Religion Poisons Everything.

[jesus_h_biscuit]

I'm a fan of the show 30 Days on the FX network. I believe it is the best reality TV program available. My favorite episodes are those that deal with religious differences and socioeconomics because they are topics I'm interested most in. The episode where the Christian man goes to live with a family of Muslims in a largely Muslim community (

Comments

[ladysisyphus]

The show's concept is interesting, but knowing the ending, I don't think I could watch it. That'd just hurt my heart.

re: your subject line, however -- that's a pretty broad brush you're painting with there. If you're going to say 'intolerant fundamentalist Christianity poisons the minds of people who might otherwise have been tolerant, reasonable members of society', that's one (quite specific) thing, but when you imply that allegiance to any religion I can possibly name is an automatic ruiner, you're sort of spitting in the faces of a lot of people and things I love. Including, to no small degree, me.

I say these things to you because you know I love you, and because I'm fairly certain you mean me no disrespect. And you know I rage against consdervative Christian hatemongers as much as you do. But the solution is not to allow your beef with that 0.1% to make 99.9% of us targets.

I'll get down off my little soapbox now and go look at some soothing gay porn. Yes, that will be nice.

[jesus_h_biscuit]

Glad you brought this up, actually. Because I do see how it could be taken to mean something I don't intend

[ladysisyphus]

I agree, from a sociological perspective, about the viral nature of religion. But if you're going to make that argument about religion, you kind of have to make it about culture too, and I don't get the impression that you're the kind of guy who's ready to call all of human culture 'poison'.

When you say it's people that do the good, you're absolutely right -- but if you're going to divorce those people from the systems they interact with, you could just as easily say there's no good in politics, or cultural heritage, or even queer pride, if the context and motivation have nothing to do with the outcome. And by that same token, it's hard to see how religion can be responsible for everything bad religious people do, but for nothing good they do

[jesus_h_biscuit]

To the point that I think most Americans are really lame, stupid sheep and that by and large culture here = crap trends, then yeah - gettin' pretty close to critical mass!! I think that humans are less viral and more bacteria though - that I'll own

[fallonmay]

My urge to choke a bitch is rising.

[jesus_h_biscuit]

Preaching to the choir, babe!

[fallonmay]

I know but if I vocalize it the urge dissipates somewhat.

[andywarholswig]

That episode was amazing, but REALLY difficult for me to watch. Especially towards the end.... She gave away a TON of info about herself, though, when - at the beginning - she said something like, "I rely on my religion and my church to tell me how to feel about things". A sheep if there ever was one.

[jesus_h_biscuit]

That crying jag she went on after having the polite conversation at the BBQ/picnic, when the older lady was nothing but polite with her, was proof how ridiculous she was. She actually started thinking and considering that she may not be right (she even said as much at one point) but wouldn't budge even when fact, testimony, and common sense challenged or threatened to contradict her religious view. Which is SO insane to me. Then again, she's living up to her own standards, and however wrong I believe they are, I have to admire that kind of tenacity. It is always easier to have standards than it is to maintain and live up to them. The problem here is that hers are ultimately hypocritical and her bottom line is not in keeping with her other assertions - which, I think merits mention here - she conveniently used "god" to legitimize, as if that's a valid answer in this argument.

[strongaxe]

I remember seeing one episode of Wife Swap (I think it was called?), a reality show in which couples swap wives for a certain period of time for a similar see-how-the-other-half-lives experience.

In that episode, one of the couples was a lesbian couple. At the end, when both couples came together to say what they had learned, the straight mother (who was a Christian fundamentalist) basically came out and said she believed that the other couple was going to hell - which pretty much left them in tears. So much for learning anything.