Posted by GWH at cvg-27-169-247.cinci.rr.com on January 18, 2003 at 10:14:41:
In Reply to: For starters I was raised Southern Baptist. posted by Something-Like-37 on January 18, 2003 at 03:20:14:
: Albeit I'm a very liberal Baptist, but a Baptist nonetheless.
My condolences. And that whole liberal thing will change over time.
: Before you say "A Christian likes Kevin Smith?!" remember that Kevin himself is a Christian and I see Dogma as a very Christian movie (it made me start thinking about my own faith, and got me back into JC)
Never doubted for a minute that most Christians liked Kevin Smith.
And hey, I'm glad that you questioned your faith before embracing it. It's the people who just take it at face value throughout thier entire lives that worry me. I've always considered faith a very important aspect of the human psyche, and I've always had a very strong faith myself.
That being said, I'm a huge Carlin fan and agree with many of his points. I've always had a problem with religion, and it took a few listenings of Carlin to finally figure out what bugged me about it. Religion, in all it's forms, has really screwed the world over. The bloodiest battles in human history have been waged over who has the better "invisible man in the sky".
I think the main thing that bugs me about religion, though, is the sheer arrogance of humanity as a whole to think we actually have the answers and are willing to convince other people that we're right. Who are we to say that we're right and you're wrong about FAITH? It's an abstract, a concept, a part of the human psyche. It's like trying to convince somebody that they're blind when they are looking right at you. None of us knows the truth, and that alone is what drives me away from organized religion. The fact is, we can only decide what is right for ourselves. Because, in the end, that's who we answer to.
I don't mind people living thier life to certain ideals that were created by others. Hell, I encourage it. But I try to emphasize the point that these ideals are only there as a general guideline, not a be-all-end-all-word-of-God-thou-shalt-be-smited-if-thou-strays-absolute-law. Because we all fail at one point or another.
Take "Thou shalt not kill", for example. I don't think that I'm an incredibly violent person. I've been in fights before, certainly (it's all part of growing up and being male). But there has never been serious injury, because I used my martial arts training and self-control to stop the fight before someone got seriously hurt. But I've also been in situations where I was very much aware that I might have to do serious harm or even kill a person to protect my friends and myself. I don't have that many good friends, but the ones I implicitly trust I'll protect with my life. So, if they are in a situation that threatens their life, and this person will continue to threaten thier life even after every other means have been tried to stop them...I'd break their fucking neck.
But, I seem to have wandered off target here, so I'll get back to the topic at hand. George Carlin is funny because he points out the little flaws that both religion and government have skipped over, or outright ignored, then gives it one BIG exaggeration to make it bearable.
: I have read bits and pieces of his books (i.e., while I was in Best Buy I picked it up and started flipping through it). And don't get me wrong, I think a lot of his stuff is funny but no more funny than about 80% of other comedians out there.
Well, most of the books are coming from his current state, which is a crotchety old man. His early stuff is not only much better, but also (when viewed from a historical perspective) groundbreaking.
: And I think it has a lot to do with all of his anti-Christ jazz.
As pointed out elsewhere, he's not really anti-Christ, he's just anti-religion.