War On Christianity? Of course not..try telling that to Fox though

a reply to: Sremmos80

I cant believe you want to debate the language in primary use. Yes it may not be "official" but this is a really weak attempt to prove your point and you completely missed mine.

I have seen plenty of South Park. The main point about those shows is that TV in general is hostile to Christianity and more and more Satan is being turned into some Promethean hero bringing knowledge and freedom to the masses. I have been looking for the quote but I once came across something by Aleister Crowley which talked about how eventually you could persuade people to accept evil by turning the villains into heroes. This can be seen all over modern media with things like Twilight, Hotel Transylvania, Monsters Inc., the soon to be aired iZombie and so on.

originally posted by: Onslaught2996
a reply to: NihilistSanta

I have nothing against religious people, just that the right wing Christians seem to think this country is only for Christians...everything else should be abolished.

I am an atheist...but your beliefs are yours...just stop trying to force an entire country to believe or whine about your version of Christianity being under attack. This also goes for any religion, believe what you want...just keep out of schools and government.

All ideologies should be kept out of schools and government, including socialism.

I hate that I have to include schools with government, I shouldn't have to.

I dunno. Sounds like Fightin' Words to me:

Tolerance of pervasive myth and superstition in modern society is not a virtue. Religious fundamentalism has gone mainstream and its toll on education, science, and social progress is disheartening. Wake up people!! We are smart enough now to kill our invisible gods and oppressive beliefs. It is the responsibility of the educated to educate the uneducated, lest we fall prey to the tyranny of ignorance.

The New Atheists

And because all most Atheists know anything about is Christianity (and Abrahamic religions generally), that's all they criticize. The attack seems lopsided, but it's only because the vast majority of rabid Atheists are totally ignorant of anything else. Ask one to critique Advaita Vedanta and they'll just stare at you like they're having a stroke.

a reply to: NihilistSanta

Hey I was just following what you said. Primary/majority is not the same thing as official.

You were trying to draw a parallel and it was wrong.
South park is hostel to anyone who will get mad at them for doing what they do.

And greencmp should we keep capitalism out of schools then too?

a reply to: greencmp

All ideologies should be kept out of schools and government, including socialism.

If you want to keep out Socialism then by all rights you have to keep out Capitalism as well.

a reply to: Sremmos80

They literally censored the image of Muhammad because of fear of offending Muslims but they routinely blaspheme Jesus as if its no big deal. You would have to be blind to not see how much hate is thrown at Christ in mass media but other religions get a pass. NthOther hit on some possible reasons for this like general awareness of Christianity vs other religions but that can only go so far and I refuse to believe that people smart enough to run the T.V. industry are somehow completely clueless to other ideologies.

a reply to: NihilistSanta

And after that they went at them plenty.
Also to be fair to trey and matt, it was the network that decided to pull the image not them.
So be mad at the network not the show.

Also, they did show him in 2001, look up the super friends league episode.

Finding certain beliefs and stories about Jesus funny, and pointing that out, is hardly "hate."

Thus the point of my question above. It seems that some argue consistently for individual freedom ... so long as it doesn't include asking serious questions (or making humorous observations) about the character of Jesus.

I would argue that the "blasphemy" starts in the Churches, with images of Jesus carrying sheep, knocking on doors, and last but not least, trapped forever in the moments of agonizing torturous death in the Crucifixion.

There are Churches that claim Jesus doesn't want you to drink, that He does want you to vote Republican, or that He doesn't like Gay people.

Seems to me, the Churches are doing just fine on the mockery front, with no help from TV, movies or popular culture.

Unlike most Muslim countries, the US is a place of religious freedom, where we have the right to believe, not believe, and even poke fun at religious iconography and ritual ...

... or does that "freedom" only work one way?

"Christianity is a death cult" ...where did I read that?
NO we are just GOOD pals with all on this board aren't we?

a reply to: cavtrooper7

Where did you read it?

originally posted by: buster2010
a reply to: greencmp

All ideologies should be kept out of schools and government, including socialism.

If you want to keep out Socialism then by all rights you have to keep out Capitalism as well.

Listen to yourself, really.

originally posted by: cavtrooper7
"Christianity is a death cult" ...where did I read that?
NO we are just GOOD pals with all on this board aren't we?

The primary ritual of Christianity (the Eucharist) is a symbolic eating of the god's flesh and drinking the god's blood.

The entire wheel of Christian theology turns on Jesus being offered as a blood sacrifice to settle His own/His Father's desire for violent death to pay for or "cover" sins that were established by God Himself.

One of the most common visual elements of Christianity is Jesus trapped in a horrible tortured death on a Roman cross.

....

Why would anyone call Christianity a "death cult"?

a reply to: Gryphon66

Why go there at all? People don't think it would be acceptable to mock homosexuals (just using this as an example) and and preach tolerance but something equally as personal and offensive to people is ok? What happened to civility ? Why is religious tolerance only to be shown towards minority religions (when considering the US) and not to all?

Family Guy has portrayed Jesus being a coc aine addict. He has been shown as lying about being a virgin to seduce Lois and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Where is the validity in this? What questions are being asked or observations made? Seems blatantly offensive for the sake of being offensive. These shows are intentionally enticing to children being animation and seek to chip away at their beliefs by belittling them in the crudest fashion possible. I could understand if something thought provoking came about because of it but the above examples are devoid of that.

originally posted by: greencmp

originally posted by: buster2010
a reply to: greencmp

All ideologies should be kept out of schools and government, including socialism.

If you want to keep out Socialism then by all rights you have to keep out Capitalism as well.

Listen to yourself, really.

Ever read Agrarian Justice by Tom Paine?

You might find it interesting.

a reply to: greencmp

Why does he need to listen to him self, it is a valid question.
If we are going to ban all ideologies, would capitalism not be part of that?

Seems like an honest question that we both asked.

a reply to: Sremmos80

Capitalism is simply a euphemism for free private interaction, how do you prevent that?

a reply to: Sremmos80

Go to "recent" and start down.

a reply to: greencmp

.... Capitalism is not an euphemism.

And fine lets take a step back, would we be able to teach about having a Republic then?

Republicanism is the ideology of governing a society or state as a republic (la. res publica), where the head of state is a representative of the people who hold popular sovereignty rather than the people being subjects of the head of state. The head of state is typically appointed by means other than heredity, often through elections.

a reply to: Sremmos80

What does republicanism have to do with capitalism?

The term 'capitalism' was coined by communists to disparage the concept of private property in the means of production.

So, I guess you're right, it is an epithet.

a reply to: NihilistSanta

Homosexuals get mocked all the time in media! And have been so for fifty or more years. What are you talking about? Ever heard of camp? Ever seen La Cage Aux Folles? C'mon.

Tolerance doesn't mean total acceptance (and please don't argue that Gay people have anything even approaching total acceptance in the US). Tolerance means not calling for the murder, beating, imprisonment, exile, etc. of another person or group. In the best case, it means trying to walk a mile in the other person's shoes, so that you understand what they may be going through, which might, might create a little more empathy for them.

What in the world are you talking about? "Religious tolerance" for Christians ... in the US? With a Christian church on every street corner in some cities? With entire television networks and publishing houses dedicated to putting out their own versions of the Christian "message"? Where the SCOTUS just gave corporations the right to hold religious beliefs and protected them? Where the separation of church and state woven into our Constitution is constantly being chipped away at by churches, religious organizations, etc.?

Where certain right-wing oriented television networks trumpet concerns about "Wars" against Christianity whenever there is any slight, real or imagined, perpetrated against a church, person or Christianity?

Family Guy has ridiculed every single element of our culture. This is actually a perfect example, although it provides evidence for the opposite side of the argument from the one you're supporting.

Family Guy had Peter leading a barbershop quartet into an obviously gay man's hospital room doing a musical number about him having "full-blown AIDS." The show has poked fun at racial minorities, disabilities, rich people, poor people, abandoned newborns, etc. etc. Yet, the only thing you seem to see is that Jesus has been mishandled in your opinion.

Offensive for the sake of being offensive? Yes, that's exactly what Family Guy does. It makes no bones about it.

I've turned off many an episode because it just became "too much."

But you see that as some kind of nefarious plot to take children's faith away from them.

Not all media has redeeming moral value. Nor should it.

Christians honor Jesus. Fine. Don't watch Family Guy. Don't click on threads that talk about Christianity being a death cult.

But don't think that your belief system trumps anyone's right to freedom of expression. It doesn't.

And besides that, perhaps it might do Christians a bit of good to see the humorous/ironic side of their beliefs.

Might loosen some of them up, a bit.