whatever your belief here, you have to go out on a limb and just buy into something...you just chose the easy one to buy into.
I won't even dignify your comments on people getting duped by spiritual leaders.
Grant you proved your point; Christian's are smart, hurrah! But if i tried to debate you on all your points we'd be here for a lifetime. The problem with this discussion is that you and everyone that thinks like you tries to put religion and science on the same level, as though they are both some sort of philosophy you can choose between. But one has nothing to do with the other. One does not negate the other and one does not prove the other. If you believe that's great. My problem is i don't want YOU to tell ME what to believe. I know you think Christianity holds all the answers but if i asked a Muslim they would tell me the same of theirs, and a Buddhist would tell me the same of theirs. Practice your religion in your own house, stop trying to politicize everything and leave the rest of us alone.
I guess there is one thing we can agree on, and that is that I don't think Christianity or any other religion should be wrapped up in the government...and vice versa. The problem is, like you said, I do consider certain aspects of science (evolution for example) to have religious-like consequences. Therefore, I don't want it wrapped up in the government...and vice versa.
Also, if I came across as someone who pushes a christian-political agenda, then I sent the wrong signals. On my blog I wrote a post about why Christians shouldn't look to the government for answers. So sorry if I was misleading.
Well, we both agree that religon has no part in goverment. However, what about teaching in schools? There must be some kind of standard, and I agree with the writer of this blog, that Science is not one the same level wahtsoever with Religon. Your point about how science is ever changing and is therefore not a "fact"? well, that is the thing about science. I think fact is not the right word, but it is discovering how things work, and how to manipulate them. You may argue that religon explains how things work, but Science has much more acceptable (to me) proof and explains how you can manipulate it. Your point on gravity? Gravity is a fact, there is a therom for detirmining the force of gravity, based on distance to a mass and the mass of that mass. That is true everywhere, and is a fact! About evolution, it has proof, and well defined proof at that, so yes, evolution is a theroy, but so is electricity, or nuculer theroy, which we use everyday. Also, your own point works ageinst you to some extent, in that you say that cristians shouldn't look to the goverment for awnsers, well, what about the goverment forcing the religous beliefs of the (relativly) few on the many? that is what teaching intelligent disign would amount to, and is what the disallowment of gay marrige amounts to. There are many more examples, but I will only voice those few. You may even argue that this is a violation of the first amendment, the freedom of religon specificly. I belive there is nothing wrong with the Christan culture, as it gives people something to belive in, and while yes, the bible was written in the stone ages, it has some incredible literary meanings and divices. So, as a whole, I am just rasing the question of evolution vs. intelligent disign in schools, and voicing my opinion on that subject, as well as expressing my opinion about some of the prevous things talked about. Rember, every single person on this planet has some kind of Bias, and if you see something opposed to your bias you automaticly thing "what utter b*******."
Post a Comment
<< Home