i had written a post on this particular ny times article from today about the patrick henry college, a college founded specifically for evangelical home-schooled christians. and it was pretty lengthy in pointing out the various aspects of the college and its politcal and religious aspirations that bothered me. but since its readily apparent my views on christianity, evangelists, and organized religion in general…i thought the post to be quite boring and repetitive. religious rants can be only so creative before it all starts to sound the same…*sigh*. so i erased it, and instead ill just write this lengthy thoreau-esque stream-of-consciousness/blatant run-on sentence.

bush’s white house currently has 100 interns 7 of which are from the patrick henry college bush is a twit evangelists are scary the college is a breeding ground for right-wing evangelists with political motivations thats even more scary than just being an evangelist fundamentalists scare me that is all.

and if you have the time, take a look at the mission statement of the patrick henry college. “biblical values” scare me…and their lengthy references to the scripture scare me too. the last time i read from the bible was right before i tossed aside my deficient baptist beliefs…

> evangelists from the phc (via ny times)
> patrick henry college for the scary and biblical

[ current selection | soundgarden – black hole sun ]
[ feelin’ | swishy ]

so whens this ash wednesday everybody talks about? is it this week? fun fun. mel gibsons the passion of the christ is premiering on ash wednesay, and it got its first vicious panning at the hands of david denby of the new yorker today. to put the movie in denby’s words, “The movie Gibson has made from his personal obsessions is a sickening death trip, a grimly unilluminating procession of treachery, beatings, blood and agony…” which, while i have not and probably will not see the movie, is on par with many of the descriptions ive read from articles supporting of the film. where gibson and his supporters see a brutal, but “accurate” portrayal of the last hours of christ, denby sees a sickeningly gruesome movie from any perspective, religious or not. denby was pretty critical about the way the violence was the central focus, leaving little in the way of a positive message coming thru. “His obsession with pain, disguised by religious feelings, has now reached a frightening apotheosis…“

to the non-christian, it will basically be two hours of beatings, whippings, crucifying, and generally brutal imagery. to the religious christian however…they will see exactly the same thing, except they will interpret it as a depiction of their saviour and his sacrifices for their sins. or whatever. religion is such an odd thing. it distorts peoples perceptions and ideologies until it befits what they see is compatible with the beliefs they try and subscribe. violence can become something passionate, suffering to be sanctimonious, and cinema a vehicle for the evangelical.

while i respect mel for believing greatly in his faith, many people (without the need of faith and religion to determine right and wrong) would find his methodology to be a bit disturbing. his situation isnt helped much by the fact that he even stated in an interview that his wife was going to hell because his church said so. right and wrong apparently have no gravity in his mind, only whos beliefs you subscribe to. piousness is obviously quite relative.

“i have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: “o lord, make my enemies ridiculous.” and god granted it.“
-voltaire

> new yorker review
> my wifes going to hell (via msnbc)

[ current selection | sol brothers – that elvis track ]
[ feelin’ | had lunch ]

hokay…ive been avoiding a particular juggernaut of critique-worthy news for some time now that not only crosses two of my particular favorite subjects…cinema and religion…but has also been fast approaching. mel gibsons the passion of the christ is just over the horizon, coming out february 25th. i had been trying to disavow its existence since i first read about it on aicn primarily because it was just too divisive of my principles. on one hand, i love cinema…but on the other, i find organized religion distasteful. ive refused to see the trailer, ive avoided all articles reviewing the movie, and shit you’d have to drug me and drag my unconscious body (which would probably still struggle instinctively) into the theaters to watch it. today tho, i went ahead and read the ny times article about how evangelical churches are saying the movie will be the modern catalyst for a religious re-awakening. or some shit. *shiver* christians…well, i just disagree with their religious beliefs. but evangelists? thats approaching unfriendly territory. i generally always act negatively towards evangelists…almost like an allergic reaction. my sis had a whole mess of friends that were pretty much evangelistic. “you know youre going to hell, right?” they used to ask me. nice guys, that lot. my sis asked me to visit her once in central jersey because she was coincidentally throwing a party that weekend. yep, the classic “im having a party“-trick. the “party” in question turned out to be some church event. gosh, they were a blast to hang with. whats that line they like using? oh yes…”why havent you excepted jesus in your heart yet?” because, uncle steve…buddha already took dibs on it and traded it to manwë for a rookie don mattingly. i hate you sis.

now with the passion of the christ, its like handing the evangelists a shiny gun. ok, mebbe not so much a gun as an industrial-sized fog horn that destroys eardrums and sets hair on fire. notable quotes from the article which i find funny…”Now those leaders are buying blocks of tickets, encouraging church members to invite their “unsaved” friends and co-workers…” yay! we’ve been collectively labeled! “This isn’t just violence for violence’s sake,” Mr. Luce said. “This is what really happened, what it would have been like to have been there in person to see Jesus crucified.” word…religious violence is quite justified when compared to your everyday violence. and its what really happened. “You’ll run into people at work who’ve seen the movie, and you can say, `Have you ever thought about why Christ had to die?…” ooh, hmm…nevermind.

> the passion of the bob christ (via ny times)

current selection | dido vs. bjork – hunter
feelin’ | holy shit…

in another rift between religion and intelligence, religious broadcaster pat robertson said that as he was praying, he heard god tell him that bush would win in 2004. “The Lord has just blessed him,” Robertson said of Bush. “I mean, he could make terrible mistakes and comes out of it. It doesn’t make any difference what he does, good or bad, God picks him up because he’s a man of prayer and God’s blessing him.” gods a republican…argh! and here i thought god was a bleeding heart liberal. so howard dean gets al gores endorsement, and george bush gets gods. hopefully the democrats can follow this up by scoring support from one of the major norse gods…maybe thor, or even odin. or maybe they could get brahma, lord of creation to endorse them. i mean, at the very least ganesh has to support the democrats…

the best quote from the article however, comes from rev. barry w. lynn, one of robertson’s critics. lynn said that he “…had a prediction of his own: ‘Pat Robertson in 2004 will continue to use his multimillion broadcasting empire to promote George Bush and other Republican candidates.’ In a reference to Bush’s political adviser, Lynn said, ‘Maybe Pat got a message from Karl Rove and thought it was from God.’“

> pat robertson talks out of his ass (via yahoo)

current selection | chage & aska – on your mark
feelin’ | imperious

we were discussing this article from the ny times during lunch about a tree stump in passaic, nj that people claim looks like the virgin mary. i wasnt going to write this entry, since then itd seem like i was in some spitty mood today (im actually quite cheery). i have to remind myself everyday that i want to be a nice and open-minded person when it comes to peoples personal beliefs. i really do. but fucks sake people, its a fucking tree stump! its not even a tree! its got the word “stump” attached behind the aforementioned “tree”!!! there are far too many people in this world who are honestly just very very stupid. theres always a news brief at least once a year about a patch of grass that looks like jesus, or wood grain that looks like the devil (the devil prefers birch), or elvis in someones cocoa krispies milk. lets take a look at this pragmatically for a second. lets say hypothetically that hey, maybe the virgin mary did indeed want to communicate with her legions of adoring fans. shes thinking to herself, “dude…mary, think! think of how youre going to communicate the glory of god to the laymen. hmm, a light from the sky? a mortal vessel (maybe a priest…or your average parole officer)? or hey…a tree stump. thats brilliant! im going to shape a tree stump in my visage.” no people.

current selection | dusted – deeper river
feelin’ | wide awake

i watched movies yesterday. and then i ate food. yeah.

quite the exciting sunday. anyhoo…statistics still show many americans are stupid creationism believers. i was kinda miffed that i didnt see (m)any scientific evolutionists retort with their own articles just railing them in response. well, til today…scientific american highlighted an article from their july issue with 15 reasons why creationists can eat shit. ok, their own title wasnt nearly as colorfully metaphorical, but it shouldve been. theres far too many bible-humping neo-creationists out there talking too much and convincing the general populace (who are dumb enough to believe their errored “facts”) that evolution is in doubt. the article seems a bit more staid than i liked it to have been. while you get the impression that the writer occasionally fashioned the letter “L” on their forehead as they wrote the article, they seemed quite intent on keeping a straight face while discrediting many creationists’ arguments. i think it wouldve been more interesting it they had sprinkled it with the occasional tirade.

if humans descended from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?
you are a fucking idiot. why don’t you ask uncle steve?

juvenile, yes. who cares?

on the other spectrum today, scientists have actually suggested that life couldve risen from clay! albeit not so much in a biblical “god molded man from play-doh“- type way, but more in the way that clay could in fact catalyze reactions to help in the formation of rna from nucleotides. its still enough however, to make religious butt holes say, “ha…see!?” well shuck my corn and call me jebediah…who wouldve guessed?

addendum
since mentioning the adventures of uncle steve…i got curious again and did a bit of a google search on the crazy baptist creation science fair. all it took was one site stating that it was a parody to convince me. it was just too stupid…even for creationists. the same site however pointed to an all too real site for the science of creationism…the almighty institute for creation research. the acronym icr can also be used for other fun abbreviations such as idiot creationists rock!, indignant cornish rugby, and instant castration, run!

ha. – article –

“…Catholics and Lutherans list two “thou shalt not covet” commandments: one against coveting your neighbor’s wife and one against coveting your neighbor’s property, including his ass.”

i thought id continue this thread too, in light of the ongoing stupidity down in alabama about the court house and the ten commandments monument. – article – first and foremost, lets just clarify that no, the constitution does not implicitly state that there is a separation of church and state. that however has evolved over time, and soon became precedent for the functions of the state. why the hell should there be a connection between church and state? we arent the vatican, and we do not all subscribe to the same beliefs. therefore if the state is the representation of us, the citizens, then the state is religiously multi-faceted. therefore it is by necessity that church and state remain separated in order to have no parity.

moore and his little group of praying holy nutters keep saying that they are for god and that judge thompson (who gave the verdict) was above god. right…and it wouldnt be awkward if say thompson didnt nessarily subscribe to the belief of god (i dunno). so whether he did or did not, or for that matter whether anybody who walks thru the doors of the courthouse did or did not, the fact that theres this big chunk of judeo-christianity smack in the middle of the lobby proclaiming gods words according to christians, i could see alot of ppl taking offense to that. moore stated that the foundations of america are inherently christian. well fuckity-doo…get over it. your ancestors were also racist slave-owning pot-growers. nobody seems inclined to use those as precedents. so this is apparently a great time to be an american right now….> the world hates us ….> terrorists want to kill us ….> and oh yes, theres a (christian) religious fervor sweeping the nation. super.

addendum
one of the better articles highlighting points that i agree with pertaining to the separation of church and state…from the boston globe. – article –

yay…another tirade on the right-wing christians of america. i never professed to be very p.c….but heres the usual prologue blah blah blah abt not being anti-christian (im actually anti-religion). this shit entertains me to no end. tien (via his friend rachelle) sent me this article on the growing rift between religious and intellectual america. more people in the u.s. are likely to believe in the virgin birth of jesus (84%) than they would in evolution (28%). ur kidding me. that offsets my original estimate of only 80% of the country being stupid. theres apparently a growing divide not only between religion and intellectuals in the u.s…but also the rest of the industrialized world. apparently no other industrialized nation (save possibly south korea) is as religiously nutters as america. why is that? is it b/c of bush? (who was purportedly ordained by the hand of god to be our president. chads are apparently gods new flaming bush. wait…get it? bwahaha!!!) tho america was sliding towards zealous religiousness even before bush took office. or is it b/c the majority of this nation are jus a bunch of paranoid flakes needing divine reassurance that they’ll be ok? i dont kno. all i kno is that if god willed bush to be our president, gods decision-making abilities are seriously suspect at the moment.

ok, someone plz tell me the aforementioned website was a joke. i went thru some more of their pages, and theres far too much stupidity to not be a joke. i thought the landover church was a pretty good and (initially) convincing web page…but this one even goes further along its path of diminishing brain cells. they even have a page dedicated to denouncing landover. if it isnt a joke, its beyond frightening.