Here we have yet another example of how religion shapes children at impressionable ages.
“What do we do at church, honey? We sway, close our eyes, and lift a hand when music plays.”
(via christiannightmares)
This kid will fit in nicely at a Jesus Camp one day:
Sigh. I guess it’s time for me to quote Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion again:
Let children learn about different faiths, let them notice their incompatibility, and let them draw their own conclusions about the consequences of that incompatibility. As for whether they are ‘valid,’ let them make up their own minds when they are old enough to do so.
Faith can be very very dangerous, and deliberately to implant it into the vulnerable mind of an innocent child is a grievous wrong.
I’ve also addressed child preachers, hysteria in worship, and shown some amusing (or perhaps disturbing) examples of life “in the spirit.” Enjoy!
Comedian Steve Martin grabbed the mic at the New Orleans Jazz Fest on April 29, 2010. Together with The Steep Canyon Rangers, he shared what he called “the entire atheist hymnal” (on one page of paper). Hilarious!
Atheists Don’t Have No Songs (AKA The Atheist Hymnal)
Christians have their hymns and pages,
Hava Nagila’s for the Jews,
Baptists have the rock of ages,
Atheists just sing the blues.
Romantics play Claire de Lune,
Born agains sing “He is risen,”
But no one ever wrote a tune,
For godless existentialism.
For Atheists there’s no good news. They’ll never sing a song of faith.
In their songs they have a rule: the “he” is always lowercase.
The “he” is always lowercase.
Some folks sing a Bach cantata,
Lutherans get Christmas trees,
Atheist songs add up to nada,
But they do have Sundays free.
Pentecostals sing to heaven,
Coptics have the books of scrolls,
Numerologists can count to seven,
Atheists have rock and roll.
For Atheists there’s no good news. They’ll never sing a song of faith.
In their songs they have a rule: the “he” is always lowercase.
The “he” is always lowercase.
Atheists don’t have no songs.
Christians have their hymns and pages,
Hava Nagila’s for the Jews,
Baptists have the rock of ages,
Atheists just sing the blues.
Catholics dress up for Mass,
And listen to, Gregorian chants.
Atheists just take a pass, Watch football in their underpants.
Watch football in their underpants.
Atheists don’t have no songs.
Performed live on April 29, 2010 by Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers
UPDATE: Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers also performed this on March 13, 2011 live on Letterman!
From the youtube video: CitizenLink [a Focus on the Family affiliate] Education Analyst Candi Cushman offers tips on what to look for and tools to help parents push back against the gay agenda in local schools.
Quote: “There’s a lot of talk about tolerance: We need to be accepting and embracing and tolerant. But there’s not a whole lot of tolerance or embracing or accepting of Christian values and the families that want their children raised with Christian values.”
So now we must tolerate prejudice and bigotry? We need to embrace “values” that shame other human beings for their most precious and core traits? Maybe I’m unable to tolerate their “values” as valid ideas because I see them as fundamentally unacceptable and harmful to others.
I am sure we’ve all been asked this question or wondered ourselves. But have you ever heard the answers given by Buddhists? Scientists? Mormons? Taoists? Roger Nygard, director of Trekkies and Trekkies 2, took his curiosity and sense of humor on the road and asked this important question to hundreds of people. His new film The Nature of Existence tells the tale:
I wrote the toughest 85 questions I could think of, about our purpose and the nature of existence, and then asked hundreds of people all over the globe, such as: Indian holy man Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (The Art of Living), evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), 24th generation Chinese Taoist Master Zhang Chengda, Stanford physicist Leonard Susskind (co-discoverer of string theory), wrestler Rob Adonis (founder of Ultimate Christian Wrestling), confrontational evangelist Brother Jed Smock, novelist Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game), director Irvin Kershner (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back), Stonehenge Druids Rollo Maughfling & King Arthur Pendragon and many more… How would YOU answer?
I decided to take a look at these 85 questions, and I think we should all try them on for size. Here’s a taste:
- Why do we exist?
- What is the best thing about existing?
- What is our purpose?
- Should religions be challenged?
- Is skepticism a good thing?
- Which religion is right?
- Do we have a need to believe in something?
- What is spirituality?
- Is there a God?
- What does God need from us?
- Who is/are the Messiah(s)?
- How do we determine truth?
- Where does morality, or our “conscience,” comes from?
- Does God want to test us? Why?
- What determines sexual orientation?
- Why is God interested in our sexual behavior?
- Do we have free will?
- Is everything predetermined?
- What is best path to happiness?
- Does meditation work?
- Why do we need an afterlife?
- When does life begin?
- What is the greatest danger facing man’s existence?
I love them all, and I think I’d like to take some time to write out my own answers in the future. What do you think of The Nature of Existence? If there’s a screening near you, will you see it?
How would you answer the questions?
Chris on 
Bill the Heathen on 
jabran on 
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