Emerging: Theological Crap
I don't know if you've been clued in or have been paying attention to the pseudo-evangelical Christian movement known as "Emerging" or "Emergent," but it's becoming a popular venue for the younger generation on Sunday mornings.
In a nutshell, the Emerging movement basically features a "seeker friendly" gospel which eschews absolute truth save for one absolute truth, that you can not possibly know what is absolutely true. They favor an experience-oriented gathering, making the individual the focus of the gathering rather than where the focus should belong - on the worship of Christ1. In my mind it's the marriage of post-modernity with Christianity, featuring generation-x folks who are now old enough to preach from the pulpit lead discussion from the center bar stool.
This video clip is from a recent PBS story on the movement, and apparently there will be a follow-up with one going a little more in-depth with one of it's leaders, Brian McLaren. I'll be on the lookout for it.
(1) Does that not have overtones from the original lie told in the garden?
Labels: nuttery, religion, theology
Is God a Human Invention?
If you have a couple hours to kill you can download and watch a debate between philosopher and atheist Daniel Dennett (author of Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon) and Dinesh D'Souza (conservative writer and one-time policy advisor to Ronald Reagan).
The download page is hosted at Richard Dawkins' site -- you can grab it as a QuickTime file or follows links to the video chunked out in segments on YouTube.
Labels: philosophy, religion
Behold Scientologists,
your Christ has arrived:TOM Cruise is the new "Christ" of Scientology, according to leaders of the cult-like religion. The Mission: Impossible star has been told he has been "chosen" to spread the word of his faith throughout the world.
And leader David Miscavige believes that in future, Cruise, 44, will be worshipped like Jesus for his work to raise awareness of the religion.
The response from a certain someone I know:
...flog him within an inch of his life and hang him on a cross until his lungs collapse to death and see if he comes back to life.
If Cruise's head gets any bigger the gravitational force is going to pull us into the sun. I mean, I don't think God even loves Tom Cruise as much as Tom Cruise loves Tom Cruise.
[ Thanks again, Ed. ]
Labels: celebrity, nuttery, religion