Lay Theism

Or somewhere worse?  Gasp!!  After the Tom Cruise packing fudge scene, they moved right into organized religion (aka ancient mythology).

This is a picture of the leaders for every major religion, including a likeness of Muhammad (kinda) – this was how episode 200 actually showed it:

The 200th episode tries very hard not just to piss off celebrities, but pretty much all major religions as well.  If you assume everyone that self-identifies with one of these religions was not happy, then that’s:

Christianity (includes Mormons): 2.1 billion
Islam: 1.5 billion
Hinduism: 900 million
Buddhism: 376 million

Offended Celebrities: what… maybe 50?

4.9 billion people who were offended (probably).

That leaves:

Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion… that thought it was hilarious (I expect).  Naturally, not all of these people in the total counts have seen the episode, but it shouldn’t be long after they see this post that they’ll watch it.

If you haven’t seen it, check it out.  It’s worth it, and I’m not even a South Park regular.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/267114

The script re-introducing Super Best Friends:

Announcer: In the great hall of the Super Best Friends there are assembled the leaders of the world’s biggest religions:
Jesus
Buddha
Krishna
Muhammad
Lao Tzu and Joseph Smith
…and the Mighty Seaman
Their mission… to right that which what is wrong and to serve all mankind.
Stan: Jesus, all we are asking is that you bring Muhammad to our town for like an hour.
Jesus: My son, much has changed since you were last here. Muhammad cannot make public appearances.
Buddha: We simply cannot risk any violence from the Muslim people.
Stan: Aww… not you guys too!  Jesus Fucking Christ!!

Matt and Trey talking about publishers pussing out (quite the head fucker):

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/13/south-park-turns-200.html

News flash: Muhammad (aka Mohammad, Mohammed, etc.) actually appears in an old episode.

Atheism, Religion, Video cartman, comedy central, fudge packing, Kenny, Not Booing

Evangelist Oral Roberts dies at age 91
Evangelist Oral Roberts, who rose from tent revivals to found a multimillion-dollar organization and an Oklahoma university bearing his name, has died. He was 91.

Love the comments on this video.  Too funny. Click the YouTube logo to watch it over there (and read the comments).

Religion, Video charlatan, crook, death, mountebank, snake oil, swindler, thief

Non-denominational “Silent Night”

Sensible night, appropriate night

Snow on ground, left and right

Round yon purchase of decorative things

Tolerant rewrite of carols to sing

Function with relative ease,

Function with relative ease.

That was the lovely rendition of this traditional Christmas hymn rewritten for the masses. Shirley actually has a beautiful voice, but it was more hilarious than moving. I like this show because it’s clever and Joel McHale is funny as Jeff Winger (also see “The Soup“). Best of all, the show acknowledges every week that the world is made up of many different types of people, and this week, many different religious philosophies including “none” (Comparative Religion on Hulu).

Turns out, Shirley is a Christian (WWBJD – What would Baby Jesus Do?), Jeff is agnostic, Britta is an atheist, Troy is a Jehovah’s Witness, Abed is Muslim, and Annie’s a Jew. Oh, and Pierce is part of some dope smoking cult with Buddha bongs.  And don’t forget about non-denominational Mr. Winter!  They do a really nice riff off of each characters’ beliefs while skewering religion in general and essentially highlighting what little sense it makes.  Funny aside from Shirley when she noted that Britta brought something to the party that represented what she believes in… nothing.

Check it out.  Worth your time and good for a few laughs.

Cast:

Yvette Nicole Brown as Shirley
Danny Pudi as Abed
Gillian Jacobs as Britta
Joel McHale as Jeff
Alison Brie as Annie
Chevy Chase as Pierce
Donald Glover as Troy

Bonus:

Anthony Michael Hall as the Bully

Agnostic, Atheism, Religion, Video

Sam Ogden, contributing writer for the wildly popular skeptical blog, Skepchick, sits down with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson of the Hayden Planetarium and the NOVA scienceNOW program for a conversation about the universe, scientific literacy, and sundry other topics. Part 1 covers the latest in astrophysics and the universe.

Atheism, Science, Video blog, Science, skeptic

Also very good… clearly a bright person putting these together.

Atheism, Religion, Science, Video