“Did your God come down and do it with his beard?”
Something interesting happened on the last episode of Survivor. A redneck’s anthropomorphic God was mocked to his face. Yes, I am the last surviving Survivor viewer, and it is for moments like this.
Mike, the classic redneck, was grousing about how much work he is doing compared to everyone else, while Lindsey the tattooed Gen-Xer thinks Mike is only aware of the work he does, and doesn’t notice when other tribe members pitch in by collecting firewood and keeping the fire going.
“Did your God come down and do it with his beard?” she asks pointing to the fire.
I loved the addition of “…with his beard.” A nice touch, as if to say, “Where is your God now, you ridiculous twit?”
As it turns out I should not be surprised by the mocking of a redneck’s shallow and stupid version of Christianity on TV or elsewhere. It is the new big thing, as Americans are opting out of religion (particularly Christianity) in droves.
New data from the American Values Atlas shows that while white people continue to be the majority in all but 4 states in the country, white Christians are the minority in a whopping 19 states. And, nationwide, Americans who identify as Protestant are now in the minority for the first time ever, clocking in at a mere 47 percent of Americans and falling.
Growing racial diversity is driving some of the change, but not all of it.
… another major reason religious diversity is outpacing the growth of racial/ethnic diversity is largely due to the explosive growth in non-belief among Americans. One in five Americans now identifies as religiously unaffiliated. In 13 states, the “nones” are the largest religious group. Non-religious people now equal Catholics in number, and their proportion is likely to grow dramatically, as young people are by far the most non-religious group in the country. This isn’t some kind of side effect of their youth, either. As Adam Lee has noted, the millennial generation is becoming less religious as they age.
As a result of this decline conservative Christians are panicking and the hysterical freakout on the right is turning ever more Americans off the Christianity altogether.
The irony is that this panic-based overreach is just making the situation worse for the Christian right. One of the biggest reasons the secularization trend has accelerated in recent years is that young people see the victim complex and the sex policing of the Christian right and it’s turning them off. And they’re not just rejecting conservative Christianity but the entire idea of organized religion altogether. In other words, the past few years have created a self-perpetuating cycle: Christian conservatives, in a panic over changing demographics, start cracking down. In reaction, more people give up on religion. That causes the Christian right to panic more and crack down more. In the end, Christian conservatives are going to hasten their own demise by trying to save themselves. Not that any of us should be crying for them.
These rednecks cling to guns and religion. Good thing guns are not allowed on Survivor.
Okay, you are not the last Survivor watcher. My daughter watches it. Whenever I catch her she just says, “Don’t judge me.”
Your parenting skills always shine through!!
You guys have to make the move to Ru Paul’s Drag Race.
Ahead of the curve at Last! Gave religion the boot 50 years ago. As for red necks, god , guns and bullets well… Religion remains the opium of the poor people, and it’s power is based on fear. Rednecks and many others fear being excluded from the god squad, despite that old favorite the “your going to hell” threat and others. About time it happened, kudos to the young and unafraid.
According to BlackDemographic.com Black Americans “are markedly more religious on a variety of measures than the U.S. population as a whole.” It cited that 87% of Blacks (vs. 83% of all Americans) are affiliated with a religion. It also found that 79 % of Blacks (vs. 56% overall) say that religion is “very important in their life”.
Also, according to HuffingtonPost.com, approximately 96% of African-Americans voted for Barack Obama in 2012.
I don’t see where you are going with the religion thing.
Your problems don’t interest me.
Of course not. I asked a logical question about your skewed vision of religion and your reference to “red necks” as religious zealots. I just thought you should understand that there are other God fearing people.
No you didn’t, but whatever.
Oh, but I did. Are only “red necks” religious or perhaps God is important to many people? Please answer that.
The linked article is self explanatory.
people who believe in god are terrified of a world without meaning. well, who isn’t? but positing a “god” to take care of this seems kind of abject. we should take our meaninglessness like men (and women). anyway, there are less damaging ways to seek meaning.
So…no personal answer to my question? You do say “It is the new big thing, as Americans are opting out of religion (particularly Christianity) in droves.” I just gave you an example of Americans that are “clinging to their religion”. I personally don’t care if you believe in God or an after-life. It is a very deep and personal place, but please don’t mock people who do.
I mock thee.
Still no logical answer. I thought so.
I don’t know what you are asking. Read the headline of the linked artcle if you read nothing else. No more hand holding. You are on your own.
Pathetic. At least defend your stance. If God is to be mocked, then do it, but don’t dismiss people who disagree with you. Again….is God important to some Americans or not?
“Rednecks and many others fear being excluded from the god squad….”
Bamboozer answered your question before you even asked it.
“You guys have to make the move to Ru Paul’s Drag Race.”
There is no fucking way I’m going to watch transvestites drive funny cars.
” It is a very deep and personal place, but please don’t mock people who do.”
Why not? If you believed in a flying spaghetti monster, would that be worthy of mockery? If not, then your God is ridiculous. If so, then same to you.
What part of this don’t you get? I don’t have to respect your respect for something you made up and insist is real. It’s pretty obvious you don’t respect the things that are important to others, as you mock them constantly, but suddenly we’re supposed to respect your made-up bullshit?
I won’t mock you. I’ll just tell you you’re the typical “Christian” asshole who’s too busy whining with self-pity to act like a real Christian.
The reason for the loss of Christians across America, is Fox News and the Republican Party of the USA,… Don’t believe me? Ask all former Christians under age 30.
They are abandoning Christianity in droves… The reason the Catholic total is not a as low as the Protestant, most likely rests in that for now an actual person behaving as a Christian is running THAT Church.
You simply cannot be Conservative and be a Christian.. They are antithetical opposites. All Christian conservatives are either not really Christian, or not really conservative… Don’t take my word for it; just check the original sources: a) Matthew,b) Mark, c) Luke, d) John.
I’m with Geezer. I’ll add, why do certain Christians seem to desperately need other people’s validation (respect) of their religion? I think all religion is nonsense and deserves to be mocked. If that matters to you then perhaps that’s your personal crisis of faith.
Jesus was mocked, too.
Since he is the basis of the Christian faith, you are welcome.
I believe in God. I am a Catholic. But what I can’t abide is bumper sticker Christianity where people feel the need to express their faith at every opportunity as if doing so makes them somehow more of Christian. They have this insatiable hunger to testify, whether it’s praying at school board meetings or concluding their sentences with “Praise Jesus.” It makes me wonder if they are trying to convince others or themselves.
While I’m at it, I also could not care less if your kid was the honor student at Little Squirt Middle School. And finally, hoisting a flag on a 40 foot flag pole does not make you a patriot. All it does is demonstrates your need to tell everyone how patriotic you are. I have no idea why people feel the need to share these things. I am mostly proud of kids and my country. I respect my religion, but I just don’t feel the need to make everyone aware of it.
I think Pandora scored on that one. Their need for validation is embarrassing. Fortunately for me I have always been self-validating (a legend in my own mind). Just don’t try that with parking stubs. It doesn’t work.
“Jesus was mocked, too. Since he is the basis of the Christian faith, you are welcome.”
If the actual Jesus of Nazareth heard you call him divine, he would mock you, too. It’s all well and good to emulate Jesus. It’s a crock of shit to pretend he was God, and all the rest.
And I don’t really mock you. I pity you, as I pity all people who can’t face reality.
I have mocked nothing. I simply asked if religion is important to some people and am still waiting for an answer. The fact you have no belief other than what is tangible is fine with me, I don’t proselytize. By the same token, allow me my beliefs. I might add, you don’t have a clue as to what they are and no interest in what they may be. I was under the impression that “Liberal” was a large tent that celebrated diversity and different points of view. A “we’re happy to have you type of thing”. I guess I am wrong.
Have you ever sat at the bedside of a dying loved one and searched your soul, hoping that this may not be the absolute end and that you may be united in an afterlife? I am guessing not, you are too logical and rigid in your disbelief. That is what I meant by a deep and personal place.
BTW, “I’ll just tell you you’re the typical “Christian” asshole who’s too busy whining with self-pity to act like a real Christian.” I was also wrong about you being logical. If I was to be a “typical Christian asshole” than how can I not be a real Christian? And….I might be a Jew for all you know.
My pat question to people who absolutely dismiss the existence of a God is- How did all this get here? You, me, the Earth, solar system, etc. Maybe someday science will be able to explain it, but until then, you can not definitely exclude the even remote possibility that there is higher being than us. I am not sure there is a God, but I am also not sure there isn’t one.
Hate God and religion all you want, but leave believers alone. Who knows, they may be right.
“How did all this get here? You, me, the Earth, solar system, etc.”
Science does explain this. Right now.
And while I’m here — Jesus was mocked because he told people he was the Son of God. Wingnut Christians are mocked because of their hypocrisy. You’ll note that Pope Francis isn’t mocked very much at all, and he is certainly Christian.
“Science does explain this. Right now.”
Well sorta. The current evidence points to a “big bang” (first proposed by Georges Lemaitre, a theoretical physicist, cosmologist and a Catholic priest and former President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences BTW). What science has been unable to explain is what caused the big bang and just how nothing became something. Science neither proves or disproves the existence of a supreme being. But then that’s not the purpose of science. Lemaitre saw no conflict in the acceptance of a higher power and the science behind the big bang. I don’t either.
Lamaitre said “As far as I can see, such a theory remains entirely outside any metaphysical or religious question. It leaves the materialist free to deny any transcendental Being…”
“I simply asked if religion is important to some people and am still waiting for an answer.” RobberBaron (again)
“Rednecks and many others fear being excluded from the god squad….” Bamboozer
You keep asking a question that Bamboozer answered even before you asked it.
The the Baro of Trollshire point, I think the difference is this. I personally am perfectly comfortable not knowing exactly how we all got here. I’m perfectly comfortable with the ideas that animals (us) live a life and then it’s over and we’re dead. The world got on fine before I was me and it’ll go on afterwards. I don’t see the big deal to be perfectly honest.
I think our brains have evolved consiousness and the ability to ponder very interesting existential questions and that’s cool, but I think trying to fill in the gaps with a Bronze age myth propigated by illiterate peasants is really just fucking silly.
Well put. I would add that the myths are also hard to swallow because their meanings change with the times. Originally “Christianity” was about how to live collectively and with dignity under a military occupation. Now it is the philosophical justification for why the guys on the top of the pyramid deserve to be there, and why their cruelty to everyone else isn’t really cruel.
I can kinda get behind the original interpretation of the myths, but the modern interpretation leaves me, and many others, colder than cold.
Only right wing rednecks use religion falsely as a manipulative political weapon
If it’s a deeply held personal belief, keep it to yourself and don’t use it for a weapon in your hateful religious tribal politics. Didn’t jesus tell you people to pray in private? There’s a reason for that!!!The message of Jesus is the exact opposite of right wing republicans who call themselves Christian. Respect evidence based reality
Here’s an excellent piece by Princeton historian Kevin Kruse describing how the marriage of Christianity and capitalism was effected by corporate America from the 1930s onward, culminating in the widespread invasion of religion into the secular public sphere in the early ’50s.
It ran in the 3/15/15 NYTimes under the headline, “A Christian Nation? Since When?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/opinion/sunday/a-christian-nation-since-when.html?partner=rss&emc=rss