Philosophy
It should come as no surprise to anyone that when magicians and big time skeptics Penn & Teller decided to do a show on all things Bullshit, the Pope and the Vatican would eventually find their way into that list.
It's not hard to see why: the Catholic Church has found itself smack in the middle of corruption controversies for centuries, ranging from meddling in people's private lives, telling them what sexual practices to abide by lest they be excommunicated and consigned to eternal hell fire, or for condemning and punishing scientists (think Galileo) who make discoveries about how the world really works, to the torture practices of the Papal Inquisition and their collaboration with Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. It just warms your heart... :)
Of course, while loudly proclaiming their pro-life and sanctity-of-life stance on questions of abortion and stem cell research, they think it preferable that an HIV infected person should pass the deadly virus to their spouse instead of using a condom that could save the life of that spouse (because, let's face it, you can't have sex unless you're married... or unless you're a Catholic priest and the sex you have is with little boys).
The sexual abuse of children, of course, is despicable in its own right, and perhaps it would be unfair of me to cast blame on the institution as a whole for the degenerate acts of depraved individuals, but when those perverts are institutionally protected and then subsequently unleashed, without warning, on unsuspecting communities from whom they collect their extravagant multi-billion dollar funds (tax free, of course), then the problem is structural and not merely relegated to a few bad apples. The barrel itself is rotten.
But why should I keep ranting when Penn & Teller are here to tell you all about it? (Just click on the 'Close to Play' button below)
- Richard Dawkins Makes The Pope His Bitch
You've probably heard already that almost as soon as he got off the plane in England, the Pope started his usual rant blaming secularism and atheism for the rise of Nazism and other such evils. Hey, if you had to answer for your own involvement in...
- Penn & Teller - Anti-vaccine Campaigns Are Bullshit!
One of the problems with irrational beliefs is that they don't exist in a vacuum of ideas: they have consequences in the real world, and are bound to affect someone in a real way. Take the case of vaccines. There is a growing number of concerned parents...
- Penn & Teller - Shadows
This weekend I had the privilege and good fortune of seeing my first live Penn & Teller magic show in Las Vegas, and I must say it was one of the highlights of my life. Their tricks are incredibly entertaining, excitingly ambiguous and deliciously...
- Penn & Teller - Circumcision Is Bullshit!
I don't know whether the practice of circumcision arose from sincere concern for the health of babies being born and raised in conditions less than optimal in terms of hygiene, or whether it arose from the dogmatic, arbitrary and superstitious religious...
- Penn & Teller Saw A Woman In Half
As you probably know, Penn & Teller are no ordinary magicians. Not only do they reveal the tricks up magicians' sleeves (infuriating many in their trade), or the pychological quirks of the mind that make us fall prey to the deception, they are...
Philosophy
Penn & Teller - The Vatican is Bullshit!
It should come as no surprise to anyone that when magicians and big time skeptics Penn & Teller decided to do a show on all things Bullshit, the Pope and the Vatican would eventually find their way into that list.It's not hard to see why: the Catholic Church has found itself smack in the middle of corruption controversies for centuries, ranging from meddling in people's private lives, telling them what sexual practices to abide by lest they be excommunicated and consigned to eternal hell fire, or for condemning and punishing scientists (think Galileo) who make discoveries about how the world really works, to the torture practices of the Papal Inquisition and their collaboration with Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. It just warms your heart... :)
Of course, while loudly proclaiming their pro-life and sanctity-of-life stance on questions of abortion and stem cell research, they think it preferable that an HIV infected person should pass the deadly virus to their spouse instead of using a condom that could save the life of that spouse (because, let's face it, you can't have sex unless you're married... or unless you're a Catholic priest and the sex you have is with little boys).
The sexual abuse of children, of course, is despicable in its own right, and perhaps it would be unfair of me to cast blame on the institution as a whole for the degenerate acts of depraved individuals, but when those perverts are institutionally protected and then subsequently unleashed, without warning, on unsuspecting communities from whom they collect their extravagant multi-billion dollar funds (tax free, of course), then the problem is structural and not merely relegated to a few bad apples. The barrel itself is rotten.
But why should I keep ranting when Penn & Teller are here to tell you all about it? (Just click on the 'Close to Play' button below)
And if they're so anti-abortion, what's their problem with gays? That's one demographic guaranteed never to have an abortion...
Oh, you should also see what Penn & Teller think about The Bible :)
Oh, you should also see what Penn & Teller think about The Bible :)
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- Richard Dawkins Makes The Pope His Bitch
You've probably heard already that almost as soon as he got off the plane in England, the Pope started his usual rant blaming secularism and atheism for the rise of Nazism and other such evils. Hey, if you had to answer for your own involvement in...
- Penn & Teller - Anti-vaccine Campaigns Are Bullshit!
One of the problems with irrational beliefs is that they don't exist in a vacuum of ideas: they have consequences in the real world, and are bound to affect someone in a real way. Take the case of vaccines. There is a growing number of concerned parents...
- Penn & Teller - Shadows
This weekend I had the privilege and good fortune of seeing my first live Penn & Teller magic show in Las Vegas, and I must say it was one of the highlights of my life. Their tricks are incredibly entertaining, excitingly ambiguous and deliciously...
- Penn & Teller - Circumcision Is Bullshit!
I don't know whether the practice of circumcision arose from sincere concern for the health of babies being born and raised in conditions less than optimal in terms of hygiene, or whether it arose from the dogmatic, arbitrary and superstitious religious...
- Penn & Teller Saw A Woman In Half
As you probably know, Penn & Teller are no ordinary magicians. Not only do they reveal the tricks up magicians' sleeves (infuriating many in their trade), or the pychological quirks of the mind that make us fall prey to the deception, they are...