Has anyone watched this documentary? It is on right now and I have been watching the first 10 minutes...already scarying the crap out of me. Oh man, here comes senator Ted Haggard.
I watched it this morning. It's on HBO on Demand if anyone wants to check it out. The brainwashing of children is the scariest part.
I haven't, and won't, watch this but doesn't anyone think it's a little odd that Alexandra Pelosi did this? Nah, she isn't biased at all.
Just watched it. Scary indeed, particularly the segments involving kids being brainwashed against evolution. I also find it disturbing how often evangelicals use words like "war" and "battlecry", etc. to defend their beliefs.
I wonder if I can not watch the film because I already know that the maker of the film AND the subjects in the film both have agendas and I don't agree with either one.
Everyone has an agenda but regardless these people are the norm in my opinion. When you see little boys and girls being taught this stuff it is horrible. Seeing a boy say "When I was 5 I got saved because I felt I needed more from life" is just scary. 1) He is 5, why does he need to be saved and from what? 2) A 5 year old boy needs more from life! Go play with your tonka trucks or pinch your sister on the arm. I have said previously (with much resentment) that teaching religion to children is a form of child abuse...and I do not stand down from that point.
crash how does saying that the people in friends of God having an agenda make me one of them? I am confused. I don't agree with their agenda, nor do I agree with the agenda of the film makers. I also don't believe that Bush and Cheney were behind the attacks on 9/11 and I also don't think we should have gone into Iraq...I disagree with both of those points of view. I don't understand how I then get associated with one of the two. hmmmm
Don't take a little documentary as being representative of every Evangelical Christian out there. Don't even take it as being representative of MOST Evangelical Christians. This country has a problem with believing everything they see on TV and then associating that with anything that's closely related to what they saw on said TV. I watched that documentary and it was very enlightening, but only enlightening as to how much I could actually see. I take most documentaries like this with a grain of salt, no matter what the subject matter is, because you can never see the whole story.
caught the show earlier today. The scene when Haggard was talking about how evangelicals have the best sex life, and then quizzing his 2 male parishioners how often they make their wives climax, was creepy and disturbing.
Your task of proving there is no God is as impossible as my task of proving there is one. Both positions are taken on faith.
Being an atheist (the word: A + Theist = lacking a belief in a deity) is not about proving a deity doesn't exist, it's about asking for evidence of such a deity. An atheist believes in the natural, the normal, not the paranormal or supernatural. The natural world is the default "belief" for humanity because is that which can be perceived using the five senses. The burden of proof is on the theist to prove their supernatural beliefs.
Very well said. Most people see on specific questions that there are many divisions between religious claims and science but the word "faith" is a conversation stopper. Atheism is simply the failure to be convinced by other people's claims about miracles and it is also a beiief that those people themselves should not be convinced.
Ryan, I'm getting very tired of your ha-ha-I'm-better-than-you attitude towards anyone who happens to believe in a higher power. You are more than welcome to believe whatever you want - more power to you - but a healthy respect of other views different from your own is beneficial even when you strongly disagree. Furthermore, I find "Friends of God" and other programs of its ilk to be somewhat irritating, not because they aren't interesting (they are, in fact) but because they tend to take on a tone of, "well, this is what Christians are like." I'd say it's a bit more accurate to say "evangelical Christians", but even that isn't completely correct, either. The types featured in the documentary are really just a subset of Christianity, just as radical Muslims are a subset of Islam as a whole. And there are plenty of us mainline Christians around who disagree with damn near all of what the "Friends of God" folks believe.
"I can't see it, so I know it's not there." "I can't see it, but I know it's there." "I can't see it, so I believe it's not there." "I can't see it, but I believe it's there."
Just because something is in the minority as a way of thinking does not make it wrong...especially when the other side is indoctrinated at an early age. The way I think is not a minority in the world, just in America. And my so called minority is much bigger than one might expect. It would be virtually impossible to re-code your brain if you were raised to believe these things. Think about how hard it is for a kid to come to terms with the fact that Santa is not real. The very fact that there are multiple stories on the subjects you hold so close via "faith" should scare even the most devoute christian. What if you are on the wrong team and picked the wrong religion. This says nothing of the fact that people believe these things, but what if after there time on earth they do have to face god...then stand before him and he says to f**k off you followed the wrong religion. What an ego maniac.
