Archive for God

Silhouette City.

Posted in Atheism, Movies! with tags , , , , , , on January 12, 2009 by tikimexican

If you haven’t seen it, get your hands 0n a copy. If you were a fan of the documentary Jesus Camp, hop on the trolley and check this out. A quick synopsis from the site itself:

Silhouette City is a harrowing free-fall through the near space of American religious extremism. Using archival video, movement propaganda, original investigational material and custom video-game footage, it tracks the movement of apocalyptic Christian nationalism from the margins to the mainstream.

The film begins with the story of an obscure Christian survivalist group active in the 1970s and 80s, as recounted by one of its former members, and then moves forward to the current post 9-11 era where startling ideological echoes are revealed and examined.

In a period largely defined by religious violence, Silhouette City examines the motivations for adopting apocalyptic worldviews by providing a unique window into the foundational ideas, organizational structure and psychological dynamics of one of the most powerful movements taking root in America today. The film bears witness to the long, dark shadows of fear and intolerance being cast in the familiar landscapes of the homeland.

I like this movie because it has a great depth of interviews compared to other similar films. Interspersed archival footage with interviews from current scholars gives a powerful look at how this problem of conservative-paramilitary-crackpot-christians has grown without truly being addressed until something major happens. Like FBI standoff major. I can’t really give a solid discussion until you’ve seen it because I’d like people to see it and form their own opinion.

Actually no, I think belief in any god is a little silly actually. It’s just too easy to see a normal person become a fundamentalist once inoculated with any sort of religious virus (as in something that cannot grow outside of a host, and I generally regard as yucky/lame).

Philosophy and you.

Posted in Atheism with tags , , , , on December 30, 2008 by tikimexican

A while ago I picked up a few of my old philosophy books and started thumbing through. After about an hour I realized that the books weren’t backlit and I couldn’t figure out how to play MP3s on them. Then I returned to the computer.

If you want to have fun with a bit of philosophy I rounded up a few of my favorite links to get involved:

Philosophical Health Check
A little test to see if your thinking is sound…
Battleground God
Can you take your beliefs in god across an intellectual battleground? Will your god guide you through?
Taboo
This is for the grand question of morality, if you’ve ever thought abstractly about it click the link and play!

I may add a few more later, these three are on the same site so feel free to browse it but those are the three that most struck me.

Also, feel free to comment, I’m ready to hear from y’all.