Paranoid Christians Providing Entertainment

Last updated on: August 11, 2013 at 8:03 pm By James F. McGrath

Many of you have probably seen the round-up of “The 35 Best Times Someone on Facebook Thought The Onion Was Real.” I am saddened by how many of them involve gullibility on the part of Christians. Here are some examples: There is an entire web site, “Literally Unbelievable,” dedicated to The Onion being taken seriously on Facebook. Once you have finished laughing at the original satirical article in The Onion, you can now get additional laughs by looking to see who took it seriously!... Read more

Inerrancy vs. Contradictions

Last updated on: August 11, 2013 at 1:49 pm By James F. McGrath

Given the title, this post could easily have been about contradictions within the Bible and whether they disprove Biblical inerrancy, or whether one has to start with the doctrine of inerrancy and insist that anything that appears to be a contradiction isn't really one. And I will come back to that. But the fact is that, just as the Bible is the result of many authors with different perspectives, so too are statements about inerrancy. And that fact illustrates that... Read more

An Abridged History of the World

Last updated on: August 11, 2013 at 8:17 am By James F. McGrath

via Facebook. This is not the first abridged history I’ve come across and shared here. Please feel free to tell me about others! And it isn’t just videos of cats that are being shared, as this picture I came across recently provides but one example of… Read more

Answers in Genesis according to the Uncyclopedia

Last updated on: August 10, 2013 at 1:49 pm By James F. McGrath

Today I had my attention drawn to the “Answers in Genesis” entry on the Uncyclopedia. It begins as follows: Answers in Genesis is a satirical Christian ministry that parodies the genuine Pastafarian ministry Answers in the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It aims to portray Christians as mouth breathing, arm swinging retards who sit on their high horse and spend all day whining about how horrible the world is today and how oh so nice it was during the Dark Ages. The website often has... Read more

Coffee with Doctor Zaius

Last updated on: August 10, 2013 at 11:57 am By James F. McGrath

Daniel Dunlap pointed out to me the existence of a parody of the “Coffee with Jesus” cartoons on Facebook: Coffee with Dr. Zaius. Here are a couple of examples: Most of the rest are dated political commentary. But I thought it was an interesting parody of the popular and very simply illustrated comic strip. Who else would it be worth creating a comic strip about people having coffee with that individual? Read more

Cowboys and Dragons

Last updated on: August 9, 2013 at 4:11 pm By James F. McGrath

It sounds like it should be the name of a TV show for children. But it is instead a display at the Creation Museum. This is the sort of thing that Ken Ham wants people to believe: The photo is courtesy of John Loftus’ recent blog post about his visit to the Creation Museum. Answers in Genesis is not defending the Christian faith, it is turning it into something that can be easily ridiculed and dismissed. The real enemies of... Read more

Context Changes Meaning

Last updated on: August 9, 2013 at 1:21 pm By James F. McGrath

I have often emphasized that fundamentalists do not accomplish what they claim to. Simply repeating the same words in a changed context does not preserve meaning. The image below, which Allan Bevere shared for his latest caption contest, illustrates this point well, I think: Read more

The Doctor and The Master: Lightsaber Duel

Last updated on: August 9, 2013 at 12:32 pm By James F. McGrath

HT Probic Vent Read more

The Grandfatherly First Doctor

Last updated on: August 9, 2013 at 11:30 am By James F. McGrath

Many Doctor Who fans have commented on how old William Hartnell looked at 55 compared to Peter Capaldi at the same age. There is a reason for that: Hartnell wore a wig for the part, and also acted impressively well to portray a character who was supposed to be quite ancient, and not merely elderly. But he was also in the early stages of multiple sclerosis, which eventually forced him to relinquish the role, and that may also have been... Read more

Your Opportunity to Write Scripture

Last updated on: August 9, 2013 at 9:20 am By James F. McGrath

For Pastafarian readers (and presumably also the “touched by his noodly appendage but not religious”) this may be of interest. An official call has been issued for the composition of scriptures about Flying Spaghetti Monster, for the second edition of The Loose Canon. Click through to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster blog for more details. Read more