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Penn & Teller on Showtime tonight My Lord :(

 
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GenrXr
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy


Joined: 05 Aug 2004
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Location: Houston

PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2004 6:26 am    Post subject: Penn & Teller on Showtime tonight My Lord :( Reply with quote

Letter I wrote to a friend of mine after watching this show tonight. What do you think?


Hey J,

Was watching Penn and Teller special on showtime tonight and it was about AA and how terrible of an organization it was. Basically, they do not like the organization because Penn and Teller are secularists and it promotes spirituality beyond the anthropocentric point of view the secularists would prefer. Personally, I cannot stand AA because I think alcohol and drug abuse is about choice and not a disease. But, I also understand with most of the people that abuse alcohol and drugs the most lacking element in their life is their lack of belief in something greater then themselves. We are such a selfish and indulgent people and nowhere in sight do I see us making better inroads to improve this. So if an organization like AA can make some people see something higher then themselves, I have no problem with it. It can only be better for the country. What really got me though was when they stated their STRONG belief in the constitution and the document and all it stands for waving a piece of paper on screen. They proceed to say through the courts the government is making people goto AA. I.e .lose your license or goto AA. They further say the constitution specifically states the government will not mandate religion. WHOAH! When I heard this my anti-america and the constitution radar said locked on. The fact is the constitution states in the first ammendment "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". Nowhere does it speak of mandates by a judicial person in regards to a delinquent. The truth is there will never be laws establishing religion from the bench. I can see the prohibition of religion from the bench but not the promotion of it. The secularists are pushing for a world void of religion down our throats and use in cases like this organizations people can relate to not liking such as AA. It is poor propagnda but I feel it possibly appeals to the ignorant majority.

I have been thinking of starting a website forum board pointing out the popular culture decay most cannot see and gives them eyes. Things of this nature I just pointed out. What do you think?

Damn and I used to like Penn & Teller Sad

Cya J
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xleatherneck
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Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2004 8:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Penn Jillette is quite the outspoken atheist. If you don't like some of the things he said on the show you watched, you're definately not going to like some of his other opinions on religion and the first amendment.

If you want a feel for this sort of thing, then go to this forum, and specifically, the "Religion and Philosophy" section:

http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/index.php?s=

Be warned though...if you are a person of faith or express a belief in God and decide to post as much, then be prepared for a bumpy ride.
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xleatherneck
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2004 8:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

...Coincidentally, in the section titled Politics, Current Events, and Social Issues, there is a thread which discusses the allegations by our own SBVfT, titled Navy buddies say Kerry unfit
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ccr
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2004 5:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

P&T have managed to gore quite a few sacred cows on all sides of the spectrum.

[list=]Recycling
Second Hand Smoke
Psychics
Chiropractic[/list]

The approach of their show BS is simply "prove it".

What they don't get about anything related to faith is that it cannot be proven. Or disproven for that matter. That is in fact the wonderful part of faith.

In many ways, they are more tolerent of those who believe in god than they are of those who promote recycling.
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GenrXr
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2004 5:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
The approach of their show BS is simply "prove it".

What they don't get about anything related to faith is that it cannot be proven. Or disproven for that matter. That is in fact the wonderful part of faith.



Socrates was called an atheist and killed for supposedly corrupting the minds of the youth when in fact he believed in one god and an omnipotent God of just and good. Plato later came to the conclusion through dialectic debate their had to be a God and due to the inability to disprove, people must have faith. But religion aside, Penn & Teller misinterpreted the constitution and purposely lead the viewer to believe the government in no situation shall be involved in religion. This is totally inaccurate and secular in nature. The secularists want a country void of God and this is definately not what our founding fathers had in mind when they created the document. They feared the persecution of peoples based on religious belief, but most importantly feared the absence of religion as well. Whether you read John Adams 'Defense of the Constituions' or 'The Federalist' by Hamilton, Jay, and Madison these two monumental pieces of writing are what the constitution was based upon and throughout they mention God and Judeo-Christian beliefs. I have no problem with people quoting the constitution or conveying the meaning of the document so long as they are honest and accurate. In Penn & Tellers case they were not only inaccurate but intentionally pushing an agenda upon the viewer.
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xleatherneck
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2004 9:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

And to add to what GenrXr said, the phrase "seperation of church and state" appear nowhere in the Bill of Rights and in fact came from a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut and authored by none other than Thomas Jefferson.

In context, it is quite clear that Jefferson was addressing the fears of government intrusion into Religion, and not the reverse, which many secularists would like to believe, or have you believe.
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xleatherneck
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 22, 2004 10:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ccr wrote:
P&T have managed to gore quite a few sacred cows on all sides of the spectrum.

[list=]Recycling
Second Hand Smoke
Psychics
Chiropractic[/list]

The approach of their show BS is simply "prove it".

What they don't get about anything related to faith is that it cannot be proven. Or disproven for that matter. That is in fact the wonderful part of faith.

In many ways, they are more tolerent of those who believe in god than they are of those who promote recycling.



Jillette has said things regarding people of faith that even had some skeptics (who are mostly atheist and agnostic) distancing themselves from him.

I feel about Penn Jillette the same way I feel about Jesse Ventura. They seem like likable, reasonable people...until of course they open their mouth.
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