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I've seen a lot of TV shows lately... particularly children's cartoons...
which are blatantly trying to indoctrinate children into the Christian
religion. What I'd like to see is a series of children's shows which
emphasize the values of logic, reason, and humanism. I'd also like to
see the main
characters
encounter situations where they are
approached by folks of the religious persuasion and respectfully
explain that they aren't buying into religion themselves but have no
reason to negatively judge those who do. Maybe such a show could be
a cartoon depicting an interfaith kids' club with a Muslim, a Christian, a
Sikhe, and an Atheist all getting along famously and having adventures
together.
This was inspired by a conversation I had with a young Muslim woman
a few days ago. She was amazed (floored almost) when I asked if she
was Sunni, Shia, or Alawite. Apparently, I was the first American she's
ever met (she came to the US from Saudi Arabia 2 years ago) who
knew there was more than one kind of Muslim out there. She was
even more amazed when she asked if I'm a Christian and I told her
that I'm actually an Atheist. She told me I'd shown more cultural and
religious sensitivity and respect than any Christian she's met, and it
absolutely amazed her that I have no religion to guide me.
If a single 20 minute conversation can do that to improve our image in
religious folks' minds, just imagine what the exposure we'd get from a
kids' show can do.
Here's a podcast I like
http://pennsundayschool.com/
Not related to the idea, but it's an Athiestic good time. [doctorremulac3, Sep 22 2013]
Here's a bunch of atheists who have a problem with "belief", when they should know better.
http://www.evolutionvsgod.com/
As mentioned in an annotation. [Vernon, Sep 23 2013]
Horrible Histories' "Rosa Parks Song"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/clips/p019r2yw
Superior TV entertainment. [DrBob, Sep 23 2013]
Indoctrinating kids through children's television
http://www.youtube....watch?v=eeii225G-HM
Hamas' Jew-eating rabbit. [AusCan531, Sep 23 2013]
Atheism to be taught to Irish schoolchildren
http://www.theguard...rish-schoolchildren
[JesusHChrist, Sep 26 2013]
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So, it wouldn't include Atheists eating babies and raping
and murdering everyone in sight? /snarkiness
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We only do that on weekends.
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The whole question of atheism in America worries
me - I get the feeling that being atheist there is
almost as bad as admitting that you smoke, or
possibly worse. So many people, so much power, so
much superstition. |
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//only do that on weekends// So much the better for those of us who work one day a week. |
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I reaaally like the idea of an athiest child being shown as being somebody to be respected as much as kids from any other persuasion. I'm also kind of shocked that, now that you mention it, I've never seen this before.
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Bun-at-ya Q. Nice idea. [+] |
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//I get the feeling that being atheist there is almost as bad
as admitting that you smoke, or possibly worse.//
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Actually, it's about on par with admitting you're Jewish in
the UK. |
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Actually, in the UK, if you have to admit to any
religious affiliation, being Jewish is the least bad. I
guess it's seen more as a circumstance of birth than
as a choice. |
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It's certainly interesting being an Atheist on this side of the
pond... I've never been openly insulted over it, but the look on
most folks' faces when I tell them I'm an Atheist ranges from
shock to wariness. |
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// What I'd like to see is a series of children's
shows which emphasize the values of logic,
reason, and humanism. //
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Would this eventually be rolled out into adult
shows too, or is that just too big a step … ? |
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21 - There are also Sufis, if my memory serves me. We studied comparative religions at secondary school. |
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// the look on most folks' faces when I tell them I'm
an Atheist ranges from shock to wariness.// Sounds
a lot like most Islamic countries, but without the
stoning. |
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Can"t be called "AA" though. Need a different
shortening. Maybe AmAt. Don't want to get the two
confused. Like the idea though. + |
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//but the look on most folks' faces when I tell them I'm an Atheist ranges from//
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See, thing is, as an Australian - it basically never comes up.. I don't know if it's the fact that we don't consider asking someone their religion, or talking about our own (or lack thereof) doesn't fit in with our definition of polite conversation, or if it's just the fact that we couldn't give a rat's arse what someone's religion is.
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I guess I'm saying it's pretty good being an atheist in Australia.
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The idea for the kid's show with characters of different religious persuasion is a great one. As long as there's absolutely no, none, whatsoever, plot content that isn't factual - ie no supernatrual crap that would make a mockery of the atheist. |
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Oh definitely... the real trick would be to not throw the religious
kids under the bus, either, thus offending our target audience. |
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//as an Australian - it basically never comes up//
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Interesting. That's kind of similar to the situation
here in the UK, at least superficially. I wonder if the
underlying motivation is the same. Over here, I
think the reason it never comes up is that religion is
generally considered a bit weird, and it would be
sort of embarrassing if someone admitted to it. |
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Only can we drop the US-centric bit? This needs to be
worldwide. |
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It could be along the lines of shows like Master Chef USA or Master
Chef New Zealand. Each country it airs in can have its own version
tailored to the cultural environment there. |
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// I guess I'm saying it's pretty good being an
atheist in Australia //
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It's sort of inevitable. People arrive, look
around them at the place, and immediately
realise that there's no God. |
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One caveat. A show called "American Atheist"
effectively defines atheism as the thing which is odd
about atheists, just as "American Hotrod" is clearly
about people whose oddity is a passion for hotrods.
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Atheists, I think, are the ground-state of the human
spirit, the norm from which other states are defined
as strange, and it seems odd therefore to define
them in this way. |
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// the norm from which other states are
defined as strange //
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So, a show entitled "American Imbecile" ? |
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//immediately realise that there's no God//
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Only the Poms who realise that they've lived their entire lives up to that point in the UK. |
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'The Atheist Among Us'? 'Atheists in the Fold'? 'All Your Beliefs Are
Belong To Us'? |
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Seems to me it's not enough to simply be atheist. It
seems to be all about staring blankly, if there's no real
central object. Someone, likely a sciency type, has to
bring in a new wave of atheism that has some central
object, that's not disproof of almightyness. In a sense
atheism becomes a nihilism, because without something
eternal everything is reduceable to nothing. So it would
be nice for atheism to have a certain shelf-life, and have
people declare themselves rationalists, philosophers,
and even nihilists, instead of defining themselves based
on what they don't believe in. So in a manner of
speaking I'm against the idea, because I've been
distancing myself from atheism recently. In reality I'm
not really atheist because no substantial proof has been
presented to be refuted. I simply don't adhere to what
any religious people are talking about. And on the
other hand I'm not completely against religion because
in the very important domain of human conflict it's
ingrained in history that's unfolding. The specific beliefs
related to global identities have to be understood to
understand what's going on in more reality level
situations. |
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DANGER: imminent formation of Self-aggrandising, superior circle-jerk detected. Abort, Abort.
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... [rcarty] I just think a lot of us don't need a central object, and similarly, our central objects are all different. I don't feel any specific need to have any comformity or comraderie with other atheists, or anyone else. Down that road lies arbitrary beleifs, thoughts, actions, eventually dogma, and a repeat of all of the evils of organised religion that has driven many of us away from theism to begin with.
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I don't contemplate the bleakness of it all, because I am surrounded by an amazing, diverse, interesting and fascinating universe, a life full of exciting possibilities, and fulfilling relationships with fellow human beings. I don't need some central concept upon which to base my life.
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But that's just me, I don't speak for all atheists. |
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I don't really want a central concept either, but I was just
thinking in terms of a new atheism that wasn't based on
rejecting stupid beliefs, like time travel or some sort of
mathematical model that proves we live again or
something like that. Anyway I agree, I'm just tired of
hearing stupid beliefs being refuted. |
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I'm even more tired of hearing stupid beleifs promulgated. |
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The funniest joke I know about Religion is, if
someone proved God actually existed (and nothing
else), almost every single Religion would instantly
claim that its particular belief system regarding
everything, not just God's existence, had been
proved.
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NOPE. Sorry, but proving God exists doesn't prove
that Creation happened --the Big Bang could STILL
have been a spontaneous Natural event. Nor does
it prove anything about God's likes or dislikes. It
doesn't even prove that humans have souls.
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I'm going to post a link that has a video that tries
to suck the viewer in, using a logical fallacy. See,
the video talks a lot about "belief". The problem
is, at least with respect to Science and
Technology, "belief" is mostly irrelevant. When
you flip a switch to turn on a light, you don't need
to believe that the light will turn on. IF there is
power, and IF the wiring is in good condition, and
IF the light bulb is not burned out (and perhaps
more IFs), then the light WILL work, period-and-
end-of-statement, no belief or faith necessary.
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Now I admit that there have been Science
Scandals, such that various claims were improperly
made and needed to be retracted. However, note
that the main reason the retractions happened
was because others did NOT automatically believe
the claims that were made --they tried to
duplicate the experimental results. Since Every
Single Claim In Science is subject to such
verification/testing, it logically follows that
"belief" is generally only useful if you want to be
lazy, and not do all those verifications/tests
yourself.
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There is one other aspect of Science that needs
to be mentioned, because Science consists of
more than just data-gathering. It also tries to put
the data together in ways that make logical sense.
That is why the Theory of Evolution came about;
it did a better job of explaining the facts than any
other notion. Keep that in mind if you watch the
video, and see its insidious attempt to make belief
more important than all the verifiable facts that
Evolutionists can explain, but Creationists cannot. |
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//I'd like to see is a series of children's shows which emphasize the values of logic, reason, and humanism//
Have you met any children? I ask because the three things you are looking to instill are antithetical to the target audience. Fanaticism, tenacity in the face of overwhelming evidence and a malicious streak a mile wide are more sympathetic to the demographic, and advertisers want shows and watchers simpatico. |
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There is very little connection between religion and
belief. |
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large groups of people appear to require an
organizing meme. While there's been plenty of
evidence for the harm done by such memes when
they are religious in nature, there's also been
plenty of evidence in the last 150 years that non-
religious versions of such memes (i.e. fascism,
communism) are just as bad, or worse. So, in its
heyday, the Soviet Union, which had over 100M
atheists, was probably the largest threat to
humans on the planet and perhaps to the planet
itself. China, which at least nominally holds the
largest # of atheists on the planet, North Korea,
are the other places that come to mind. |
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//So, in its heyday, the Soviet Union, which had over 100M atheists, was probably the largest threat to humans on the planet and perhaps to the planet itself. //
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I just don't agree with that. The being a threat to humans and the planet bit. I just don't agree - that's an enormously, solipsistically one sided view of things. Their "system" was critically flawed, morally wrong and ultimately ineffective, sure, but I think history will and is showing that the "western" system isn't so much better. Either way, soviet communism wasn't a threat to continued human survival of the planet - it was just a threat to the western political system (funnily enough, the inverse was also absolutely true, ie that the western system was a threat to the soviet system). Now I'm all for victors getting to write history and all, but shit man, it was only 25 years ago. The facts haven't faded enough for utter bullshit yet. |
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That actually doesn't seem like very many.
Ok, sure, it could be that ..ooh.. 286730819 is certainly over 100 million, but it's still a bit misleading.
Or were the other two-thirds of the population agnostic?
(Actually, sources indicate that over 80% of the population had a religion, so there would only have been less than 60 million atheists present.)
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The UK contains over 2 atheists - and look what we have wrought! |
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[Custardguts] I lived it, and my father spent time
in
the Gulag. It was real evil, and it was a threat to
all
of mankind, if not from nuclear fallout, than for a
thousand year hammer and sickle. And I guess
having grown up there, I'm not sufficiently evolved
to hold all things equal.
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Religion may be the opiate of the masses, but
what
replaced it in those societies was in many ways
scarier. Scarier because it was a political system
treated as a religion.
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As to the sources -- officially everyone was
indoctrinated into an atheist view -- we were
taught that Jesus was an invention, a retelling of
the Osiris myth, and likely never existed as a
human. Of course many still worshiped in secret,
memes being what they are. Some still worship
Communism, too. Now they love walking around
sporting rapper style crosses, and there's an
unholy alliance between the Kremlin and the
Orthodox Church, as exemplified in the Pussy Riot
incident. So the world turns. |
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I'm wondering why we have to wear these labels at all? If I had to say, my label would be something like Rastafarian Buddhist Hindu Zen Christian Pagan...
I guess the idea could help expand choices, so [+] |
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it is no different than any other form of speciation,
xandram. You can no more change it than stop water
from flowing downhill. Actually, we'll probably beat
gravity someday and still asign labels. |
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// children's shows which emphasize the values of logic,
reason, and humanism. //
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When I was a kid public television offered a plethora of
shows which fit that description: Sesame Street, Mr.
Rogers, 3-2-1 Contact!, Square One...have things changed?
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I've seen that terrible 'Veggie-tales' pap, but it seems like a
few good ones are left. 'Dino Junction' (now 'Dinosaur
Train') offers good wholesome anti-Christian fun by
accurately explaining that dinosaurs existed ages before
humans existed, and 'Jane and the Dragon' borders on
paganist. |
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You mean like 'This side up' or 'this side down'? |
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[their] - I appreciate that you sound like that you have a much more personal perspective than I of the situation. And I will admit I thought your comments were coming from the normal, usually US-based, one eyed view of history. That said, I still mean what I said. Evil can be found, true evil, in all of man's deeds, and most especially in his treatment of other men (or women). There's nothing special about us or what we do that separates us from that fact.
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That was a helluva side-track to take, eh? I feel somewhat prohetical.
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DANGER: Self-aggrandising, superior circle-jerk achieved. Recovery impossible. SELF DESTRUCT!!!1!! |
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tbf, the problem isn't that American children's TV is misleading or wrong, the problem is that it is just plain shit (e.g. Bubble Guppies). At least with the theocratic bent is is venturing into new territories of shit and broadening out from "shilling product shit". |
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Is it time for Burka Avenger yet? |
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Honestly, is children's programming in other countries that
much better? I saw some of the British stuff while I was
over there and, to borrow a colloquialism, it was bloody
bollocks. Maybe not Christian indoctrination bollocks, but
uneducational, mind-numbing, creativity- stifling bollocks
hosted by a pouf named Graham Norton. Also there was
some bad stuff on in the morning that was more obviously
aimed at the age 4-8 set.
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Also, wasn't 'Teletubbies' British? Stupifying kids is nearly as
bad as brainwashing them! |
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You clearly haven't seen '3-2-1 Penguins!'
which is brought to us by the makers of
VeggiTales. What I'm going for with 'American Atheist' is good
old fashioned propaganda. |
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//Honestly, is children's pogramming in other countries that much better? //
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po·grom [puh-gruhm, -grom, poh-] noun
an organized massacre, especially of Jews.
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In Britain I believe it generally to be considered not the done thing in polite society. |
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Of course not. One sends the peasants from one's estates out with flaming torches and agricultural implements to do the actual massacring. It is accepted practice to observe the distant glow of burning hovels from a convenient first-floor balcony. |
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Point made; typo fixed. Now answer my question, you
evasive limey gits. |
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I have seen 3-2-1 Penguins. Pap, but probably harmless
pap. I'm all for imparting good morals and ethics, but
without the prostyletizing (sp?) you get from those fucking
preachy vegetables. |
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//is children's programming in other countries that much better//
It is at a better level on the Bristol stool scale, but still ranks on the Bristol stool scale. There is some good programming for younger children: Octonauts has taught me a great deal about underwater beasts and a rabbit with a submarine; In The Night Garden is trippy as fuck and narrated by Derek Jacobi; Mr Bloom might have very jazzy hands but, again, knowledge is imparted in a relatively fun way. Plenty of preachy (though not in terms of religion) & didactic excreta, though, not denying that. |
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My children like Peppa Pig. I don't think there's much indoctrination involved, although it did give them the idea of jumping in muddy puddles.
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Generally religion is disregarded in childrens shows here. If there are actual children in a cookery program ('I can cook') or a gameshow ('Swashbuckle') or something then some of them might be wearing headscarves or other religious apparel and noone cares.
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If there's indoctrination it's mainly undirected ineffective environmentalism, for example 'Nina and the Neurons'. |
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I've not seen a single episode of 123 Penguins that doesn't have
the childrens' faceless grandmother using the words 'remember,
the good book says...' or 'as the good book says...' and then goes
on to quote Bible verses. |
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Oh yeah, I forgot about that part. It's been a while since I
was depressed enough to be watching kid shows in the
middle of the day, and I haven't reached that stage of
parenthood yet (nor do I plan to, but the first thing I
learned to do as a new parent is compromise
my lofty standards according to my child's needs).
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[Loris], // some of them might be wearing headscarves or
other religious apparel // gave me a nice little culture
shock. In my geo-cultural paradigm the term 'religious
apparel' automatically has judeo-christian connotations. |
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Just you wait... kids' shows will soon be your ONLY shows. My
stepson is going to be 2 in November and my fiancée is
'occupied' with the first weapon of mass destruction I've
scrounged up the necessary radioactive ingredients for... Quest,
Jr. We're expecting delivery in April. So I really *need* this show
to happen ASAP! |
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Make the show. Get a smartphone and some construction
paper, cut out characters with scissors and glue googly-
eyes on them in a Picasso-ish fashion, write a script and get
your friend that does all the voices so the two of you can
get your Python on recording it, do the animation on your
kitchen table. I made a five-minute short to promote my
writing (T.G.F.J. directed and edited) and it took me about
six hours. It's on yootoob. |
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Hm... not a bad idea. Might even be able to do it as a puppet
show. Two words, 'MORE PUPPETS!'
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I just heard it said that religion can be thought of along the same
lines as genitalia: it's ok to have one, it's ok to be proud of the
one you have... just don't whip it out in public, don't push it on
children, don't write laws with it, and don't think with it. |
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// don't write laws with it, and don't think with it. //
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That's going to seriously mess up the U.S. presidential election system ... |
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// What I'd like to see is a series of children's shows which
emphasize the values of logic, reason, and humanism.//
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I'm done with children's television, thankfully, but
remember liking 'Bob the Builder' as that show embraced
the above along with some sense of objective.
'Teletubbies' still make me shudder. To be fair they are
aimed at different ages and my little guy liked the latter
show for a while. |
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I'm not denying there are several shows out there displaying
logic and reason... but there aren't many that demonstrate
humanism without a religious element to it, and none that I'm
aware of which make any positive mention of Atheists.
Depictions of the ancient Assyrian city Nineveh in Christian-
themed productions portray the Assyrians as Atheistic ('godless')
and has God saying they should be pitied because of their
ignorance. The VeggieTales version of the story teaches children
that Atheists should be pitied, then struck down if they refuse to
convert. I'm sorry, but is that really appropriate to teach them? I
don't think so. What I want to see is Pro-Atheism being taught to
children, or at least acceptance and tolerance of, and respect for,
Atheism. I want a direct counter to VeggieTales, in other words.
Perhaps a 'clone' of VeggieTales, even, which teaches children
the same morals and ethics, but using logic, reason, and
humanism and perhaps oh so gently, subtly, portraying religion
in a sinister and/or pitiful light. |
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Hey hey [21Q] I'm on your side as I'm a devout atheist. I'd just rather cut out crap like VeggieTales or any other form of adults proselytizing religion to kids. Leave the kids alone, other than general educational and community spirit type spruiking, and let them make up their own minds when they're old enough to rationalize the stuff being broadcast at them.
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I absolutely loath kid's shows which incorporate religion into them in an effort to indoctrinate the kids before their powers of intellectual scrutiny are formed. Shows like the ones you mention aren't too many steps removed from the ones put on by Hamas about Jew-eating Rabbits. [link] |
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I just don't understand why atheists are so distrusted by so
many people... |
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Because we walk around not believing that we're being scrutinized by some all-seeing eye who will later reward or punish us for our behaviour. For many people that seems to be the only rationale for treating other people decently. |
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//but there aren't many that demonstrate
humanism without a religious element to it, and
none that I'm aware of which make any positive
mention of Atheists.//
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I like the spirit of this idea, but the more I think
about it, the more uneasy I am about it. I don't
think I'm defined by being an atheist - any more
than I'm defined by not believing in the Loch Ness
Monster or father Christmas. I don't think my
approach to life is shaped by my disbelief in gods,
even though that disbelief is strongly held.
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That said, I agree it's very, very important that
people need to be aware that you can live a good
and worthwhile life without superstitions - it's just
that I don't like the idea of superstitionlessness
being a defining property, if you see what I mean.
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At least here in the UK, and perhaps in the US too,
there are many programs which present human
accomplishments without any mention of religion
(for example, just about any science
documentary; and in fact almost all factual
programs). Those programs don't go out of their
way to say "I'm David Attenborough, and I believe
in evolution" or "The scientists here at CERN are
all atheists" - it's just taken for granted that that's
the case.
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I guess a lot depends on the cultural context -
maybe in the US, people just assume that
everyone believes in gods unless the contrary is
explicitly pointed out. |
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//Those programs don't go out of their way to say "I'm David Attenborough, and I believe in evolution" or "The scientists here at CERN are all atheists" - it's just taken for granted that that's the case.//
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They (the scientists at CERN) are probably not all atheists. Quite a proportion of physicists are religious. Something about quantum laws, the vast range of scales or the nature of the big bang seems to make them believe.
Even some biologists are religious, and knowing about evolution tends to do the reverse.
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It would actually be interesting to get data on proportions. |
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It would. I don't think there's any aversion to
people declaring their atheism on TV here (I guess
it might go down badly on Songs of Praise), but it
would be nice if atheists could make their atheism
clear without banging the point home.
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Interesting comment on religion in biology: I
teach courses in Malaysia sometimes, and also
work with people at a genomics centre there. On
one visit, one of their guys, who was a fairly
advanced genomics person, asked me
incredulously if I really believed humans evolved
from _apes_??
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I was stunned by the question, if only because
genomics really only makes sense in the context
of evolution. Otherwise it's just cargo cult
science. |
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That's a general trend in management, I think,
rather than a peculiarity of religion.
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What bugs me (IMMINENT RANT WARNING) is that
we (scientists) are meant to be very friendly
towards religion, to the extent of saying that of
course religiosity is no impediment to doing
science. Well, it is. In some cases it doesn't
matter much (for example, it doesn't matter if
you believe a god made the big bang, as long as
you believe that things just followed on from
that). In other cases it does (as in biology; you
make wrong calls if you allow for divine
intervention). But on the whole, it is detrimental
and, in general, its a handicap which is overcome
by only a few.
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I often wonder how the churches would react if
we had priests, imams or rabbis who were openly
atheist but, nevertheless, argued that they could
handle the job and that it was none of anyone
else's business. |
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I thought that was normal for CofE bishops and vicars? |
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[MB], I've always assumed many who preach are
actually non believers, how could it be otherwise.
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As to impact of belief on science -- I think it's quite
easy to be an agnostic or to believe in an abstract
creator and be a scientist. To believe in the actual
mumbo jumbo of any given cargo cult and be a
scientist -- that seems hard. |
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The times when religiosity (or non-such) gets
troublesome is when it gets linked with politics.
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So you get cultist preacher/politicians who get to
tell government in exacting detail exactly how large
their constituency is, and as such be able to very
precisely put a price on how much that community's
vote is worth, in lobbying terms. Deals are done, the
preachers get something unusual taught in schools,
that just happens to consolidate their power base for
the next generation.
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Likewise various other cult-leaders around the world
will directly benefit from drawing dividing lines and
entrenching differences that secure their own
positions of power - it's classic power politics.
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Now that the media is a key part of any political
campaign, it's natural to find attempts at putting out
a message that furthers some of these aims - but lets
face it the financiers of "VeggieCults" aren't
spiritually driven, but more likely political.
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That's a problem for as long as we hold on to the
inherited notion of media as authoritative - something
that results from back when it was new, and highly
regulated, and like in the UK, subject to bags of
legislation identified to ensure impartiality.
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Either that legislation gets strengthened, resulting
in the ultimate watering down of everything into a
meaningless weaselly drivel - or it gets
disbanded/ignored altogether, opening the door to
random and anarchic content occasionally sponsored by
corporately financed hardcore sales-verts. Personally,
I think it's more likely to go the latter, we all just
need to grow up along with it.
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In the meantime, there ought to be a clear distinction
between religion and politics - if only because its so
tempting for politicians to learn towards religion,
and conversely for religion to get involved in
politics. Each alone is probably (on balance) a force
for good, but they make eerie bedfellows. |
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Well put, and welcome. How sad that such a eutopia
cannot exist. |
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The reason politics and religion cannot be separated is, frankly,
the fault of the religious. Christianity and Islam, the two most-
discussed religiions in the US, are driven by a belief that they are
supposed to spread their word, recruit new members, and
promote what their religious texts claim is God's word. They do
this, naturally, by voting for politicians who will do it for them. If
religious folks would ditch the proselytism agenda, it wouldn't be
an issue. |
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Testify, my brother! Hallelujah! |
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Don't fear, the minds of our children will be saved by spongebob.
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You could call it The Magi-ic School Bus.
Don't forget to include that one weird kid that just knows there's a God, but sacrilegiously figures that no group is needed to have a one-on-one with TheBigGuy though.
Oh... and the wiccan kid too. Don't leave that one out either. |
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aw, but everyone leaves them out of everything. |
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well... except the lynchings. The torches and pitchforks are always so festive. |
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"...And now it's time for Silly Songs with Larry... the part of the show where Larry comes out and sings a silly song..."
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I can't escape VeggieTales. They're all around me. The only joy I get is by repeating their names as I devour their friends for dinner...
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Frankly I can't stand Penn Jillette. As much a sanctimonious prick as any in the religious world. And to be honest I see many of the same sorts of errors of adherence to 'ideological purity' as being some measure of comparitive holiness and devotion to the cause being committed by the non-religious political right wing at the moment who have placed the US Constitution, and particularly the 2nd ammendment, or the gospel of libertarianism on the worship altar.
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And as a marginal Christian with a foot in both worlds, I am very aware of the variety of Muslim sects.
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I am not that much of a spelling pedant, but please, it's atheism. a-t-h-e-i-s-m. Not athiesm. As in formed from the root theos, like theology, theism, etc. It's one of those ism's. |
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//is children's programming in other countries that much better?//
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Masters of the Universe is quite funny when dubbed into Turkish. |
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