In the Strunk's Manual of Analogy and Metaphor on my desk, it says that mixing straw men and creampuffs is upon frowned. Really? What edition is yours?
Mine says mixing them is fine, but you have to use a whisk.
Posted on 10/25/2004 5:37:38 AM PDT by jaydubya2
In person, Bill Maher the man is just like Bill Maher the TV character. Just as snarky, just as opinionated, just as curmudgeonly. Perpetually perturbed.
Few things, though, seem to get his dander up like religious folks.
"One of the many things that annoys me about religion is that it's arrogance masquerading as humility," he says. It's a sentiment he'll repeat on his HBO show a few weeks later. "How arrogant to think you know what happens to you after you die? You don't. That's your guess.
"It's arrogant to think that, if there is a force in the universe, this force, whom most people refer to as 'Him,' has the time and inclination to listen to your stupid, petty laundry list of what you want in this life. Prayer. That's another, silly Santa Claus notion. Pray to Santa, and he'll give you what you want. It's so silly. It's so childish. And so much of the world is getting over this," he says, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Maher pauses and produces a stack of those blue TV note cards, like the kind Dave Letterman reads his top 10 list off of each night. Maher's blue cards contain factoids and statistics about religious beliefs and practices. He's searching for one particular statistic and, after a few moments of shuffling and flipping, he finds it.
In 1990, about 7 percent of the American population said they had "no religion," and in 2000, that number had doubled to 14 percent, he says.
"So, in 10 years, we've doubled the amount of people who say they don't have a religion," he says. "I find that incredibly encouraging."
The world would be much more "sane" without religion, Maher argues.
"So many of these born-agains, these evangelicals, when you hear them speaking, no matter what the question is, they can't leave Jesus out of it for two seconds," he says, his voice rising. "It's OK when you're a child. Children have an imaginary friend. When you get to be an adult, no more imaginary friends. But Jesus is their imaginary friend. Everywhere they go, everything they do, Jesus is along. Oh, Christ."
To the author I would point out that Bill Maher is not a man. He is a smartass punk who disses people from his pulpit at HBO. Will he show up outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral after a mass and preach his nonsense? I doubt it, but if he announced the date and time, I'd be there. I'll bet the 14 percent he speaks of that don't believe in God have found themselves in prayer at some point, if not, they haven't lived.
Reject your moral compass and you are guilt free. Free to change with the wind. Sound like any group we know?
I do. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Satan and all of his followers know it. They also know that they've already lost the battle.
You don't see the "atheists" railing against Buddha, or Muhammad, or Vishnu, do you? They have no bone to pick with them.
I find it terribly depressing.
Not that the figure has doubled (which I think is a lie on his part), but the fact that anyone would revel in it.
This man is a buffoon and an ass that obviously thinks his audience comes from the so-called religious, but has yet to realize that he attracts only the atheist and agnostics that seek out this type of message.
Probably another reason he is popular with the Moon God worshipers, also, plus the PETA crowd.
He'll receive his final Nielsen rating at the hand of God.
And when he does, his fish lips will curl back in astonishment and increduality.
Yeah, yeah, I know that isn't a Christian attitude, but I'm not feeling very christianly towards some of these damn idiots these days.
I am praying right now for that poor straw man. ;D
Leni
I'm not terribly religious, but I would enjoy watching Mr. Maher facing the final judgement. For the time being, I find him a small and ignorant man. The less seen or heard from this fool, the more genial life would be for us all.
In the Strunk's Manual of Analogy and Metaphor on my desk, it says that mixing straw men and creampuffs is upon frowned. Really? What edition is yours?
Mine says mixing them is fine, but you have to use a whisk.
"It's arrogant to think that, if there is a force in the universe, this force, whom most people refer to as 'Him,' has the time and inclination to listen to your stupid, petty laundry list of what you want in this life. Prayer. That's another, silly Santa Claus notion. Pray to Santa, and he'll give you what you want...."
my god does take time to listen to my pety laudry list, but does not give me what i want, but rather, what i need.
notice that liberals cannot project a vision, but rather attack mainstream america. maher is clearly an obstructionist, not a visionary. i suppose that if you think when you die, you die, then there is no reason to be visionary.
There is one phrase I can't imagine coming out of Bill Maher's mouth: "I couldn't do that. It wouldn't be right."
The only thing that is holding this world together these days is the grace of God toward a commited and believing....and a relatively small number of Christian people from all parts of the world. When Christianity falls, the world falls......
Unfortunately, all of us are closer to the depravity of Bill Maher than we are to God. Only the grace of God imputes the righteousness of Christ to undeserving sinners. The rejection of God by the unrighteous is necessary so that they can handle whatever guilt they experience over their sin.
Obviously, for Maher to belittle Christianity concerning the issue of humility would be like Saddam Hussein criticizing capital punishment in the U.S. When one rejects the God who has taken the trouble to reveal Himself to blind mortals, one sets oneself up in the place of God. Can there be a greater height of arrogance?
I'm thankful to know the Good News, and the Last Adam.
Prayer for Maher and his followers to find Jesus before it's too late.
Good for him!
Hell always has room for one more.
Maher's whole problem is he's given up on himself. That's the difference between somebody like him and someone with faith, I guess. He can't face his own demons, so no one else should, either. Typical lefty guilt trip.
Glad to hear about your wife praying for him. Bill has turned his back on God but so did Saul at one time.
I think we all need to pray for Bill.
Hell is a place where God is absent.Don't be so sure:
Rev 14:10-11 "And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb".Isa 66:24 "And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh."
I dare this little man to try this same rant against Islam. I wrote to the "so called religion editor" asking if this was the best she could find for her "religion" articles is hate speech against Christianity by a bitter little man. I also, noticed her last name, and suggested she do a similar article taking on Islam.
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