Reading Time: 8 minutes After BBC TV brought together a pair of aggressive Christians and two members of the Monty Python team in 1979 to discuss their newly-released movie Life of Brian, various media gleefully reported the encounter as a “slanging match” of epic proportions. This was only half-true. All of the “slanging” on Friday Night, Saturday Morning, came […]
Monty Python
Posted inReligion
Why Toxic Christians Should LOVE ‘Monty Python’s Life of Brian’
Reading Time: 13 minutes When Life of Brian came out, toxic Christians lost their minds. They demonstrated against it, condemned it, and did their level best to ban and censor it. But 40 years later, it remains one of the funniest movies ever made about religion — and really, it isn’t at all mean to Christians in any way. In fact, the Pythons very obviously went out of their way to be nice to Jesus and Christianity. Today, I offer you a list of all the deferential gestures Life of Brian showed to Christian beliefs and mythology.
Posted inReligion
Monty Python’s Life of Brian: The Best Easter Movie Ever
Reading Time: 6 minutes Hi and welcome back! Today being the day before Easter and all, I wanted to highlight one of the best bits of blasphemy ever made: 1979’s Monty Python’s Life of Brian. This movie highlights so much of the obviously made-up parts of Christianity. And it’s not just regular ole blasphemy, either. It’s intelligent, thoughtful dissension dressed […]
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Donald Trump Jr. and the Lessons Authoritarians Learn
Reading Time: 6 minutes One long-running interest of mine has been authoritarianism — and its effects on individuals. We got a real object lesson in that topic this week. Donald Trump Jr. released a video a few days ago in which he released his most cringey weirdness yet. Today, let me show you what he said — and how his behavior reveals his authoritarian nature and upbringing.
Posted inReligion
The Central Scam in ‘This Present Darkness’ (LSP #135, Ch. 20)
Reading Time: 7 minutes In this installment, we discover yet more evangelical weaknesses that have somehow been projected onto their worst enemies. Today, Lord Snow Presides over a town overtaken by the forces of evil — which look remarkably like the forces of evangelicalism!
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The Anger of Evil in ‘This Present Darkness’ (LSP #123, Ch. 13ish)
Reading Time: 12 minutes Hello and welcome back to our off-topic chat series, Lord Snow Presides! We return to our review of the 1986 Christian fantasy novel, This Present Darkness. In this installment, we explore a trope that this book’s author never tires of repeating: how terribly angry his tribe’s enemies always are. Today, let’s look at the role of anger in Frank […]
Posted inReligion
How Christians Use Promises of Peace To Dehumanize
Reading Time: 10 minutes But peace is way more than a nice feeling that most Christians don’t really understand. It’s also a way for the more toxic of Christians to dehumanize and look down on their tribal enemies. Today, let me show you how they do it–and more importantly, why.
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From across the ‘pond,’ American Christianity seems ‘strange’
Reading Time: 2 minutes Western Europeans began shying away from religion, specifically Christianity, in the last century. Americans are only starting to.
Posted inReligion
A Pastor Cries Out for an End to a Favorite Christian Listicle (LSP #83)
Reading Time: 10 minutes I’ll show you what this listicle entails, and why one Christian has cried out for an end to them. Then I’ll show you why his cries will go unheeded. Today, Lord Snow Presides over a favorite Christian listicle that’s getting a little pushback!
Posted inReligion
An Introduction to “Jesus Aura” Evangelism (And How it Fails)
Reading Time: 9 minutes We’ve been talking this past week about evangelism in Christianity and how it fails. Christian leaders favor a more confrontational form of evangelism. Their followers, by contrast, often prefer a decidedly less confrontational form. They want to rely on their Jesus Auras to win them conversions! Today I’ll show you what that other type of evangelism is, why it’s so popular, and how it fails.