20th May 2012
“It is worth asking why religions are so keen to remind us of the inherent 'flaws' in the human condition, not to mention the hints about the terrible things in store if you don't follow the safe path. Of course, if you can't convince people they're sick, they aren't going to buy the medicine are they?”
Anon.
May 20th, 2012 at 11:08
Interesting juxtaposition on my home page: AQOTD giving me this one, and my regular QOTD giving me:
A society without religion is like a vessel without compass. Napoleon
The folks with the names telling us that only religion can guide us, the folks without explaining why. Guess I don’t need to say much more about that, do I?
May 20th, 2012 at 14:11
It was for Napolean, as it is and has been for so many politicians, exactly the same: a useful tool for controlling the mass uninformed public.
A fair point the faithful avoid with indignance, the same kind of defensive maneuver you see in anyone attempting to justify being exposed a fool.
Rather than admit to being a manipulated fool, a dope that bought into faith, they double down on their stupidity.
Every debate between the faithful and an atheist ought to include some rigor on this.
I wonder how our dear xhim would address the preponderance of political leaders who view faith as a tool to control the masses? How is it that religious leaders are so often political? Why is it that Christ could preach from the fringes of society but Jerry Falwell, Joel Olsten, Creflo A. Dollar, Robert Schuller, Jim Bakker, Oral Roberts, and countless other charlatans could not?
What is wrong with separation of church and state? Mindless automaton just popped into my thoughts.
May 20th, 2012 at 14:16
From Wikipedia
Several televangelists are very active in the national or international political arena (e.g., Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, John Hagee), and often espouse conservative politics on their programs. Such televangelists may occasionally arouse controversy by making remarks deemed offensive on their programs or elsewhere, or by endorsing partisan political candidates on donor-paid airtime, at which point some have been threatened that they may have their tax-exempt status taken away if they reside in the United States.
Interesting follow on I thought.
May 20th, 2012 at 19:49
SINJIN………………….
jimmy swaggart has been an on-going source of
hilarity for YEARS !!! he’s SUCH a stupid puke……
he got busted TWICE for the same thing !!!! and, both times
he managed to claw his way back.
got a real thing for ”observing” POONTANG !!!
ah well………….when i was younger, i used to get up
on sunday morning…..do some rather specific ingesting
and inhaling…………and then watch his hideous telecast !!!
HE was a complete puke , of course, but the musical numbers
were fabulous. he had GREAT singers, and the arrangements
were always very pretty. (( side note : all the good songers
bailed on him the first time he got busted ))
i also used to bet with myself how far into his ”sermon”
he would start weeping…………..cuz he ALWAYS did..,,,,,
WHATTA SHOW. sometimes they’d feature his son Donnie
who was a real ”puke in progress”.
so anyway, these days, when i happen to catch him,
i like to watch joel osteen who mainly acts like he’s had
some sort of really bad head injury !!
his wife is big laffs, too. she’s been put off 3 airplanes
for creating a ”disturbance” which, i think you can
translate into drunk and disorderly !
but really, shes’s just window dressing. joel is the whole
show……………….and he’s a real “aw shucks”” sort of
guy who wants you to know that god’s yer pal.
lotta sniffing and weeping at joel’s shows…..and his
effortless religious alchemy changes those teardrops
into LOTSA greenbacks !!
check him out….. he’s fun !!