religion

More precisely, you can learn about Hell on the History Channel tonight at 8pm by watching Hell: The Devil's Domain. Forgive my morbidity, but I'm endlessly fascinated by the idea of Hell in all its various forms: from the Biblical version to Dante's Inferno to the Greek myth of Hades. All those demons and damned souls always put an extra little spring in my step. I'm sick and I need help, I know.

(S02E06) This episode dealt with the line between faith and reason, which may be why I wasn't as drawn to it as other episodes. I thought it was a good episode, but the way in which the citizens of Moralton use fractured reasoning to explain their religious beliefs has been a major component of the show since it began. This episode merely brought that idea to the forefront, and while it was still funny, there wasn't much to surprise a fan like myself. I laughed several times, but was ultimately left with a feeling of "oh yeah, I knew they were gonna say that." That being said, this wouldn't be a bad episode to introduce someone to the show, as I think it's a great overview of the show and what it's trying to say.

It is said one cannot toss a dead squirrel in the air without it landing on a Christian, what with there being so many of them. Do we really know all about the origins of this religion, though? With the Christmas season upon us, CNN will be airing a two-hour documentary, CNN Presents: After Jesus – The First Christians, which will examine the early days of Christianity, including the persecution of early Christians and debates over the direction the religion should take even among its own followers.

I consider myself a non-religious person who's still interested in learning about religion. While I don't subscribe to the Christian faith, I'm always interested in learning about the history behind things, and to fill in what I forgot from my college religion courses. Based on the press release, this sounds like it could actually be rather informative, so I'm looking forward to it. It will air December 20 at 7 and 10 pm, and re-air December 23 and 24 at 7 and 10 pm also.

(S02E03) So far this season Moral Orel has delved a little deeper into the lives of the other characters, and it's nice to see Orel's tiny universe expanding to include everyone else.

This episode examines the enigmatic, mostly homosexual and definitely polyamorous Coach Stopframe, who jumps between loyalty to God or Satan as frequently as he gains and loses interest in both men and women. He definitely has a thing for Orel's father, but it's still somewhat vague what their history is exactly, or what it is Clay wants from the relationship. I can't decide whether Clay is in denial about his homosexual tendencies, or if he just likes being lavished with the kind of attention Coach Stopframe gives to him. People don't always reveal themselves with absolute clarity, and Moral Orel seems to understand this, peeling back a little more about each person with every episode.

Scientology fascinates me, and not because I have any desire to be a part of whatever the hell it is. I'm just inexplicably drawn to beliefs and practices I would never personally adhere to because I'm interested in what drives other people, especially if aliens might be involved. The "religion" claims to have ten million followers, and there's obviously something about it that attracts celebrities. Do those Hollywood peeps know something about it we don't, or is it just another trivial and meaningless fad like Kabbalah?

48 Hours recently did a show on Scientology, specifically Jeremy Perkins, a paranoid schizophrenic who stabbed his mother to death. Perkins parents were Scientologists (his mother was a senior auditor at the Church of Scientology in Buffalo, NY) and did not believe in psychiatric treatment. You can watch the episode here. I have not watched it yet myself, but feel free to take a look and share your reflections in the comments.

[via Digg]

(S10E13)

Atheist in the future: Dawkins knew that logic and reason were the way of the future, but it wasn't until he met his beautiful wife that he learned using logic and reason isn't enough. You have to be a dick to everyone who doesn't think like you.

First of all, I don't watch a ton of science fiction, so who can tell me what the opening sequence was spoofing? It looked vaguely familiar, but my sci-fi exposure is rather limited. Help a brotha out, won't you?

(S10E12)

Mrs. Garrison: Pound my monkey hole, Richard!

I figured Matt and Trey would at least lean toward the side of evolution in this episode, and they did, but it was really about how we tend to oversimplify things. Mr. Garrison reluctantly teaches evolution, telling the kids they're basically all "retarded fish squirrels," the product of a millenia's worth of inter-species butt sex. Later, author and atheist Richard Dawkins automatically turns Garrison into an atheist by telling him that a flying spaghetti monster is as likely to exist as God because you can't disprove either.

The CBS Evening News has been crowing about their new "Free Speech" feature. Oh, sorry, it's actually a more funky font that we can't reproduce here. More like "freeSpeech." They say that you can come on and talk about anything that you want, but Bill Maher mentioned on his HBO talk show the other night that when he tried to do one of the segments, about religion, CBS said he couldn't do it, and they sent over a list of "acceptable" topics.

CBS, however, is denying that Maher was censored, and they say that one of the freeSpeech segments that has already aired addressed the topic of religion (I haven't seen every episode so I'm not sure). Hmmm...maybe they were a little antsy about the way that Maher was going to address religion?

(S01E07) This episode was taped in Portland, though I'm not sure it was the same episode that got them in trouble earlier this year.

Anyway, the episode had a lot of funny moments, but making fun of religion, any religion, is like shooting fish in a barrel. I really wanted to see them take more risks and do something more clever than just making a lot of Jew/pork jokes. Although I will admit I laughed pretty hard when Marty asked Tillie (who admitted to being one quarter Jewish) if Jewish people can pull their hamstring.

Christians are in a disagreement over whether or not "a la carte" cable, the ability to pick and choose which stations you want to have rather than buying "packages" of various channels, is a good thing. Some argue it's a means of protecting children and families from channels that carry "inappropriate" programming, but evangelicals behind such religious-themed networks as the Trinity Broadcasting Network and Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network claim people could cut those networks out just as easily as networks such as MTV. The response to this, of course, is that only certain Christians watch these networks anyway, so why does it matter? Colby May, an attorney for the Faith and Family Broadcasting Coalition which represents the two aforementioned networks, is against the concept of "a la carte" cable, claiming the by having Christian stations as part of the lineup increases the chances of people serendipitously stumbling across them and "[changing] their life for the better." Dan Isett of the Parents Television Council argues, however, that allowing viewers to pick and choose could create diversified programming and ultimately help such stations.

[via Huffington Post]