Atheist woman and fundy Christian family in “30 Days”
10 August 2006 by Cassandra
Did you happen to see “30 Days” last night? I didn’t know it was coming on, but I happened to see that my DVR was recording it, and the title was “Atheist/Christian.”
Episode Detail:
A freethinking mother of four finds religion (for a month, at least) in the home of an evangelical Christian family. “It’s not like you have an `unborn-again’ experience,” says Brenda as she tells her host family, the Shores, how she became a nonbeliever. During their month together, Brenda attends their Frisco, Texas, nondenominational mega-church as well as Bible-study sessions. No minds are changed, but understanding grows. Says host Scott Shore: “She forced us to look more at ourselves.”
What they left out of Scott Shore’s quote above was him saying that “if anything, she strengthened our faith.”
The atheist was a woman in her early 40s (I really thought that the fact that they used a female atheist in the show was a bonus). She was a married, stay at home mom with four children (as it mentions above). It was really nice to see the atheist in the show portrayed as a good citizen and a caring mother. I was so thrilled about that. When “Wife Swap” did their show with the Christian mom and the Infidel Guy, they really focused in on the atheists and how their parenting skills weren’t “up to par.”
The Christians were a family in Dallas, Texas. I don’t know what they did for a living or anything… It really only talked about them going to church and Bible study. They had 2 children and one on the way. The mother in the family seemed to be more understanding of the atheist woman and her beliefs. The husband seemed like a nice enough guy, but I thought he was a little condescending.
So the atheist had to go to church and bible study with the Christians and live with them for 30 days – WAY tooooo long, in my opinion. I mean, a week or two is one thing, but a month?? I would never make it.
Anyway, I think what struck me the most about the show was the fact that the Christians just could not understand how in the hell a person could live without God in their lives. He didn’t understand where their morals came from, or what their purpose for living was. It seems that some Christians see no value to their lives without God. Is that the case?
What didn’t I like about the show? It didn’t really let them get into any real detailed discussion. It just touched on a few topics. I would have really liked to see the atheist let them know what she thought and why. The Christian man was a bit intimidating to her though, so even if they had aired the discussions, she may not have been able to put up much of an argument. He kind of blew her off a few times when she was talking.
One of the best things about this show was that it wasn’t biased towards the Christians, in my opinion. It seemed to represent “us” in a really positive light! I wonder if Morgan Spurlock is an atheist.
If you missed it and you’re interested in watching it, here are the encore times (on FX):
Aug 12 – 2:00 PM
Aug 14 – 12:00 AM
Aug 14 – 11:30 PM
Photo and episode detail from tvguide.com
10 August 2006, on 8:51 pm
[...] Cross-posted at GifS [...]
10 August 2006, on 9:08 pm
First of all, sorry for the trackbacks… I hope you guys don’t mind that.
Also, I can’t keep up with you guys in comments!! Yikes! I’m reading them (thanks to Google Labs) but I can’t keep up. *Sigh*
10 August 2006, on 9:14 pm
What’s up Sean,
See this is how the MSM gets us. I haven’t seen the show, but I still feel there was bias, just from your description:
“(…)I think what struck me the most about the show was the fact that the Christians just could not understand how in the hell a person could live without God in their lives. He didn’t understand where their morals came from, or what their purpose for living was. It seems that some Christians see no value to their lives without God. Is that the case?”
If you mean that xtians think this, then yes. I’ve heard this crap all my life (usually followed by “I’ll pray for you”, which means you’re such a nice man. It’s a shame you’ll spend eternity burning in Hell). This is pandering to the xians, reinforcing their bullshit. Then there’s this:
“The husband seemed like a nice enough guy, but I thought he was a little condescending.”
Now, maybe the condescention could not be avoided, since it’s obvious the guy is incapabale of seeing beyond his tiny little worldview, but this could have been balanced in some way.
Last but definitely not least:
It didn’t really let them get into any real detailed discussion. It just touched on a few topics. I would have really liked to see the atheist let them know what she thought and why. The Christian man was a bit intimidating to her though, so even aired the discussions, she may not have been able to put up much of an argument.
As far as we know, there could have been some really deep dialogue. However, the Networks (and I do believe Fox produced this) are not about to let an Atheist sound too logical, as to avoid a deluge of letter and a boycott by Dobson, Roberton, Falwell, etc., like they did to CBS over that stupid Reagan movie last year.
Also, I did see the Wife Swap with the Infidel Guy. That WAS biased, especially when the xtian brought our hero to tears from her cruel psychological undercutting. The producers ate that up!
10 August 2006, on 9:16 pm
Oops, sorry Cassandra. I jumped to conclusions because I don’t see you post often here.
10 August 2006, on 9:31 pm
Hey DRB, no problem.
You’re right. There were a few things in the show that could have been done differently. I just know that it could have been worse (as it was in that Wife Swap).
After reading this I remembered one thing that a Christian woman said while they were at the Bible Study. She was saying goodbye to the atheist woman and I heard her say, “I wouldn’t want to be you.” It happened so quickly that the atheist woman didn’t even have a chance to respond to it (there was a lot going on at the time).
Also – I forgot to mention that the Christian couple and the atheist went to an Atheist/Freethinkers/Humanist meeting together at a coffee shop. The only thing that was accomplished there was talk about how atheists are persecuted by Christians for their beliefs. The also talked about “In God We Trust” being on money.
Damn, it all keeps coming back to me now…
10 August 2006, on 9:40 pm
I still believe that seeds get sown in every conversation. We may not see them sprouting, but deep down inside every theist who comes into close contact with an agnostic/atheist there’s a hardy little plant called “reasonable doubt” sending out its tendrils of rationality. The theist may think he’s killed it, may use all the illogic he can get his hands on on it – but it’s still there, germinating and creeping through him. It’s probably why they can’t help lurking, driving by, and/or commenting on sites like GifS!
But then I’m also an optimist…
10 August 2006, on 10:07 pm
Eve, respectfully, my opinion is a bit different. It’s obvious that most humans are just plain either too dumb or too lazy to put any thought into it at all. You have some humans that transcend that, but most don’t.
The hardest thing in the world is to change someone’s mind. It’s discouraging.
10 August 2006, on 10:17 pm
Martian: The hardest thing in the world is to change someone’s mind. It’s discouraging.
Too true – and I’m more than willing to admit I may be looking at human nature through rose-colored glasses sometimes. It sure does seem that most people are more than content to just “follow,” even if it makes no sense. “Sheeple,” indeed…
10 August 2006, on 10:40 pm
Take a look at Morgan Spurlock video interview with Bill Maher. They talk about 30 days and the Athiest show.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/16305491/ref%3Dent%5Ffb%5Fhdr%5Fups/002-3728242-3164053
Look for Morgan Spurlock on the left side towards the bottom for his interview.
10 August 2006, on 10:50 pm
I spent close to fourteen straight days with my own family last summer and, by the end of it, they were pretty fortunate that a beach house doesn’t generally have an axe in it’s shed. Double that, make it a strange set of fundies, and add a television crew? Man, I’m glad no one sent me to that audition.
10 August 2006, on 10:57 pm
I think that the show was heavily edited and was not a true representation of all of the dialogue that went on.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I’ll say what I thought about the stuff we DID see.
I thought they picked a good representative of the atheist community, except I felt she was way too quiet. She did not have good answers for their questions about morals, and she really did not give them anything to think about. If anything, the Christian wife seemed to voice the atheist view better than the atheist did. (I must admit the whole time I kept thinking how some of you on here would have done a much better job at explaining the atheist veiwpoint than the woman they chose.)
I enjoyed the atheist meeting at the coffeeshop. I felt like those guys made some really great points, things that most theists do not consider.
I became the most riled when they showed the street interviews, asking people what they think of when they hear the word “atheist”. One guy said, “Narrow-minded,” and I had to laugh at the bitter irony of it.
I was on pins and needles through the whole thing. I’m so glad that they showed the xtians learning more about the atheist than vice versa, which is how it should be since they are the majority. And the atheist they chose for the show used to believe in god, so she had already experienced both sides. I was worried that it would be all about the atheist coming to ’see the light.’
It could have definitely been worse, like the episode of Wife Swap that you’ve mentioned. They picked some pretty pathetic examples for atheists on that show.
10 August 2006, on 11:30 pm
Martian,
While stupidity and laziness are factors, I think the greates obstacle is FEAR. Faith is a manifetation of fear; the fear of our own mortality.
As far as our hero on the show (and bear in mind I haven’t seen it) she was probbly picked because she was polite, and it’ “polite” to be quiet about controversial subjects.
Or so said my debutante grandmother.
I’m sure she’s a lovely, alticulate woman that I would enjoy talking to. Probably an upstanding citizen to boot. However, she was probably more than accomodating to the producers that wanted someone who wouldn’t actually challenge a fundie in their own living room.
RainDog doing “30 Days”? That’s Pay per View material. And probably GREAT TV. But probably wouldn’t “help the cause” if you know what I mean. Burning crosses in yards and all that.
We’re pretty militant here, folks. I plead guilty as charged, and damned proud of it. Maybe not the best public face for us persecuted atheists at this juncture in history, though. I’d love to think one TV how would bring thousands of unconverted to GifS, but it would take a lot more than that. I would like to be an optimist, but I’m too attuned to reality. I’m an atheist, after all.
So, maybe Spurlock did us a favor by censoring our hero.
Maybe not.
I need input. What you all say?
10 August 2006, on 11:42 pm
Morgan Spurlock is on Letterman tonight, incidentally.
10 August 2006, on 11:44 pm
Well, I love how I’m supposed to be all kind and understanding about people’s god fantasy. Yet as Sam Harris says, if a person told me that they had a large diamond in their backyard, that they had never seen it, but just had faith that it was there, we would think they were nuts.
Why does that not apply to the god fantasy?
10 August 2006, on 11:54 pm
While not every episode of “30 Days” has been good (the binge-drinking mom was a weird premise at best), Spurlock’s a very solid journalist who covers both side pretty thoroughly. FX is having a marathon of the first season this Saturday, I believe, and many of the episodes (especially the one in which a fundamentalist Christian who lives with a Muslim family for 30 days.
Like Amy, I thought the mother was unable to communicate very well. I don’t think that’s the way the show was edited, because they included the Christian parents’ attempts at conversation. (”We know what you don’t believe, but we don’t know what you do believe.” I could answer that in a TV-friendly sound bite, and any atheist should be able to.)
One point that hasn’t been brought up yet was that the study group, of course, brought up evolution and repeated a number of common misconceptions, and not being an evolutionary biologist, of course, she couldn’t bat away all of their little aphorisms. That was tough to watch, but relatively few people could’ve done better.
First-time visitor, by the way, and glad to have found a tribe.
Bob
11 August 2006, on 12:02 am
Thanks RDZ. It’s on now.
11 August 2006, on 12:21 am
Martian,
It does, but society has not been indoctrinate for 6000 years on the “diamond in my backyard” fantasy. Unless you count the Beverly Hillbillies…
Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed
Poor mountaineer Barely kept his family fed
Then one day he wuz shootin at some food
And up from the ground come a bubblin’ crude
OIL THAT IS
BLACK GOLD
TEXAS TEA”
11 August 2006, on 12:23 am
Martian, it absolutely does apply to the gawd thing. There’s just such a majority of those who can’t figure out how to live without that “diamond” that the fiction becomes the fact in monotheistic cultures. We’re the crazy ones, up is down, and, somehow, George Bush is in the White House. I’m still scratching my head over that last one.
11 August 2006, on 1:07 am
“if a person told me that they had a large diamond in their backyard, that they had never seen it, but just had faith that it was there, we would think they were nuts.
Why does that not apply to the god fantasy?”
We might not think they were nuts. There are other options.
There is such a wide range of intellectual ability in the human population. Some minds have an extremely difficult time with logical thinking. Critical thinking skills are not taught in schools. Skepticism is frowned upon by many. I remember trying to explain some mathematical calculation to a friend of mine in high school. What was perfectly simple and understandable to me was completely incomprehensible to her. Her lack of ability to comprehend and her subsequent failure to pass the course was not for lack of trying. I knew she was making every effort to succeed, but her brain just could not function on any mathematical level. (She was a great people person though and kids loved her to death.)
Our frustration with those who cannot “see” the stupidity of believing in non-existent beings shouldn’t lead us to assume they are all “nuts”. There are scientists who avoid jumping to conclusions and do research to try to explain why people believe fantastical things. i.e. Breaking the Spell by Daniel Dennett or The God Gene by Dean Hamer
11 August 2006, on 1:33 am
It is frustrating when, after presumably having similar experiences, we arrive at such drastically different interpretations. Why does life have to be so damn complicated?
A bit less facetiously, it should be impossible to change other people’s minds about anything of great importance to them. All you can do is put your arguments out there for consideration. Something may resonate with them or suggest a view of things they hadn’t considered. That’s about all you have a right to hope for.
11 August 2006, on 1:33 am
Lynda,
That’s actually brilliant. However, I would contend that xian programming gets in the way for most people to “get it”.
Maybe not for your friend, but many others.
Like the trolls we get here.
I posit the question: if they weren’t programmed from the time they could undertand language, would they be fervent believers?
11 August 2006, on 1:42 am
Mellow Monotheist,
How about:
“I’m sorry, but you’re programming is obsolete and flawed.” Here’s a science book, and it’s virus-free. Well, the virus of misinformation, that is.
Relax. It’s only science…
11 August 2006, on 3:26 am
Did anyone else laugh out loud when the xian dad totally avoided the question by the atheist in the coffee shop?
(paraphrase, talking about “in gawd we trust” on dollars)
Atheist: “What if it said ‘there is no god’ on our money?”
xian: “But it doesn’t.”
Atheist: “What if it did?”
xian: “It says in ‘gawd we trussst’.”
Atheist: “What if it said ‘THERE IS NO GOD.’ Wouldn’t you be offended?”
xian: “It doesn’t say that.”
etc, etc
I’m sure this is a poor parrot dialogue for what was actually said, but it is fairly damn close.
The xian dad guy totally sidestepped a question he couldn’t answer (or didn’t want to.)
I thought it was a little editor’s (or Spurlock’s) jab at the denial inherent in theism. Theists deny when logic steps in front of them.
If Spurlock isn’t an atheist, I know he’s at least very liberal and maybe irreligious. (On one of last season’s episodes he displayed his ACLU membership card on camera.)
11 August 2006, on 3:42 am
Lynda says:
Critical thinking skills are not taught in schools.
Ramen to that.
11 August 2006, on 3:45 am
Atheist: “What if it said ‘there is no god’ on our money?”
xian: “But it doesn’t.”
Atheist: “What if it did?”
xian: “It says in ‘gawd we trussst’.”
Atheist: “What if it said ‘THERE IS NO GOD.’ Wouldn’t you be offended?”
xian: “It doesn’t say that.”
I didn’t see the show, but that is a hugely relevant argument. Give us a reason why, folks. Print half the bills with “In God We Trust” and the other half with “Who The Fuck Knows?”
11 August 2006, on 3:50 am
MellowMonotheist Says:
It is frustrating when, after presumably having similar experiences, we arrive at such drastically different interpretations. Why does life have to be so damn complicated?
Because, in your interpretation, there is an invisible hand guiding it, which brings up huge moral questions. And then we have to ask: why would this being be so cruel? Easiest and best answer: he’s not there.
11 August 2006, on 6:32 am
My first time here, found you through the Bad Astronomer’s blog.
It always amazes me that people with religion can’t understand how people without it can have any morals. If you only have morals because you believe that you’re going to be punished in the, supposed, afterlife for being naughty in this one, then you don’t really have morals, you have fear of being found out!
11 August 2006, on 8:28 am
Oh man! I can’t believe I missed it even after I posted about it in advance. Hopefully, the DVR caught it.
11 August 2006, on 10:18 am
Why do so many people believe in god and declare their allegiance to one brand of religion or another? For the same stupid reason they buy clothes that look like their neighbors, live in a vinyl village in suburbia, join a fraternity, or do any other thing that millions of other people do…TO FIT IN! There is always that need to live in the village not on the fringe, especially for those who are weak and insecure.
So as to the atheist woman subjected to a house full of xians, why would she say anything? Roll with the punches for a month, collect the check, and go home.
As a liberal atheist in conservitive red state Indiana, I too have learned just to keep my mouth shut part of the time and let the fundies rant on. After a while it becomes like a bed time story character that weaves its way into the play of a child: It’s not real, you know it’s not real, but to the child who needs an imaginary friend, it’s real.
So maybe atheists should lobby to print money with the slogan “In Imagination We Trust”…
11 August 2006, on 10:39 am
Russman: “So as to the atheist woman subjected to a house full of xians, why would she say anything? Roll with the punches for a month, collect the check, and go home”
(Sorry, not sure how to use the quote blocks)
I agree with you on this one; I do the same thing living in the babble belt and all. I tend to stay quiet as to not incite the wrath of my xtian family, friends, and acquaintances.
I take issue with this woman, however, because she voluntarily elected to go on this show and represent the atheist point of view. I just don’t think she did it well, and if she was there to educate the public as to the atheist ‘philosophy’, well, she did a terrible job.
11 August 2006, on 11:32 am
However, if she was there to ‘break the ice’ and show that atheists are not drooling rapists bent on destroying society… She did just fine.
As much as I would have LOVED to see RDZ or Prof Myers (pharnygula) in that position, I think the more ‘militant’ style would have closed the doors and minds of too many ppl. Remember, for the most part we really aren’t dealing with people of spectacular intelligence. They are sheeple who are frightened and easily confused and they are used to being led about by the nose and lied to on a daily basis. They need to be fed the truth in small amounts until they learn to think for themselves and make and informed decision.
11 August 2006, on 11:58 am
Welcome Bob S. and Bassmanpete
I saw the show and didn’t like it very much. Your view of the xian dad is very generous – I though he was a dick. He refused to listen, he intimidated the atheist mom into not talking, he refused to answer questions at the coffee shop. One minute he was like “discrimination against atheists is bad” and the next he was like “if you don’t like that our money says ‘In God We Trust’ you can GTFO of our country”. I did think the atheist mom handled herself very well; if it had been me in that Bible study group I would have felt very threatened (it makes me extremely uncomfortable to be put on the spot like that by large groups of people) and thus would have gotten defensive and angry. The xian mom was a very nice person though, and not dense like her douchebag husband.
11 August 2006, on 12:07 pm
What was the other show that did this? It was similar to Wife Swap, and it exchanged the monstrous, terrifying GAWD WARRIOR for the hempified, free-thinking hippy.
Anyway, even though the woman wasn’t truly an atheist, it still pissed me off to see her attacked by the other wife’s friends. Especially the blonde bitch. It seems a trend that networks keep choosing meek, quiet types to portray the non-Christian lifestyle, so that when pressed into a corner, they won’t be able to defend themselves or their beliefs.
11 August 2006, on 12:46 pm
While I thought the atheist woman handled herself fairly well and was a good representation of your average atheist, I thought the show itself wasn’t quite as enthralling as the other two this season. I kept waiting for the big confrontation or climax, but it never happened. I think the Christian woman did “evolve” somewhat over the show but the husband was a lost cause. I noticed the same hypocrisy that Nymphalidae pointed out. The husband tried to appear tolerant, but when push came to shove, he wouldn’t listen to reason and told the Atheist group to leave the country if they have problems with government endorsement of religion. But then later in the show, when the rest of the Atheist woman’s family comes to join them for a weekend, the Christian husband is worried that the Athiest family isn’t allowing their children to be open-minded about religion (of course, he forces his children to pray before every meal and brainwashes them with Bible stories).
Another thing that really annoyed me about Christian dad is that he kept asking Atheist mom “We know what you don’t believe in, but what do you believe in?” And I kept asking myself, “believe about what?”. The question is so open-ended that it is impossible to answer satisfactorily and thus it seems the real motivation behind such a question is to make the person attempting to answer it look like they don’t know what they are talking about. It reminds me of how men will ask “What do women want?” not because they really want to know (if they did, they would be more specific) but rather to make it seem that women don’t know anything about themselves. And of course, like it is possible for one Atheist or one woman to answer for an entire group of diverse people.
The most interesting thing to me in the show was the few snippets of the preacher giving his sermon at Church. You may find this hard to believe, but I have never been to a Church service, so maybe this particular church is not representative of mainstream churches, but I was surprised at the violent imagery that he used. I think I remember him saying that the “Sword is the voice of God”. It was almost as if he was trying to rally the troops before they went into battle. I clearly got the impression that they felt they were fighting a “war” and that force and violence were not out of the question.
11 August 2006, on 1:10 pm
Regarding having “In God We Trust” on our money, even if I was a Christian, I don’t think I would want money associated with God. After all, money is used to by illegal drugs, alcohol, pornography and time with sex workers, gambling etc.
11 August 2006, on 1:33 pm
Regarding having “In God We Trust” on our money, even if I was a Christian, I don’t think I would want money associated with God. After all, money is used to by illegal drugs, alcohol, pornography and time with sex workers, gambling etc.
Why do you hate America? I’ll bet you’re communist.
11 August 2006, on 1:53 pm
Tommykey,
When you go to the grocery store, gas station, or hardware do you barter for goods and services? Money in itself is an inert object, capable of neither good nor evil. It’s all in the hands of the user…Since you don’t want money associated with God or any other evil, why don’t you send all your US currency to me. After all, it has probably been in a collection plate somewhere and it all says “In God We Trust”. I will be happy to help relieve your phobia of cash!
11 August 2006, on 2:31 pm
Lynda said:
“Some minds have an extremely difficult time with logical thinking. Critical thinking skills are not taught in schools.”
Yeah, contrary to the Declaration of Independence…All ‘men’ are NOT CREATED [they evolved]…and certainly they’re NOT EQUAL [even under the $Law?]…
”Hey, (to the Fundies) open your eyes!” OR, the old…”Some are more equal than others!…Ha, ha!”
That reminds me, that so many of ‘us atheists’ were not, specifically, taught critical, logical thinking as children…I, for one, was heavily ‘programmed’ in well intentioned Catholic grammar schools etc….BUT, we all managed to,…eventually…’overide’ whatever programming or, if you will, ‘brainwashing’ that we got, with an apparent innate ability to…‘get it’. Is it in the DNA, or genes, or what?
In other words, some people will, and some others will NEVER get it, …like Lynda’s fellow student…and some ‘associate’ humans, whom we all know in our own personal spheres, will never get it.
That’s just, …to use the old cliché:…“the way the cookie crumbles!”
To continue…
Sean commented:
Print half the bills with “In God We Trust” and the other half with “Who The Fuck Knows?”
I suggest: “Why the fuck do we have to say anything about whom we do or don’t trust…
”Take it all off…Baby!”….
OR…similarly to Sean…maybe “In OURSELVES We Trust!”…if anything.
By the way; is there any OTHER country on the planet that has that dumb shit on its money? I guess, as others have noted, one might as well have:
“In Santa We Trust”…or…”In Unicorns We Trust”…”In Zeusie We Trust”…”In (you write in pencil on the bill) We Trust”…
of course, the ever popular: “In The Flying Spaghetti Monster We Trust”…
”In Politicians We Trust”…OOPS!!…That did it!…Now, I’ve gone WAY too far!
Did I somehow hear Sean say: “Nobody stones ChuckA, until I blow this whistle!”…?
OK, while I’m at it:
We go to RavenHolm Said RE the coffee shop atheist scene:
“I’m sure this is a POOR PARROT dialogue for what was actually said, but it is fairly damn close.”
My Python addiction immediately sprang into action with the DEAD PARROT sketch visualization,…OF COURSE, what else!…
John Cleese: “This parrot is dead [etc.]”
Michael Palin [?]: “No it’s not; it’s just resting!” etc.
My use of that sketch as an analogy to the coffee shop scene’s ‘conflict’ being?:
“Never the twain shall meet”!
Anyway, lot’s of great comments, guys…”as is your wont”!
“I wont, I wont!” “You will, you will!”…ad infinitum?
11 August 2006, on 3:58 pm
“In God We Trust” on money is so very hypocritical. Try telling this to a waiter as you leave the restaurant without paying for the 4 course meal you just ate: “Oh, I trust that God will pick up the tab. Have a nice day.”
Is it that the more money you have the more you trust in god? Trusting in a non-existent sky daddy is so much easier when you have the money power to buy what you need.
I find it interesting that the mark of the beast prophecy talks about not being able to buy or sell without the mark of the beast. US money is used all over the world. Hey, does “in god we trust” work out to 666 by some ancient numerical system?
11 August 2006, on 4:06 pm
Good points about critical thinking, Lynda and ChuckA; I wasn’t taught logic or anything like that, either (at least not until I took philosophy in college, and it wasn’t an entire course in itself, just part of a larger whole), and I was just as fundie-ized in the protestant way as Chuck was in the catholic.
Are we maybe more willing to challenge ourselves and be challenged thinking-wise? Are we excited and enthusiastic about pushing the boundaries, breaking the glass ceiling, going beyond, thinking outside the box, and all those other cliches so easily bandied about but so seldom put into actual practice? I’ve watched people physically back away from “uncomfortable” subjects, conversations, and discussions, anything that might lead them into too much questioning.
Is it really just some of us? Are the majority of human beings perhaps not capable of engaging in these kinds of dialogue?
Oh and ChuckA, that dead parrot? “‘e’s stunned!”
11 August 2006, on 5:01 pm
This was episode 3 right?
11 August 2006, on 5:49 pm
Off topic a bit. I give out coupons for my business and do marketing with phony $100 bills. Instead of In god we trust I put “In Jim We Trust”. HA
11 August 2006, on 6:41 pm
Instead of “In God We Trust” replace with “In Humanity We Trust”. It sounds much more appealing to me particularly as the USA was founded for “We The People”.
11 August 2006, on 7:05 pm
Russman, I am an atheist silly! I said if I was a Christian I would object to having In God We Trust on our money. So I must respectfully refuse your offer for me to give you every cent I have.
ATM, Morris Berman, author of “Dark Ages America”, suggested a better slogan to be put on our currency: “What’s In It For Me?”
11 August 2006, on 7:50 pm
Here’s a direct link to Bill Maher’s Morgan Spurlock interview:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/movie-player-dashboard/permalink/271:267/103-8918100-3278208
11 August 2006, on 11:01 pm
Sorry Tommykey. I really missed what you were saying and thought you said “As a Christian”…Oops! I personally have never met anyone that wasn’t fond of cash but I thought for a moment that maybe I had found someone who wanted to get rid of some… Were the hell are my reading glasses anyway?
13 August 2006, on 12:45 am
Tommeykey, that’s excellent. But, we should probably just change it back to “E. Pluribus Unum” just to make everyone happy.
13 August 2006, on 12:48 am
Er…By “we” I actually mean “you” assuming you’re American, because I’m Canadian and there’s really not much I can do to change what it says on your money.
14 August 2006, on 12:45 am
Here are some even more direct-er links to Bill Maher’s Morgan Spurlock interview (for some reason the flash won’t load in Safari, so I dug up these direct links to flash movie (flv) files):
large version
medium version
small version
14 August 2006, on 12:54 pm
“They need to be fed the truth in small amounts until they learn to think for themselves and make and informed decision”.
If they have not learned to think for themselves by the age of 30, there is now hope.
15 August 2006, on 10:28 am
Atheist on 30 Days…
In a previous post, I expressed come concern about what I feared the 30 Days episode involving an atheist going to live with a Christian family might involve. I suggested that it would make more sense to have a Christian move in with an atheist famil…..
15 August 2006, on 5:55 pm
There IS no value or purpose to life without Satan.
21 August 2006, on 7:15 pm
Or the Great Goddess Isis.
24 August 2006, on 4:00 pm
US.
I think its funny that you used the word us near the end of your comments. Like… you feel you need to be part of a group, that you feel alienated, misrepresented etc.
hmm you sound almost human.
these are universal kinds of feelings.
why are you writing about FEELINGS!
who the EFF cares about how anyone FEELS..
what is TRUE.. what is REAL…
and what is real is.
its not crazy to believe in god. there are just some crazies that do and some crazies that don’t.. some touchy feely types that do and some touchy feelyl types that don’t.
you CANNOT judge crazy or intelligence levels on whether someone believes in god.
some people FEEL the need to believe in god just like you FEEL the need to be part of an ‘us’.
have a nice day
25 August 2006, on 1:46 am
and, Kent J
belonging to the Invisible Daddy in the Sky Club is the only reason some of these a**holes don’t go around stealing everything that isn’t glued, screwed, or tattoed down.
RAmen!