The far right Palin types, including Palin herself are rushing to defending Duck Dynasty star, Phil  Robertson, for his inapropriate remarks .

Once again, Palin, Bobby Jindal (who I thought had some common sense), Ted Cruz and even Newt Gingrich , simply don’t get it.  This issue isn’t about free speech.  A & E is the publisher.  Publishers have ever right to decide what they will and will not publish or broadcast.  In fact, they have a responsibility to do so.

Had Robertson expressed himself in a  less graphic, coarse, and vitriolic way, I expect no one would have raised an eyebrow.  Of course he is free to believe what he wants.  However, when he is on A & E, he has a responsibility to not express himself in a way that offends the audience of that network.

Meanwhile, Palin and others have attempted to cash in on the politics of the matter.   There shouldn’t really be any politics involved.   I guess if it stirs up the base, its good for the far right.  Meanwhile, I can’t imagine any broadcast or print media that sets out to offend a large part of its audience.  Robertson was offensive not only to gays but also to African-Americans.  He should have been suspended until he has a clear understanding of things he can and cannot say.  What company in America would permit an employee or contract worker to issue such a diatribe while that person was representing the company?  I can’t think of one off-hand.

The War on Christmas was running out of steam.  Now its time to #Stand by Phil.  Clearly there are a whole bunch of people out there who don’t understand the first amendment or the Bible.   Let’s stifle our gag reflex and look at what Phil had to say according to cnn.com:

“It seems like, to me, a vagina — as a man — would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical,” he’s quoted as saying.

When asked what he thought was sinful, Robertson replied: “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men.”

But homosexuals aren’t alone, Robertson said. “Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers — they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”

In addition to his comments about homosexuality, Robertson also spoke about race and growing up in Louisiana before the civil rights era.

“I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person. Not once,” he told GQ. “Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. I’m with the blacks, because we’re white trash. We’re going across the field. … They’re singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, ‘I tell you what: These doggone white people’ — not a word!

“Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues,” GQ quoted Robertson as saying.

Oh dear God.  Someone muzzle this guy.  He lives in la-la land.  The comedy continues.  Quack.

It really isn’t about religious beliefs.  People may believe what they want.  What you can’t do is represent someone else and go express opinions and beliefs that violate many people’s values.  There will be consequences.  A & E is ultimately a business.  They don’t need the controversy.  Had Robertson said that his religious beliefs consider homosexuality a sin and left it at that, I think most of us could accept that without it rubbing off on A & E.    He didn’t.  He went graphic, crude  and preachy.  Now he is in the naughty corner.  He’ll be back.  Money talks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

91 Thoughts to “If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck…”

  1. He wasn’t “representing” A&E. He was responding to a question during an interview.

    And based upon his support…..he didn’t offend the viewers. A&E offended the viewers.

    Actions and words do have consequences. A&E has every right to hire and fire. And the Duck guys have every right to walk away. And the fans have every right to not watch A&E or buy things from A&E sponsors.

    A&E is penalizing a man for expressing personal religious views. If it had gone the other way and said that all of those thing were just fine…and offended the viewers…would A&E have fired him then?

    He merely reported what HE experienced and saw. And compares it to what he sees now.
    He expressed personal views upon request. A&E already knows what they have and have been capitalizing on it.

    This is a hypocritical stand by A&E. Notice..they are still going forth with this season’s show….with him in it. If it was so offensive, they shouldn’t want to air any of the shows.

    I hope they decide to walk. They are already rich.

    “Meanwhile, I can’t imagine any broadcast or print media that sets out to offend a large part of its audience.”

    MSNBC does it every day.

  2. @Cargosquid
    1.3 million likes….4500 per hour at one time…on Facebook..on a Phil support page.

    1.3 Million in less than …what….72 hours?

    1. So you are crowing about the fact that there are a lot of…errr…people like Phil? There has never been a shortage of Phil’s ilk. I find it hilarious actually.

      Is this reality politics? There is a prospector show on the weather channel. 9 pm Sun night. Lots of ilk. I watch because its about gem stones in the rough. Most of the reality people are fairly rough and tumble. Lots of ilk involved to be honest. I don’t plan on defending them.

  3. Pat.Herve

    A&E is penalizing a man for expressing personal religious views.
    I wonder what religion compares homosexuality to bestiality and adultery.

  4. Pat.Herve

    MSNBC just fired Bashir for expressing his own opinion about Palin and also fired Alex for yelling a slur at a photographer. Where was Jindal and Palin then?

    Really much ado about nothing. I do not watch the show but it is a sad day when so many people come out to support a ‘reality’ tv show and make it a political issue. It was not the first time that he has said similar comments. I am sure A&E warned him that his contract stated how he was to represent himself.

  5. Starry flights

    All those who stand with Phil are still going to have to pay their cable bill whether they boycott A&E or not.

  6. @Cargosquid
    He went waaay overboard in his expression. He does long as he receives a pay check from A & E, he represents them. No, he wasn’t their spokesman but he still represents them.

    They can do what they want. I hope he attributing his anti gay remarks to Christianity.

    I don’t care if they can him or not. I defend their right to do so.

    I find it hilarious that all the far right comes flocking in to defend someone who most of the country thinks is a real DB and wouldn’t be caught dead watching.

    The fact that he calls himself poor white trash speaks volumes.

  7. punchak

    This is truly astounding!
    I hadn’t heard about this show and happened on it once
    while surfing the TV channels, and I wondered ” who in the world watches stuff
    like this”. And now, every dang “news” show is worried about what a guy, who
    looks like a resurrected San Francisco hippie.

    Palin and Cruz and Jindal, O’Reilly, and all the other FOXes are coming to his defense.
    Why does anyone care what this guy says? Does he have an in, or pull,
    with important people? Does it matter what he thinks?

    With shows like this one and BoBoBo at the top, it makes one wonder
    about the future of the country.

    @Pat.Herve

    1. I had never heard of it or watched it either, Punchak. I think I had seen the scruffs on an ad however.

  8. @Starry flights
    I guess they will show them!!

    Bwaaahahahahahaha!

  9. Starry flights

    Cargosquid :
    @Cargosquid
    1.3 million likes….4500 per hour at one time…on Facebook..on a Phil support page.
    1.3 Million in less than …what….72 hours?

    That doesn’t mean squat. Anybody can hit a Like button. You want to stick it to A&E? Cancel your cable service. Go back to watching broadcast TV if you really want to live bbyour convictions

  10. blue

    The LBGT gay community went into toxic overdrive to stop anyone from calling their behavior inappropriate or – God forbid – a sin. This is political correctness frothing to be viewed as acceptable, by calling Christians, Jews and and Muslems who hold to the scriptures as haters.

    Phil spoke to truth and that is no longer acceptable in this Country. He never hated, he did call it what the Bible says it is. So, if you support A&E for supporting the Gay community in this – first, understand that you are in conflict with the Bible not Phil.

    The only person who should be fired, is the person who allowed him to be interviewd by GQ. What were they thinking the interview would end up being about.

    1. Let’s talk about reality. For years it was perfectly ok to make anti gay remarks. How many times did you hear someone called a fag, regardless of their orientation? When my kids were little “smear the queer” was all the rage.

      The LBGT community, after 40 + years of political work, has finally arrived. They are going to define public talk and public sentiment. I have to ask myself, how would I take to being called an abomination? Probably a little worse than I did to being called a weaker vessel.

      You can go into the Bible for all sorts of justifications. Killing, slavery…you name it. If I were fundamentalist, and I am not, I would take what was in the Bible as a personal directive for my own personal behavior–not as a vendetta against what others do.

      I don’t recall Christ addressing the issue, just as an aside. Where in the Bible does he tell us not to be gay?

      I am not sure what you mean by ‘holding to the scriptures.

  11. Ed myers

    Were the ratings for the show slipping and they needed something to juice it?

    1. I find it horrifying that so many people watched that show. Don’t you find that part of it disturbing?

  12. Wolverine

    I’m personally boycotting A&E and refusing to pay my cable bill until they get rid of that stupid network.

  13. Starryflights

    blue :
    The LBGT gay community went into toxic overdrive to stop anyone from calling their behavior inappropriate or – God forbid – a sin. This is political correctness frothing to be viewed as acceptable, by calling Christians, Jews and and Muslems who hold to the scriptures as haters.
    Phil spoke to truth and that is no longer acceptable in this Country. He never hated, he did call it what the Bible says it is. So, if you support A&E for supporting the Gay community in this – first, understand that you are in conflict with the Bible not Phil.
    The only person who should be fired, is the person who allowed him to be interviewd by GQ. What were they thinking the interview would end up being about.

    The Bible also says that usury is a sin. In fact, there are more cites to usury than there are to homosexuality.
    You have a mortgage or a credit card? Then you are in conflict with the Bible.

    1. Pow! A left hook and a hit!! Starry hit the target.

      I keep asking someone to find the reference to homosexuality being a sin in Christ’s words. No one has produced. I thought the sin stuff was all Old Testament.

  14. @Pat.Herve
    That would be his version of Christianity…..he was conflating homosexuality with them because it is a sin just like those other acts……per standard Christian doctrine.

    1. How about a quote from Christ on homosexuality? It seems Christianity always gets branded with the OT stuff. That’s definitely cherry picking. We can ignore the edict on eating pork and shellfish and blast homosexuals. Aren’t crawdads considered shellfish? I bet Phil can polish off some crawdads in record time.

  15. Wolverine

    The Bible also says that telling lies is a sin. Oh, Mr. President, Mr. President, can I keep my insurance policy and doctor if I like them?….Mr. President, Mr. President….Dang, did he say that he never promised that?!…………But I swear I heard him say it many times………Dear God, the comedy continues.

    1. I think you are using the bible for political purpose. I never hear the promise word. I believe that President Obama thought you would get to keep your policy. I don’t believe he intentionally lied. You want to believe he lied. I don’t. I don’t want to believe that George Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction. I bet you don’t want to believe he intentionally lied either.

  16. Lyssa

    What did A&E expect would happen they took this money maker on? And to turn them over to GQ? Maybe this will help drive a nail into the reality show concept. It’s simple exploitation – and it backfired. Good. Too much trash.

  17. Ed myers

    There is an apparent opposite of this story. An assistant principal at a catholic school was fired after it was discovered he had married a same-sex partner.

    The simple answer is that employees should not counter the message their employer is paying them to deliver.

    1. @Ed, I saw that guy interviewed. He says that they knew he was gay and had a same sex partner. It was the marrying that did him in. There seems to be some hypocrisy there. However, in general, I would say I agree with you about not countering the employer message. It’s asking for trouble.

  18. El Guapo

    I don’t get what the big deal is. I mean people watch shows like this and Honey Boo Boo because they get a feeling of superiority from watching ignorant hicks. That’s what they are. Isn’t this why these guys have a show? I’ve never seen the show. Maybe there is intriguing discussion and insightful and enlightening dialogue, but somehow I doubt it. An ignorant redneck said something that ignorant rednecks are known to say. That’s what the show is all about.

    Right?

    1. They either feel superior or get into that ‘just like me’ frame of mind. That’s often the reason people vote for candidates also….the ‘just like me syndrome.

  19. Lyssa

    ..and when the Italian jokes and Mafia insinuations become a problem for folks, I’ll get worked up.

  20. @El Guapo
    Ignorant hicks?

    Robertson has a Masters. The family has a 400 million dollar fortune and successful, world wide business.

    1. Ignorant hicks can be rich and have degrees.

  21. Lyssa

    Having money or making it just doesn’t overcome a lot of things 🙁

  22. Starry flights

    The Robertsons say they will quit the show without their dad. I’m good with that.

  23. Rick Bentley

    A. It should be noted that while what the guy said was pretty stupid – mindbogglingly ignorant when it comes to civil rights and black Americans – it’s not at the level of hate speech, and not really hateful. So I don’t care much and wouldn’t be boycotting anyone who carries the guy’s show.

    B. I feel sorry for anyone whose life is so empty that they feel really invested in this story. (Or anyone who thinks Sarah Palin represents anything meaningful). I know that sounds patronizing but I do increasingly feel pity for people who are so scared of change that they retreat into right-wing myth on b***s*** mountain. How could anyone perceive value in this guy’s inane bigoted and above-all ignorant musings? Welcome to the 21st century; to believe the things he’s saying you just maght be a f***ing dumbass.

    C. If he got suspended for insulting the people he works with, that seems fair to me. I wouldn’t host a show on FOX News and expect to get away with doing an interview and ranting about how backwards many Christians and right-wingers are.

    D. The guy knew something like this would happen. This is not persecution; it’s a choice. I’m sure God will provide. He can do a speaking tour of Chick-Fil-A restaurants or something. Or be a Special Correspondent on FOX News. Maybe he can help Lauren Green discuss religion. Or do an in-depth report with Megan Kelly about the racial identities of Santa Claus and Jesus.

  24. Rick Bentley

    I’m increasingly discouraged that we’re going to be able to get all Americans able to function in a common frame of reality, in future.

    There’s going to be some fragment of people who really believe there’s a war on Christmas, who see homosexuality as a harbinger of the apocalypse, see Obamacare as analogous to slavery and Nazi Germany, and are never going to be happy so long as America moves forward and times change. It’s a choice they’re making, to not be rational – analogous to the choice people make to pretend that their religions are real. You can’t talk them out of it. If they can’t cope with the real world, they have the right to retreat into myth.

    80%+ of the guys watching FOX News don’t take things on there literally. They just think there’s SOME validity in the perspective. Presumably many of them will snap out of this over time. But the ones who want to cling to the crazy “there’s a war on Christmas!” perspective, will do so. We live in an era of decadence where people can live in their own little worlds.

    Right now I work in a large company with some Muslims in it. They’re easy enough people to work with. But 5 times a day they disappear into a room and pray towards Mecca. I think it’s the dumbest f***ing thing in the world. But, live and let live. The way I see it, the people who want to foist fundamentalist Christianity on the rest of us are becoming and will continue to become a small minority that the rest of us learn to work around. Just as I know that eating pork would offend a Muslim, I’ll know that talk of homosexuality or wishing someone “Happy holidays” offends these people. And we’ll all build a better and more rational world together, though they presumably won’t enjoy it, and will go home and pray to Jesus to wash away the sex and dirt and gayness and moral relativism of this strange complex world that they can’t quite handle.

    1. Is the praying to Mecca done on company time and does it count as a break? Do the non-Muslims get equal time?

  25. Wolverine

    Ah, the atheists. So kind and sweet. Always ready to crap on someone else’s faith. At length.

  26. Rick Bentley

    “Is the praying to Mecca done on company time and does it count as a break?”

    We’ve got flexible working hours, so it’s not really an issue. I hear their prayers are very short but 5 times a day they quickly go somewhere with an eastwards facing window and do their thing quietly.

    “Do the non-Muslims get equal time?”

    Yeah – I’ve run across Christian groups praying in conference rooms.

  27. @Rick Bentley

    Too many people are just missing the point. The first amendment isn’t going to protect his ass against the TV network. 1A deals with the government restricting speech. A &E can dismiss him for whatever they want…maybe because he looks dirty and unkempt or he picks his teeth. He in turn, can sue.

    The dumb asses who boycott A & E will still have to pay their cable bill. A & E also canned Dawg for a while for using the N word, not on company time I might add.

    I actually don’t care if Phil hates gays or not or if he thinks black folks were happy before the gubbmint came along and protected their civil rights. He was stupid to express his opinion since he is a public figure. Public figures often get bitten in the tail for having a big mouth opinon that bashed other people, especially other people who are on a political roll…..

    I am tired of people trying to beat up others over religious issues anyway. I see Palin as a religious bully.

  28. @Cargosquid

    And based upon his support…..he didn’t offend the viewers. A&E offended the viewers.

    Yes, he offended some viewers. You can’t be a public figure and offend viewers or potential viewers. A & E has an investment.

    How can you say he didn’t offend viewers?

    That’s pretty much how capitalism works. He who holds the cash sets the rules.

  29. @Rick Bentley

    As long as folks follow the rules of the company and put in their time, Muslims and Christians can have at it, in my opinion.

    My only problem with religion at work is when people are bullied by that religion. I have seen people excluded for not being practicing members of a religion and I have seen pressure to join a particular religion in the work place. Both are totally inappropriate.

  30. @Wolverine

    I see no examples of anyone crapping on someone else’s religion. Why do people feel entitled to inflict their religion on others?

    I am very happy with my faith and see no reason why I should have to tolerate someone else shoving theirs down my throat.

    Btw, I am very open about learning about other people’s religion. Food for thought should not become a full course meal.

  31. Lyssa

    No one is forced to listen to Robertson and no one is forced to buy and read GQ or listen to CNN or A&E. No one is employed by Robertson and must listen to his opinion on the job. Everything Robinson has said has been viewed or listened to voluntarily by all.

    I don’t particularly care for his comments, but this is all too much.

    Turn it off and don’t pay attention. Eager victims are as much a part of the problem.

  32. I think most of the outrage is from the far right. I think the LBGT community has every right to speak out on what they view as political correctness. I may or may not agree with them but they certainly have every reason to want to defend their turf.

    I wonder how many of the Palin types defended Dawg the Bounty Hunter, speaking of jerks? Did they all back off him calling his daughter in law the N word?

    These people can say what they want and suffer the network consequences as far as I am concerned.

    Having said all that…gay bashing is one of the last forms of openly acceptable hostile speech. People seem to think that religion protects their rudeness. It doesn’t. They are still rude.

  33. Lyssa

    There are a lot of rude people. It’s best to ignore them. They won’t change until maybe someone is mean to them or they have a heart attack and get a second chance at life.

    If he had any class (education and net worth can’t buy it) he’s have said no comment to the interviewer and moved on.

  34. Rick Bentley

    I think the LBGT community should have sat this one out. Wanting not to be called a “sinner” is something like intellectual fascism. The guy was careful not to wish ill on anyone.

    But his comments on civil rights are more troubling. It’s not hate speech. But it is offensive. It’s in the direction of Holocaust denial. It’s not something we should expect to hear from someone whose mug is plastered all over products.

    1. The LBGT community isn’t going to be sitting anything out. They are on a roll. Just is.

      Calling someone an abomination is pretty far up the ladder of offensiveness. The racial stuff was offensive as hell. He also is lioving in lala land if he thinks what he said was true.

      What I don’t get is why so many of his followers are trying to make out like what he said was right. Some are even trying to hide behind religion. I don’t care what anyone thinks. He just had bad manners for a public figure.

      I have a little more sympathy for Dawg the Bounty Hunter. He at least had every reason to believe he was having a private phone conversation with a family member.

  35. Rick Bentley

    “What I don’t get is why so many of his followers are trying to make out like what he said was right. ”

    People believe what they want to believe. It’s important to some people in America that they can believe that Christianity (and associated values) is being persecuted (i.e. “War on Christmas”), rather than to face the reality that people are just losing interest in it and are finding some of these values quaint or outdated (or morally wrong or uneducated). So they fight with strawmen and end up fighting for people’s rights to say exclusionary things while pretending that most good people agree with them.

  36. Rick Bentley

    Perhaps a root cause of much irrational and counterproductive behavior is religion. When you build your castle on sand, don’t expect it to hold up well.

    1. I don’t mind what people believe. I mind them trying to cover up rudeness with religion. You don’t have to publically say everything that comes to mind or that is part of your belief system, especially if hurtful and offensive to others.

  37. Lyssa

    I think it’s how religion is used. For some it’s an intensely personal experience frequently in a community atmosphere; still personal.

    Many religions focus on the individual and consideration of their behavior, thought, goals and actions. Using it against others in my eyes defeats the point of religion.

    Religion, in my mind simply provides hope. Hope is good.

    1. I had it used against me today, on FG. People use it to bully and exclude.

  38. Rick Bentley

    People are drawn to that, inarguably. But it also enables and provides excuse for irrational and primitive behavior.

    On the whole, I think it’s a wash. Good people do good things; bad people do bad things. Good and bad people are religious; good and bad people live without those falsehoods.

    It pains us all when the bad people use their religion to justify their badness. It pains me also when good people insist that god is their strength and the reason they do good things; that’s entirely illogical and I don’t believe it.

    1. Why does it bother you what good people believe?

      Have you ever met someone who was such a bastard that you were really glad they were religious because they would probably be a homicidal maniac if they didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus? I have.

  39. Lyssa

    I can’t disagree. For many it’s a belief system – a structure. A strong belief system which provides daily guidance in decision making. It’s from within – God provides the resources, we make ourselves who we are. Free will is an infinite conversation.

    I think people misinterpret righteousness. It’s not applying your beliefs to the world or your neighbor. It’s about applying it to yourself. Lot of people miss that point.

    1. Excellent point.

      I think this new Pope might revolutionize modern religion, btw.

  40. Lyssa

    God being self defined.

  41. Rick Bentley

    Tip of the hat to Lyssa’s posts.

    “Why does it bother you what good people believe?”

    Because I wish they understood themselves and the source of their goodness better. Think of it this way. It’s all well and good to watch a 5 year old happy beyond words when they think Santa Claus brought them presents. If you watch the kid do that up to age 20, by that time you probably wish they had a better idea of what was really going on.

    “Have you ever met someone who was such a bastard that you were really glad they were religious because they would probably be a homicidal maniac if they didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus? I have.”

    No, but I’ve known people who justified ugliness and all of their own failings with Biblical interpretations.

    Certainly religious people can be homicidal maniacs. I would cite Nazi Germany, a Christian nation, as a particularly good example of this.

    1. FB email for an example….

      There are all sorts of people I have known who I am thankful every day that they found Jesus. I can’t imagine how mean they would be without their spiritual intervention.

  42. Rick Bentley

    “Miracles really do happen, God is good” – Arial Castro, shortly before his arrest, on Facebook after the birth of a grandchild (but after causing numerous miscarriages to the girl he kept impregnating).

    Oakland man shoots friend dead for arguing that God doesn’t exist -http://gawker.com/religious-man-murders-friend-for-proving-god-doesnt-1257406513

    Atheist Countries have Lowest Crime Rates – http://www.nairaland.com/121066/predominantly-atheist-countries-lowest-crime

    1. Did Arial Castro get life or the death penalty?

      I left you an example of someone who really needs to stick with Jesus for the benefit of the rest of us.

  43. Lyssa

    Moon-howler :
    Excellent point.
    I think this new Pope might revolutionize modern religion, btw.

    Our new Pope is making the point that how you live your life is more important that how you use your religion. He said – “The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently…. We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the Church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.”

    1. That’s pretty much very modern thinking in a world that seems to want to mark Christianity in terms of artificial benchmarks. I am all for the priorities suggested by Pope Francis. What a breath of fresh air breathed into what I see as a sea of legalism and fundamentalism.

      Big Pope Francis fan here. I am also smiling. My father was prophetic….his confirmation name was Francis.

  44. George S. Harris

    “The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently…. We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the Church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.”

    Please tell me what other church has transmitted so much doctrine. The pope will truly “revolutionize modern religion” when he shuts down the Vatican, gets rid of all the pomp and circumstance, including all the cost of it, and uses the money to make the world a better place. Actions speak louder than words.

    Oh, and by the way–weren’t the teachings of Christ, AKA the New Testament, supposed to supplant much, if not all, of the Old Testament? Wasn’t Christ trying to tell Jews (remember there were no “Christians” unless you want to define the apostles who were followers of Christ’s teachings, “Christians”), “Here is a new way–heed what I have said in the Sermon on the Mount.”

    Robertson can thump the Bible all he wants, but Christ never said anything about homosexuality, bestiality, or prostitution. However, he did protect a prostitute from being stoned.

    1. George, he has made some real changes in the Vatican. He even benched the fashion expert. The man has already revolutionized the Vatican. Rome wasn’t built in a day…no pun intended.

      I have to give him an A+ for his efforts to make religion more Christ-like and less dogmatic. Meanwhile, I don’t disagree with you about what Christ didn’t say.

  45. Lyssa

    “Catholic in spite of the church” has been a longstanding pholosphy of thousands of religious and laity. I think Pope Francis is takeling a few of the items on your list. Pomp and circumstance regarding ceremonies and pomp in the tone of the Curia.

    1. Nothing wrong with a little pomp and circumstance…nothing at all. Tone is anther matter.

      The P &C adds a little class, reverence and predictability to religion in general. I am uncomfortable without a little of that.

  46. Lyssa

    “Catholic in spite of the church” has been a longstanding philosophy of thousands of religious and laity. I think Pope Francis is tackling a few of the items on your list. Pomp and circumstance regarding ceremonies and pomp in the tone of the Curia.

  47. Rick Bentley

    Moon I got your message, about one particular person. But isn’t it the case with someone like that – and I’m a bit that way myself, prone to anger – that if they couldn’t justify their anger to themselves in terms of religious silliness that they would be more likely to see that anger for what it is? To have to come to terms with themselves instead of having a false edifice to run and hide inside of?

    For example, I can think of one person who has been talked about on this blog, who sees himself as Christian, who others think of as far from Christ-like. I’m in a glass house throwing stones here, psychoanalyzing other people, but … let’s suppose this guy bullies people who don’t share his beliefs, sometimes viciously in a way intended to cause public harm or shame, and particularly likes to try to shame women given half a chance. If he were able to look life straight in the face, not feel he’s a part of some holy war, wouldn’t he be more able to see that his anger was coming from inside? That it’s not a logical outgrowth of anything that people he’s never met, who have never affected his life, have done to him?

    I’ve got some of the same tendancies – anger, and enjoyment of using sarcasm to attack. But I wouldn’t do some of the things he did. Because I don’t perceive some supernatural construct in play, that I’m inside of. I know that what I do, I do for myself. And I presumably own it (more or less). Which would keep me from going as far into “battle” as he has done.

    And taking that outwards, I think I’d be less likely to :
    1. Fight a preemptive war against a nation that wasn’t a threat
    2. Drop napalm on innocents as part of a war against some arguable “domino effect”
    3. Give any tacit support to a fascist government if they started a round of ethnic cleansing and anti-intellectualism
    4. Become a suicide bomber or plot a terrorist act
    5. Burn a “witch”

    And other crazy irrational things that people do, justified at least to the masses, in the name of some holy creator’s will.

    1. You aren’t mean like that, Rick. Anger is one thing. Being truly mean-spirited is another.

  48. Rick Bentley

    Not that I’m saying that atheism or rationalism is the cure for all human ills. The root cause of irrational behavior is human nature. (Particularly well-illustrated in the 3-part South Park episode where we saw a future controlled by atheists, who were engaged in protracted warfare over what was the most logical name to give to their new atheistic society).

    I question whether this flawed human nature is affected for the better by religion and faith. My intuition is that on the whole, it’s a wash. People do what they want to do – good and bad.

  49. Rick Bentley

    (Back when South Park was funny … I swear, it really was, once … that was in Season 10, episodes 12 and 13, “Go God Go” and “Go God Go XII”. You can watch them for free online and I highly recommend it).

    1. Is there a link or is it on-demand?

      Duck Dynasty is totally stupid in every sense of the word. Dawg the Bounty Hunter is intellectual by comparison.

      Take the plunge. prove me wrong.

      Now I am inspired to make sweet potato pie. Moe makes the best SP pie in the world, btw.

  50. Rick Bentley

    There’s a link. It’s up for free under the southparkstudios.com website. I can’t find the URL from my workplace computer though.

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