Christ Centered Gamer

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Ira Glass is pretty great, and would tend to agree with him on the media, with the exception of Fox News, where Christians bash everybody else.

I still get peeved at shows where the christian character automatically defaults to be hypocritical, bigoted, self-righteous and woefully ignorant, and I believe Ira Glass picks up on this as well. Another thing, though, it was shortly glossed over was when Jim Henderson asked if he felt bad for Christians and Ira responded with "well, it's kind of hard to feel sorry for a group that is like the dominant group in a country."

I feel this is important to stress because it's very easy for Christians (and I remember this vividly) to self-victimize themselves and feel like the world is set against them, when this is an egregiously false position to hold in America. (Ironically enough, these same people will talk about American being a Christian country and founded on biblical principles). And with a little bit of objective thought, it's easy to recognize that christians are not the underdog in this country. By far. It is the dominant theological position, so much that some people are not only truly boggled on how someone could not believe in a god, but also feel unashamed to act rudely towards these individuals.

But, before I start sounding like Atheists are the victims, I want to clarify that I'm not taking this position. What we have is people, often embittered to other groups, act upon these feelings, and that group in turn takes this as a sign of victimhood, strikes back, and the cycle continues.
Christians get shafted, but so do everybody else. If you want this cycle to ever change, it's important to take an objective view and drop the cavalier knight attitude. Many people want to stand in the gap and protect religion against the horde of secularism, but until you take a step back and look at the field, you won't realize that perhaps you are swinging your sword on someone else's land and impeding on others. This principle applies the other way around. I have to watch myself to not step over the line and encroach on religious freedoms when moving against the over-reaching arm of religion in politics.

So I spent a lot of words just to agree with Ira Glass.

How does it go again....? He who is not with you, is against you?

Good and evil are like oil and water. See opening of the book of wisdom for details. This is them:

" Let us therefore lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law, and divulgeth against us the sins of our way of life. [13] He boasteth that he hath the knowledge of God, and calleth himself the son of God. [14] He is become a censurer of our thoughts. [15] He is grievous unto us, even to behold: for his life is not like other men' s, and his ways are very different.

[16] We are esteemed by him as triflers, and he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness, and he preferreth the latter end of the just, and glorieth that he hath God for his father. [17] Let us see then if his words be true, and let us prove what shall happen to him, and we shall know what his end shall be. [18] For if he be the true son of God, he will defend him, and will deliver him from the hands of his enemies. [19] Let us examine him by outrages and tortures, that we may know his meekness and try his patience. [20] Let us condemn him to a most shameful death: for there shall be respect had unto him by his words. "

Culture's criticism of Christianity are often warranted. It would be nice, however, to portray an accurate range of Christians. Focus on our virtues in addition to our vices as a whole group.

I don't really have too many athiests that I can respect. But Ira Glass and Penn Jillette are two of them. Penn Jillette will outright say that if you believe in God that you should say so and he has even looked at specific events from the point of view of someone who might be religious, despite being an athiest.

I respect J Michael Straczynski. (Yeah, the guy who writes for Marvel comics and created Bablyon 5.) In B5, he approaches religion in a very realistic and very respectful way even though he's an atheist himself. I wish that were more common.

(I'm looking at YOU, Roddenberry.)

I liked the earlier seasons of Babylon 5 more. And I DO remember one episode of Babylon 5, where Sheriden brings the ambassedors into a room lined with representatives of various religions. I thought that was VERY cool.