So, I was surfing the web right after class and cam across this. I thought it might get some laughs and kinda pull out a lighter side of religion.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Zombie Jesus
So, I was surfing the web right after class and cam across this. I thought it might get some laughs and kinda pull out a lighter side of religion.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Lewis Black and the Superbowl Take 2: The Ritual
I think this is more relevant to our discussion today than Geoff's post, and definitely contains less profanity!! We'll watch in conjunction with Cal's post on Friday.
Television Religion
In light of the Altar Project and thinking about how I can relate my major to this course I came up with one of the largest symbolistic culprit of our time, television. Being a digital film major makes it difficult to not see the influence of mass media on the general public. When I went looking around for statistics I began to notice something. Television and religion do not exactly get along, in fact religion is threatened by it. In l985 the A. C. Nielsen Company said that , "the television set was on in the average home seven hours and seven minutes a day." That was in 1985! Since then not seeing a television anywhere has become irregular . Most of us get our daily information fix for the day from it. From weather to current news, constant entertainment and information is available at just the push of a button. Its easy to see why religion can become fearful of TV, because TV is the new age opiate of the masses. Many of us don't even realize how powerful television is in shaping culture. In my a/v digital editing class we are learning about how the juxtaposition of certain images cut in a sequence can bring about different ideas and emotions that are not literally shown. Just like the Bible uses different passages to convey meaning that most of the time is not literally what is presented. Much like religion people tent to put "faith" into there television watching subconsciously. Its easy to believe everything that is on television, and for our society today "easy" is most definitely in.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Mind Control
Alan Wolfe writes in The Transformation of American Religion,
It would cater to one of the most fundamental human weaknesses: the need to belong. The fear of loneliness. The hunger to be special. The craving for an exaggerated importance.
I would make a haven for the weak, the inadequate, the fearful. I would wrap it up in all the bright packaging that humans love so much.
The Sharing would never be about weak people being led to submit to a stronger will, no, no, it would be about family, virtue, righteousness, brotherhood and sisterhood. I would offer people an identity. A place to go. I would give them a new vision of themselves as part of something larger, erasing their individuality.
I needed only one thing before I could go to the Empire, call the Council of Thirteen, and present them with my accomplished fact: I needed one human, just one, to submit voluntarily.
If I could show them one human who had surrendered his or her will and freedom, without threat of violence, I could convince the Empire to follow my path. The way of infiltration.
The first meeting of The Sharing took place on a Saturday. Thirty-five people attended.
I had done a tremendous job in a very short time. I had studied human history, supplementing what Allison Kim already knew. I studied every cult, every movement, every great, mesmerizing leader that had ever held sway over humans.
And by the time those thirty-five humans came into the rented hall, I had adorned the walls with symbols and flags and icons. All the visual nonsense that moves the susceptible human mind.
They filed in, some in small groups, but most alone. They were stirred by the inspirational music. Flattered by the attention paid them by attendants I’d hired from a temp agency. Impressed by the expensively produced booklets we handed out. Awed by the pictures and symbols that draped the walls.
I spoke to them from the stage. Not as Allison Kim, of course, because all my links to Allison Kim would have to be concealed before my fellow Yeerks arrived.
I had carefully picked a human host for just this one purpose. His name was Lawrence Alter.
A real estate salesman. I changed his name to Lore David Altman. Three name combinations were popular then.
He was a charismatic man with a loud, deep voice and an abundance of hair. Just the sort of face that humans respond to, though his brain was a wasteland compared to Allison’s.
Allison Kim had been left handcuffed to a radiator in a hotel room, awaiting my return.
Later, after it was over, I found I couldn’t recall exactly what I’d said to this first meeting of The Sharing, not the specific words. A lot of high-flown rhetoric touching on the themes humans love to hear: that they are special, superior, a chosen few. That their failures in life are all someone else’s fault. That mystical, unseen forces and secret knowledge will give them power.
The next Saturday there were more than twice the number of humans. And already I had begun to explain that there was an “Outer” Sharing, and an “Inner” one. The humans in the “Outer” Sharing were wiser, better, more moral, superior to the average human, but not as superior as those lucky few who had entered the “Inner” Sharing.
Of course at that point there was no “Inner” Sharing. Just seventy or eighty humans sitting in plush chairs and being fed an endless diet of words that had no clear meaning.
The Inner-Sharing, that was the test of true greatness. And all a human had to do to enter was to surrender their will.
This was what Essam, who had infested only Lowenstein and Hildy, would not credit: that humans would surrender their freedom in exchange for empty words. But I had infested the lost soldier, and the even more lost Jenny Lines. I had tasted human defeat and superstition and weakness.
I knew.
Ritualized worship has many distinctive characteristics, including its emphasis on drama and narrative, its reliance on symbols, and its bodily appeal to the senses more than to the mindful qualities of the intellect. But what distinguishes ritual above all else is the lack of space it makes available for individuals to decide for themselves methods of worship that fit their own dispositions. Protestantism, in the view of many Catholic traditionalists, puts its emphasis on an individual's sense of inner conviction, while Catholicism, at its core, stresses the magical power that flows from collective participation in sacramental worship.
I attend Catholic Mass regularly, so many things this reading discussed were familiar to me.
A couple of months ago, in the middle of the presidential campaign circus, I had read this excellent article on Cracked.com: 6 Brainwashing Techniques They're Using On You Right Now.
Chanting Slogans
There are many points during the Mass where all the assembled people are supposed to speak together in unison. Services are filled with the singing of lyrics based on Biblical versus. At one point the people speak the Nicene Creed, professing their beliefs. At another point the Deacon reads a list of prayer intentions, and the congregation is expected to say "Lord, hear our prayer," in response to each. I make sure I remain silent when they get to the part about protecting the alleged sanctity of marriage.
Controlling what you watch and read
The church is quick to pass judgement on what films a good Christian should and shouldn't watch.
The Da Vinci Code - Bad!
The Golden Compass - Bad!
Brokeback Mountain - Bad!
The Chronicles of Narnia - Good!
Private schools and homeschooling are also popular among religious families, to protect the children from the secular influence of the public school system. A group called Exodus Mandate calls for an exodus from the public schools.
Keeping you in line with shame
Black and white choices
Us vs. Them
The Catholic church regularly declares that something is Truth. It makes sure its followers are familiar with its laundry list of sins. There's the black and there's the white, there's good and there's evil, Heaven for Us and Hell for Them. Moral relativism is dangerous according to the Pope, the infallible leader of the Catholic church.
When I think of organized religion I am often reminded of The Sharing from the Animorphs book series by K.A. Applegate, a series I loved as a kid. Part of the premise of the books is that aliens called Yeerks are seeking to enslave the human race. Yeerks are parasitic slugs that crawl into a person's ear and meld into the brain, controlling everything the person does from then on. Instead of waging a war to conquer the planet, the Yeerks decide to secretly infiltrate human society through an organization called The Sharing.
On the surface, The Sharing is a friendly organization committed to serving the community. It is often compared to the Boy Scouts. It provides people with a sense of community, a sense of belonging, of being part of something greater than the self. But once you join them, they slip a slug into your ear and gain control of your brain. An interesting metaphor.
That's an image that often sticks with me when I'm at church, surrounded by people speaking in unison. Or when I hear anything about the Church of Scientology. It's an image that sticks with me when I watch videos of the children of Westboro Baptist Church smiling sweetly and singing about eternal damnation for everyone God hates.
This except from the Animorphs book Visser describes the formation of The Sharing, how it was designed to exploit the weaknesses of the human race:
And, once I had the seed money, several hundred million, I began to create The Sharing.
It would cater to one of the most fundamental human weaknesses: the need to belong. The fear of loneliness. The hunger to be special. The craving for an exaggerated importance.
I would make a haven for the weak, the inadequate, the fearful. I would wrap it up in all the bright packaging that humans love so much.
The Sharing would never be about weak people being led to submit to a stronger will, no, no, it would be about family, virtue, righteousness, brotherhood and sisterhood. I would offer people an identity. A place to go. I would give them a new vision of themselves as part of something larger, erasing their individuality.
I needed only one thing before I could go to the Empire, call the Council of Thirteen, and present them with my accomplished fact: I needed one human, just one, to submit voluntarily.
If I could show them one human who had surrendered his or her will and freedom, without threat of violence, I could convince the Empire to follow my path. The way of infiltration.
The first meeting of The Sharing took place on a Saturday. Thirty-five people attended.
I had done a tremendous job in a very short time. I had studied human history, supplementing what Allison Kim already knew. I studied every cult, every movement, every great, mesmerizing leader that had ever held sway over humans.
And by the time those thirty-five humans came into the rented hall, I had adorned the walls with symbols and flags and icons. All the visual nonsense that moves the susceptible human mind.
They filed in, some in small groups, but most alone. They were stirred by the inspirational music. Flattered by the attention paid them by attendants I’d hired from a temp agency. Impressed by the expensively produced booklets we handed out. Awed by the pictures and symbols that draped the walls.
I spoke to them from the stage. Not as Allison Kim, of course, because all my links to Allison Kim would have to be concealed before my fellow Yeerks arrived.
I had carefully picked a human host for just this one purpose. His name was Lawrence Alter.
A real estate salesman. I changed his name to Lore David Altman. Three name combinations were popular then.
He was a charismatic man with a loud, deep voice and an abundance of hair. Just the sort of face that humans respond to, though his brain was a wasteland compared to Allison’s.
Allison Kim had been left handcuffed to a radiator in a hotel room, awaiting my return.
Later, after it was over, I found I couldn’t recall exactly what I’d said to this first meeting of The Sharing, not the specific words. A lot of high-flown rhetoric touching on the themes humans love to hear: that they are special, superior, a chosen few. That their failures in life are all someone else’s fault. That mystical, unseen forces and secret knowledge will give them power.
The next Saturday there were more than twice the number of humans. And already I had begun to explain that there was an “Outer” Sharing, and an “Inner” one. The humans in the “Outer” Sharing were wiser, better, more moral, superior to the average human, but not as superior as those lucky few who had entered the “Inner” Sharing.
Of course at that point there was no “Inner” Sharing. Just seventy or eighty humans sitting in plush chairs and being fed an endless diet of words that had no clear meaning.
The Inner-Sharing, that was the test of true greatness. And all a human had to do to enter was to surrender their will.
This was what Essam, who had infested only Lowenstein and Hildy, would not credit: that humans would surrender their freedom in exchange for empty words. But I had infested the lost soldier, and the even more lost Jenny Lines. I had tasted human defeat and superstition and weakness.
I knew.
- K.A. Applegate, Visser, p98-100.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Craziness at Kansas City
This past week in class we have discussed variety of topics on religion and to be more specific we talked about religion and gay marriage. Gay marriage is considered to be wrong and there are a lot people who really hate even to think that they are living among them. Well in Kansas City the religious fanatics of the Westboro Baptist Church are taking things to the extreme level.
The church fanatics were protesting outside the military funeral with very provocative signs. Those horrible signs were offending the families of the dead soldiers, but it also offended me as I watch this craziness to unfold. I still can’t believe that people take religion so serious that they actually lose their mind in it. It shocks me to see how people can be manipulated so easily just by one person name Phelps(The leader of the church). As for the follower, those people can’t think for themselves, they are brain washed with this rubbish since they were little kids. The worst part about it is that most of the members of the Westboro Baptist Church are from Phelps’ own family. There is defiantly something wrong with this family, maybe they’re inbred, mentally if not physically.
This issue was brought up because some people say it was a violation of the 1st commandment(Freedom of Speech). Well let’s look at it a little closer. The Phelps people still have the right to say whatever they want. But they do not, however, have the right to say it wherever or whenever they want. What kind of church going person with a good appreciation towards Gods' teachings would ever hold up a sign saying “God hates Fags”.
If there is a hell, these idiots will have a special place waiting for them. Plus those Westboro Baptist Church fanatics got sued for 11 million dollar. There are a lot of people hoping it will be the end of the Westboro Baptist Church and their stupidity. The full story is available here.
Thank you for reading,
-Andrei
P.S I'm still outraged by those brain washed idiots.
The church fanatics were protesting outside the military funeral with very provocative signs. Those horrible signs were offending the families of the dead soldiers, but it also offended me as I watch this craziness to unfold. I still can’t believe that people take religion so serious that they actually lose their mind in it. It shocks me to see how people can be manipulated so easily just by one person name Phelps(The leader of the church). As for the follower, those people can’t think for themselves, they are brain washed with this rubbish since they were little kids. The worst part about it is that most of the members of the Westboro Baptist Church are from Phelps’ own family. There is defiantly something wrong with this family, maybe they’re inbred, mentally if not physically.
This issue was brought up because some people say it was a violation of the 1st commandment(Freedom of Speech). Well let’s look at it a little closer. The Phelps people still have the right to say whatever they want. But they do not, however, have the right to say it wherever or whenever they want. What kind of church going person with a good appreciation towards Gods' teachings would ever hold up a sign saying “God hates Fags”.
If there is a hell, these idiots will have a special place waiting for them. Plus those Westboro Baptist Church fanatics got sued for 11 million dollar. There are a lot of people hoping it will be the end of the Westboro Baptist Church and their stupidity. The full story is available here.
Thank you for reading,
-Andrei
P.S I'm still outraged by those brain washed idiots.
Formal Post: The "Stupid-Bowl"
Alright-symbols. How about a great American one; Football...
With the super-bowl coming up in a couple hours now and everyone getting all pumped up as I sit in my room contemplating this ridiculous event, and wonder what to write my blog post about. I'm thinking of symbols, religion, some sort of issue that would create a good discussion. So, getting more and more fed-up thinking about it, I realize here in itself is a great symbol, and some even call it their religion. Football, is it Sacred or Secular, Super or Stupid?
What is it about this game that makes it so American's love it? We have taken a secular activity in my mind and transformed into a sacred pass time. I am so sick of how overblown and capitalistic this sport has become, and how we all sit around and let it totally consume us. Even people who I know dont like football simply watch it for the commercials- come on! (Although I will admit the Bridgestone commercials were brilliant, yes I am a hypocrite.)
In our readings McDannell says,"During the first half of the twentieth century, cultural critics observed that a powerful "cultural industry" made up of the media, popular arts, entertainment, and fashion controlled the desires and needs of the "mases"."(10) The media has shoved whatever it has wanted down our throats whether we like it or not just as the church did before the media was around. "For the sixteenth-century Protestant reformers and the powerful Catholic church manipulated weak people through images and trinkets." The media has turned football into our religion.
I have done a fair amount of traveling outside of the United States and have come to understand football as being the iconic American sport in the eyes of the majority of each person I have talked to. Why is this I ask myself? Could it possible be the relation between America being the most materialistic and capitalistic driven country in the world and football being the most popular form of media mindwash? Either way it is a symbol that speaks loud and clear the more I think about it. Our general of central command tossed the coin to open the game for goodness sake... If that doesn't say "this is America" I don't know what does.
I do know that I have had enough between John Madden, the 3 hour pregame show, hour long halftime show with good old "born in the USA" Bruce Springsteen and 10 million dollar commercials which lets be honest...half of our class probably could come up with more entertaining ones.
Okay, I'm done my rant now.
-Cal
p.s. I know I started with saying it was a couple hours before the game and I posted this at 6:30 on Monday, but I needed to add a few more thoughts after letting the full scale of the event set-in.
What is it about this game that makes it so American's love it? We have taken a secular activity in my mind and transformed into a sacred pass time. I am so sick of how overblown and capitalistic this sport has become, and how we all sit around and let it totally consume us. Even people who I know dont like football simply watch it for the commercials- come on! (Although I will admit the Bridgestone commercials were brilliant, yes I am a hypocrite.)
In our readings McDannell says,"During the first half of the twentieth century, cultural critics observed that a powerful "cultural industry" made up of the media, popular arts, entertainment, and fashion controlled the desires and needs of the "mases"."(10) The media has shoved whatever it has wanted down our throats whether we like it or not just as the church did before the media was around. "For the sixteenth-century Protestant reformers and the powerful Catholic church manipulated weak people through images and trinkets." The media has turned football into our religion.
I have done a fair amount of traveling outside of the United States and have come to understand football as being the iconic American sport in the eyes of the majority of each person I have talked to. Why is this I ask myself? Could it possible be the relation between America being the most materialistic and capitalistic driven country in the world and football being the most popular form of media mindwash? Either way it is a symbol that speaks loud and clear the more I think about it. Our general of central command tossed the coin to open the game for goodness sake... If that doesn't say "this is America" I don't know what does.
I do know that I have had enough between John Madden, the 3 hour pregame show, hour long halftime show with good old "born in the USA" Bruce Springsteen and 10 million dollar commercials which lets be honest...half of our class probably could come up with more entertaining ones.
Okay, I'm done my rant now.
-Cal
p.s. I know I started with saying it was a couple hours before the game and I posted this at 6:30 on Monday, but I needed to add a few more thoughts after letting the full scale of the event set-in.
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