ashibaka

OK, so I was watching "MSNBC Presents" last night. I need to justify that statement before I can go any further... I was bedridden with a 101F fever and the remote control had run out of batteries, so I was watching "MSNBC Presents" because I couldn't switch to something better like the Home Shopping Network.

Anyway, at the end of the show they had a little story about how American Atheists was calling an Alabama governors's Bible study "Christian terrorism" and suing to make it stop. Uh-oh, problems right off the bat.

1. The governor's just doing a little Bible study with his Jesus freak friends, there's no need to sue.
2. "Christian terrorism"? What the HELL?

So they get a spokesperson for the governor and an American Atheists fellow on the wire. First, they ask the A.A. representative why the Bible study is terrorism. He starts mumbling.

3. This guy sucks as a speaker. I don't know how big A.A. is, but surely they could get someone who actually talks to the camera.

Then he justifies the claim by saying that the Christian threat of hellfire makes them all terrorists.

4. He just insulted all of the Christians watching the show, which means everyone watching the show besides me. Dumbest PR strategy. Ever.
5. The "terrorism" thing was obviously concocted to attract attention, and he should have admitted that instead of trying to justify it.

Now we go to the governor guy. The anchor asks him whether his actions were in good intention, blather about the Founding Fathers, etc. After much too much of this, we go back to the A.A. spokesperson. The anchor asks him, "Aren't you calling George Washington a terrorist? Because he was a Christian." He brings up a Washington quote about religion and morality.

At this point, I'm like, "Score! OK, Mr. Terrible Atheist Spokesperson, this is an easy rebound!"

And the spokesperson just mumbles, "Well, George Washington was actually a Deist", and allows the anchor to ridicule him before he moves on unmemorably.

6. NO! WRONG! What are you DOING? There are pages and pages of material on the Founding Fathers, and you just brush it over and make some extraneous point about the Bible study!

Please tell me that this A.A. spokesperson is actually made out of straw and was created for that show so that MSNBC could ridicule him.

Melkor

Sheesh... from the sounds of it, just about any regular atheist poster on IIDB could have done a better job of it.

I bet he was just "some guy" that they found to be on the show. I mean, even unprepared someone should be able to think better on their feet than that. Most of us atheists are a little better at debate because we usually have to be...

themistocles

"MSNBC Presents" is consistently one of the most entertaining programs on television for all the wrong reasons.

I think they have a dozen seperate episodes of "rebellious homeless teenagers" as a topic when nothing is going on. It's like watching "Cops" without the fuzz around.

SLD

No, sadly. He's just an idiot. Just goes to show you that not all of the idiots are fundies. We freethinkers in Alabama have told him he needs to tone it down and that he's driving more people away with his own version of fundamentalism but he doesn't care. This isn't the first stunt he's pulled. He's an ex fundy christian who, IMHO, has just gone from one extreme form of religious belief to another.

The funny thing is, there are grounds to challenge this practice. It is inappropriate to hold religious meetings of such a character in the workplace. The implication is that if you don't go, you are not part of the inner circle and maybe, just maybe, you won't get that promotion you're due. It's coercion and possibly a Title VII violation (at least WRT a private corporation).

SLDER

Toto

The news media have a stereotype of the Angry Hostile Atheist, and look around for someone to play the part.

Solsticin

This kinda of stuff is one of the reasons I still don't belong to an Atheist organization. I wanted to like American Atheistsm, but hearing some of their people talk drove me away quickly.

butswana

Some times I wonder if AA is really controlled by christians.

Evangelion

Judging by the modus operandi, I'd say that this sounds a lot like Frank Zindler - or if not, at least a near relative.

Either way, it's an astonishingly poor performance from someone who claims to reject faith and belief in favour of logic and reason.

Way to support the Fundies, big boy.

GaryP

Frank Zindler is from Columbus and I've heard him several times on the local NPR station debating theists.

While he can get emotional, my impression is that he always backs up what he is saying with at least some sort of evidence.

I am a card carrying member of AA, and I know the Alabama director is a Larry Darby. I've never met or seen him, but it would be my guess that he was the gentleman in question.


He is quite active as evidenced by this page;


http://atheists.org/al/

Evangelion

He does indeed provide evidence for most of his assertions. It's his blatant ad hominem attacks which turn me off.

William Lane Craig absolutely slew him in their debate.