…But even I won’t go near it, gang. Wait, I just did. Oh well! And yet, a headline like “Christian Right leader takes vacation with ‘rent boy’” is still funny no matter how many times stuff like that happens. Gee, it’s almost like “Christian Right leaders” are all a bunch of repressed moral hypocrites or something.
May 05 2010
Yes, I know, this is just begging for a joke about teabagging…
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Ron Strelecki
May 5, 2010 at 1:12 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
What happened to that flyer you were going to scan?
Pombolo
May 5, 2010 at 2:30 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Tsk tsk. Don't you know that you're being unfaiwur to the Christians Martin? Especially after your "Islamophobic" jab at the Iranian cleric.This is the same as the Haggard case – you would normally have sympathy for men with repressed gay desires, who feel like they have to hide what is natural to them. But when those men have been encouraging others with the same urges to feel shame and guilt: then they deserve no sympathy IMHO.
M
May 6, 2010 at 4:24 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Oh the joy! I can´t take it. Even better than restorestephenbaldwin.org.
Martin
May 6, 2010 at 7:02 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Ron: Oh yeah! Thanks for the reminder. I'll dig that up.
Ron Strelecki
May 6, 2010 at 7:39 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I am interested in the flyer because… I would like to see you (if no one has before, with 10 years of shows, I am guessing every topic has been broached) take on the ways that modern Christianity absorbs its opposition. And I should think there would be lots of documentary evidence of this. We can see it happening all around us. For instance, "yoga" is being decried from the pulpit currently, but how long before a de-easternized, and finally a "Christianized" version of yoga turns up first on church billboards, and finally, in church basements.I'd like to see this process dealt with in the abstract. What is the process by which Christianity absorbs (or attempts to absorb) practices that are directly contradictory to its dogma? And as examples I could see: Meditation, Exercise (Aerobics and Gym Culture), New Mythologies (Star Wars, e.g.), Motivational Speaking Culture, Pornography (Christian "marital aids"), Rock Music, and so on. All of these examples started as anathema, and now are part of Christianity (at least in the U.S.).In the abstract, I see it happening in this way. First, a cultural movement arises (either spontaneously or borrowed, often from "the East"). Second, church members are interested in the movement. Third, threatened, the clergy attacks the movement from the pulpit. This, of course, drives more church members toward the movement. Meanwhile, a secularized, or "cleaned up" version of the movement evolves outside of the church. Fifth, the clergy begrudgingly accepts the secularized version. Finally, the secularized version becomes "Christianized" and moves into the church basement or Rec Room.I actually think this could be a series that maybe… you and Tracie could trade off on… with the underlying abstract theme being illustrated by different examples. It seems like you get more theist callers when they feel directly challenged. Maybe a gentle exposition of the continuing "paganization" of modern Chirstianity will beat a few believers out of the bush and onto the phone (Not that I am aching to see the studio walls spattered with Christian blood!)?
Ing
May 6, 2010 at 7:46 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
His explanation was that he just paid him to carry the luggage that he was too weak to carry.To rephrase, he's not gay, just limp wristed.
Mark B
May 7, 2010 at 8:31 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
@ Ing "His explanation was that he just paid him to carry the luggage that he was too weak to carry."He was just helping him with his bag.
Ing
May 8, 2010 at 7:48 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
"He just needed someone to help put his junk in a trunk.