Quote: chipolata @ October 16 2010, 12:09 PM BSTIs there really a hunger to produce anti-Islamic comedy? A hunger that's being quelled? For example, the great and good of the BCG are hardly cramming Critique with scathing attacks upon Islam.
I don't think many comedians are keen to launch 'shock and awe' attacks against individual religions as most realise a good Muslim is every bit the moral equal of a good Christian or Jew or any other good person.
Quote: Ming the Mirthless @ October 16 2010, 12:46 PM BSTI don't think many comedians are keen to launch 'shock and awe' attacks against individual religions as most realise a good Muslim is every bit the moral equal of a good Christian or Jew or any other good person.
There's so much wrong with this statement I don't even know where to start.
Quote: Kevin Murphy @ October 16 2010, 1:04 PM BSTThere's so much wrong with this statement I don't even know where to start.
To be on the safe side, kick off with ethical nihilism and work your way forward from there.
Quote: Ming the Mirthless @ October 16 2010, 1:15 PM BSTTo be on the safe side, kick off with ethical nihilism and work your way forward from there.
I don't think many comedians are keen to launch 'shock and awe' attacks against individual religions
Plenty of comedians go after Christianity, individually, all the time. Stewart Lee and Richard Herring are obvious recent examples.
as most realise a good Muslim is every bit the moral equal of a good Christian or Jew or any other good person.
I suspect what you're referring to here are "nominal" Jews, Christians and Muslims, rather than True Believers. Otherwise you haven't really got a leg to stand on, either in the claim that they're moral equals or in the claim that they could in any respect be described as "good".
Yes, when I referred to a 'good' Muslim/Christian/Jew/whatever, I didn't mean a strict follower of the religion's rules.
I meant a good person who is also a Muslim/Christian/Jew/whatever.
I must learn to express myself less ambiguously. 
Quote: Ming the Mirthless @ October 16 2010, 1:39 PM BSTI meant a good person who is also a Muslim/Christian/Jew/whatever.
I must learn to express myself less ambiguously.
Nah. That's what I assumed you meant.
It's still a rubbish argument anyway.
When comedians do attack specific religions, they tend to deconstruct the belief system itself rather than deride its adherents. I don't think it matters a jot whether their nominal believers are good or not. It's the absurdities inherent in the religion itself that are the targets.
A lot of the time the people who would class themselves as Christian, for example, haven't the faintest idea what it is they're supposed to believe. They'd probably be horrified if they did.
Listen to some of Herring's recent stuff, or watch some old TMWRNJ episodes, for class examples.
I'm with you on this one, Kevin.
Quote: Kevin Murphy @ October 16 2010, 2:04 PM BSTA lot of the time the people who would class themselves as Christian, for example, haven't the faintest idea what it is they're supposed to believe. They'd probably be horrified if they did.
Listen to some of Herring's recent stuff, or watch some old TMWRNJ episodes, for class examples.
Definitely.
Although I would say most, not a lot of.
Religion is a load of shit, people can believe in whatever they choose, but you won't catch me believing in some dude who nobody alive has seen/ heard or has any proof of.
Jesus was prob some annoyed villager who didn't like his neighbours and tried to tell them all to be nice and good, so annoyed with him they killed him
Quote: David Carmon @ October 17 2010, 12:37 AM BSTReligion is a load of shit, people can believe in whatever they choose, but you won't catch me believing in some dude who nobody alive has seen/ heard or has any proof of.
That's why it's called Faith.
If we separate the teachings of Jesus (as recorded in the New Testament) from the teachings of those who have claimed to represent him over the years, it pretty-much boils down to 'Love God and love thy neighbour as thyself'.
If we adjust that to allow for God's non-existence, we're left with 'Love thy neighbour as thyself'.
As philosophies go, that doesn't seem especially ripe for satire.
Quote: Ming the Mirthless @ October 17 2010, 9:16 AM BSTAs philosophies go, that doesn't seem especially ripe for satire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBzavvUIAR4
Quote: Ming the Mirthless @ October 17 2010, 9:16 AM BSTthe teachings of Jesus (as recorded in the New Testament)
The ramblings of a nutter.
25Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek
33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
EDIT: I don't think the smiley was in the original.
Verily, Kevin, thou shalt burn in Hell alongside Messrs Lee and Herring for all eternity.
Thy Eldonian namesake shall also be consumed by flames but Sally Phillips shall not burn for verily verily is she more than hot enough already.