Archive for religion

The Theology of (Certain) Quarterbacks

Posted in Braak, religion with tags , , , on January 12, 2012 by braak

A friend of mine put this image up on Facebook:

I thought it was kind of funny, you know, and then someone responded with “So, we should just pray for world peace and nothing else?” in a way that seemed to me (purely delusory, of course, since there’s no way to establish tone or feeling on the internet) a kind of a snotty way, and I started thinking about it, and now I’m going to write about it.

What follows is a lengthy discussion of Christian theology, so I guess everyone but Moff and Carl can check out and come back tomorrow, when maybe Holland will write about Iron Man or something.

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The Theology of Stevie Johnson

Posted in Braak, crotchety ranting with tags , , , , on December 29, 2010 by braak

I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO…

Wide receiver Stevie Johnson, of the Buffalo Bills sports team, to God, after Johnson dropped a potential game-winning touchdown pass.  He said this some time ago on Twitter, which is especially interesting.  I don’t know if God follows Stevie Johnson on Twitter.  Presumably, God — being omniscient — would know of the tweet and its content regardless of whether or not He was following Johnson, even if Johnson’s twitter feed was locked.

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Attention the World!

Posted in Braak with tags , , on November 10, 2010 by braak

Being an atheist is okay!  You can still have morals, and love your family, and not just be out for yourself all the time, despite actively disbelieving in any heretofore-defined conception of a deity.

It’s true, it’s really possible, I promise.

Theism is okay, too, if that’s what you’re into, but, just as atheism doesn’t automatically make you a bad person, theism isn’t going to automatically make you a good person, either.

That is the end of my public service announcement.

Contradictions in the Bible — as a pro, not a con

Posted in Josh Wimmer, Reason and Rhetoric, religion with tags , , , on September 30, 2009 by braak

[Brought to you today by freelance Threat Quality writer Josh Wimmer.  Have something that you need written?  Perhaps you ought to employ a writer.]

My church’s Bible Conversations group dealt this week with Mark 10:2-12, which reads as follows:

Some Pharisees came and tested [Jesus] by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

“What did Moses command you?” he replied.

They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

“It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female. ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
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Religion and Rationality

Posted in Politics, Threat Quality with tags , , on August 4, 2009 by braak

[Threat Quality Press's first submission under our new open submissions policy, ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for the inordinately handsome and inestimably clever MOFF! --ed]

Andrew Sullivan is arguably the king of the blogosphere at present (which puts him somewhere below Braak, who is like exiled king of the moon or some shit, but above Rod Kush, who was like Nebraska’s furniture king when I was in college there).  Anyway, I confess to visiting his blog, the Daily Dish, numerous times daily, sometimes almost compulsively, even when he annoys the fuck out of me. And sometimes I email him! Sullivan posts a lot of reader email (this makes up for his not having comments, and is probably better than comments, because I suspect many of his readers are even more obnoxious than I am, and it’s nice that he neatly sidesteps the issue of all of us screaming at each other), and has even posted a couple of mine. But as I’m pretty sure he’s not going to post this one, not because it isn’t A FANTASTIC PIECE OF WRITING (it is), but because it’s been like a week since I sent it and no dice.

Anyway, as it’s A FANTASTIC PIECE OF WRITING (although not philosophically rigorous, so argue with it, of course, but take it with a grain of salt; or better yet, just agree with it and send me pictures of boobs), I have deigned to share it with you, Threat Quality readers. Send me pictures of boobs. —Moff

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The Mind of the Irreligious

Posted in Braak with tags , on December 19, 2008 by braak

I have to stuff envelopes for my boss’s Christmas cards today, so why don’t you all read this, which is a piece I wrote for a friend of mine about what it means for me to be an atheist.

My parents made a decision, before I was born, that they would not push me towards one religion or another, but rather let me read about as many different religions as I liked. When I was fourteen, I could pick one. The problem with looking at all religions without having any kind of background in this one or that one is that, equidistant from all points, they kind of all look the same.

[I Fight the DJ]

My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (and Spider-Man) (TQP0113)

Posted in Jeff Holland with tags , , on November 11, 2008 by braak

godInteresting article from Slate discussing a study showing how religion affects morality. Maybe not so shockingly, based on the study’s findings, religious people tend to behave more morally responsibly than atheists. Religious people also feel better about themselves than atheists. On account of the doing so much good for each other, apparently, coupled with the crippling cynicism that supposedly accompanies atheism.

In the United States.

Outside, in say, Sweden, where religion isn’t so intrinsically bound with positive ethical codes, atheists are plentiful, help their fellow man, and feel pretty darn good about themselves. Which pretty much throws a wrench into the whole study, doesn’t it?

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