Via Lousy Canuck, the news that a new production of Jesus Christ Superstar will feature Tim Minchin as Judas.
That’s the (very) good news. The bad news? After the jump: [Read more…]
Oh, this again.
The Beeb is once more mulling over the possibility of opening up “Thought For The Day” to non-theists; it has traditionally been a three-minute atheist-free zone in a little corner of the three-hour “Today” show. I first wrote about this three years ago, noting that
Excluding the atheists—sure, that’s ok—
So long as it’s only three minutes a day
Or judging your worth based on how much you weigh
So long as it’s only three minutes a day
Get out, if you’re black! Or you’re white! Or you’re gray!
So long as it’s only three minutes a day
And keep your mouth shut if you chance to be gay
So long as it’s only three minutes a day
(More at the link)
One of the utterly predictable, yet still annoying, reactions to the current mulling is Guy Stagg’s claim that the move “will expose the loneliness of atheism” (oh, the comments at that one!). Coming, as it does, so soon on the heels of the Reason Rally, I wondered what he might mean by that.
Mr. Stagg might well be lonely if he lost belief in god,
So he’ll keep believing, staunchly, till the end.
Cos let’s face it, he may only (though the concept does seem odd)
Have imaginary entities as friends.
Actually, Mr. Stagg claims no faith, himself, but doesn’t see atheism as offering a compelling alternative to religion. At Reason Rally, one of the t-shirts might have given him an idea: “Atheism isn’t a religion, it’s a personal relationship with reality.” That alternative certainly sounds compelling to me.
So… my atheist readers: are you lonely? My believing readers: are you?
(video below the fold, so as not to screw up RSS readers…)
“These were hard-core activists; when they withdraw money from the ATM, they said they take the bill and they take a pen and they cross out ‘In God We Trust’…”
Damn, that’s hard-core. Right up there with suicide bombers and Westboro Baptist Church.
It’s actually a fun piece. But listen, after their video–they laugh through a list of the things we are up against (e.g., the poll showing few would vote for an atheist candidate for president), and I have to remind myself, these are the same people whose forehead veins nearly pop at the sound of “happy holidays!”
Watch and enjoy, after the jump! [Read more…]
You can cheer for New England
You can cheer for New York
You can tailgate with hot dogs
Whether kosher or pork
It’s a clash of the titans
And it can’t be denied
One team or the other
Will have god on their side
You can watch from the sidelines
You can watch on TV
Or ignore it completely
Doesn’t matter to me
There are hundreds of millions
Who are watching world-wide
To find out which franchise
Has god on their side
An airplane is flying
It’s towing a sign
Saying “Football beats church”
It’s a lovely design
And it sends quite a message
To the people who tried
To pretend they were playing
With god on their side
And we’ll watch the commercials
And we might watch the game
One team or the other
Well, it works out the same
There’s no real advantage
I’m forced to confide
Cos the banner says neither
Has god on their side
Some day, in the future,
Whether distant or near
On some Super Bowl Sunday
It’ll all be so clear
Though there won’t be a tactic
Or a prayer left untried
Still, neither team ends up
With god on their side.
If the living undead
Have your thoughts filled with dread
And you’re seeking a morsel of heaven
Well, the people who make
All that spongy, filled cake
Have just filed for chapter eleven!
Yes, for some, dreadful news
And they’re singing the blues,
But some info is poorly construed
See, this cream-filling log,
On the NPR blog,
Has been categorized under “food”!
Yes, NPR is reporting that Hostess Brands Inc. is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Now, I haven’t eaten any of their products in years–perhaps decades–but think of them fondly, in the same way I think of avocado-colored kitchen appliances, greasy-spoon diners and curling linoleum, as icons of my early memories.
Michael Pollan would, of course, not call Twinkies a food at all, but a food-like substance. One could wish that the decline of Hostess might be blamed on a new health-conscious attitude; that is one of the company’s claims. But I don’t think whole-wheat twinkies will sell. If they are to survive, how will they be re-framed? Collector’s items? Zombie insurance?
I think the GOP candidates need to put out the word that Twinkies are patriotic. Eat them at every photo op, sign them for supporters, use them as props to evoke that nostalgia for a better, more simpler time. Plus, it could come in handy to explain some of their behavior.
I see that I shall never think
In lovely shades of girlish pink.
A pink whose colour’s oft expressed
In how sweet baby girls are dressed;
A pink that advertisers say
Should mark the things with which they play;
A pink that tints the young girls’ toys
And segregates them from the boys’
The experts say I’ll just make do
With boring bits of boyish blue
A fool like me can hope we’ll find
A future that is color-blind
With sincere apologies to Joyce Kilmer.
Appropriate video, after the jump: [Read more…]
I read it in the news, today,
And thought it rather odd:
“The world would be much better
If we all believed in God”
The heart of Christian charity
Depends on our belief;
It’s love of God that separates
The giver from the thief
Our movies and our novels serve
To highlight this conviction;
Though just like Aesop’s fables, they
Are moralistic fiction
The books about morality
Have overflowed the shelves
They show the hell that comes of people
Thinking for themselves.
Belief is what determines
How the common man behaves;
And everything goes smoothly
When we’re willing, happy slaves.
A bit more, after the jump: [Read more…]
What with the death of Christopher Hitchens on the front page of pretty much every news outlet in the world, the comments are full of people’s opinions about atheism and atheists. In the spirit of Shakesville, asking the question “Which film trope needs to go away forever?” (somebody quoted me there, which is how I saw it), I want to know which atheist tropes need to take a dirt nap.
I’ll start (thus snagging the easy ones): Inflamed hemorrhoid and commenter “Art Aficionado”, on NPR, on his third comment in the first eight on Barbara Bradley Hagerty’s piece on Hitchens (seriously, NPR, BBH? Were all the interns gone on college break?) writes “I can’t help but wonder if Mr. Hitchens prayed to God in his final moments. It’s very plausible.” He repeats this claim several times across the comments, in response to those who show him how unlikely this would be, and how irrelevant.
In the same thread, we see multiple commenters noting that Hitchens, despite Dinesh D’Souza’s (again, NPR, this is why BBH shouldn’t have been let near this piece) description of Hitch as “a happy atheist” (given D’Souza, this description made him stand out from other atheists), seemed to them to be bitter, unhappy, and angry. This trope imposes a personality on atheists that outshines any description or actual evidence of happiness, and it’s old, by this point.
Oh, but there are more! Another commenter pulls out the old favorite “atheism is like a religion in many ways.” In the same way that it is like peanut butter, or b-flat, or fuzzy kittens, maybe—they are both nouns. Any way that atheism is like religion, that is not much more true of Manchester United fandom, is utterly irrelevant.
I could go on, but that would defeat the purpose. What atheist tropes can we bury in an unmarked grave in Potter’s Field?
There’s no reason to cry or to pout
But in case you retain any doubt
Let me make it quite clear:
I invited you here
For the purpose of kicking you out.
Headline:Eric Bolling Boots Atheist Off His Show For ‘Denigrating The Name Of Jesus Christ’
Our story needs some punching up—perhaps a pithy quote—
But there’s no one here to interview—well, none of any note.
Could we maybe find an activist to share his point of view?
Oh, but one would be unbalanced, so we’d better look for two.
Yes, the more extreme, the better, cos we really need the scoop,
And it doesn’t really matter if it’s just a splinter group—
Just as long as they’re identified by something in their name
We can pretty much be certain that their views are all the same.
So extremists show up everywhere to share extremist views
And it’s “wingnut versus wingnut” as a substitute for news.
Context, after the jump: [Read more…]