Cognitive Dissonance - Episode 249: Thank God I'm Atheist

Episode Date: September 17, 2015

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Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Be advised that this show is not for children, the faint of heart, or the easily offended. The explicit tag is there for a reason. recording live-ish half of us from glory hole studios in chicago this is cognitive dissonance every episode we blast anyone who gets in our way. We bring critical thinking, skepticism, and irreverence to any topic that makes the news, makes it big, or makes us mad. It's skeptical. It's other stuff. We've got Dan and Frank.
Starting point is 00:00:58 Thank God I'm an atheist. Did you just fuck up your own intro? That's deviation. That's the kind of ad lib. Wow. Amazing. Frank, write that down. We need to remember that for our show.
Starting point is 00:01:12 Two words, motherfuckers. Consummate professional. It's a good idea. So, Dan and Frank from Thank God I'm an Atheist, thank you for being on our program. Well, thank you for having us. And almost getting the title right. That's awesome. Just thank God I'm atheist. We don't have the an in there. I think you should.
Starting point is 00:01:35 I'm just saying. I only bring it up because otherwise people try to go to the website and they'll type in the wrong URL and then we'll... You're right. mean there is some question as to whether or not we're an atheist or just atheist yeah but uh but i figure if they call themselves christian or a christian we can call ourselves atheist or an atheist dan that was that was good wow you see wow i mean good save dan that's that's that's honestly more
Starting point is 00:02:02 thought uh that you put into the title of your show than I have put. 249 episodes of this program, but I've not given that amount of consideration to any decision we've made. So we wanted to talk to you about this tremendous article from the Herald Sun. You've probably read it, because who doesn't read the Herald Sun? Oh, I'm all about the Herald Sun. I've got my subscription coming daily. read it because who doesn't read the herald son oh i'm all about the herald son i've got my subscription coming daily actually if if we're recording and the doorbell rings you got to pay the paper exactly um so this uh is from the sun uh nasa refutes christian claims and it kind of
Starting point is 00:02:37 could have stopped there actually like it doesn't need to go beyond that because nasa typically refutes christian claims right but it does anyway nasa refutes christian claims that the blood moon on september 28th will cause the end of the world right right well i mean yeah it's kind of obvious when you think about it that uh that all of the portents from the skies are controlling uh you know because we that's how that works right yeah i think thousands of years of trial and error have shown us that the end of the world is nigh yeah this is not this not it's always sort of continually nigh it's the nighest thing that you can possibly imagine if you it's always kind of just sort of fuzzy in the corner of your eye.
Starting point is 00:03:28 It's somewhere. It's never fully in view. It's coming. I mean, you know, Jesus said he would be back within that generation. And that's kind of been, it's been nigh ever since that moment. Yeah, but what's a generation to Jesus? That's the question. That's the question. Maybe he meant the Pepsi generation. I know but what's a generation to Jesus? That's the question.
Starting point is 00:03:46 Maybe he meant the Pepsi generation. I know, that's true. You don't know. I do want to read a little piece from the article just so that we're really clear on what we're mocking mercilessly. The blood moon This is a fucking direct quote. I can't even read blood
Starting point is 00:04:02 moon and not... I always wonder too with the blood moon, I wonder if there's other humors that have a moon is there a phlegm moon as well oh wow a yellow bile moon a yellow maybe a black bile moon I don't know yeah
Starting point is 00:04:16 since we're going to humors yeah I mean if we're going back to fucking the stone age might as well just reel it all back. Why not? The best part is that, like, by comparison with this, the fucking humors are high technology. Right? The humors are like a zipper to the Amish.
Starting point is 00:04:38 You know? So this is the blood moon is the fourth and final eclipse in a tetrad. Oh. Four consecutive total lunar eclipses. I think that should be eclipse I. Eclipse I. You're right. Each separated by six lunar months, which fulfills biblical prophecy of the apocalypse.
Starting point is 00:05:02 Wow. It's so metal. That shit. I just got to say that shit is so fucking metal. So wait, there's nothing about this where the moon's not going to be red. I mean, let's get this. Well, it's kind of red. It's red? When you have a full eclipse of a full moon, then it kind of turns red, which is why they
Starting point is 00:05:20 call it the blood moon, right? But it's no different from any of the other eclipses. I actually have a question about that. If it's fully eclipsed, how would I know it turned red? It's eclipsed. I can't see it. It could turn anything it fucking wants. When it gets fully eclipsed, it goes full rainbow.
Starting point is 00:05:36 But when you start to be able to see it again, then it's just the red. That's all you got. Okay, yeah. So oi-gee-biv of left. Could you imagine if the fucking moon went full rainbow? They would flip their shit. They would flip. Because they fucking flipped out when we fucking projected a rainbow on the White House.
Starting point is 00:05:53 Yeah, right. Could you imagine if the fucking moon went rainbow? You know what, though? It is a known fact. And, Frank, you can back me up on this. Yeah. The moon is the gayest of all of the celestial bodies. I was unaware of its proclivities.
Starting point is 00:06:04 Oh, no. That thing, it is totally queer. the gayest of all of the celestial bodies. I was unaware of its proclivities. It is totally queer. I kind of want to hear the reason why, and then I kind of don't. You know the whole man in the moon thing? That guy I understand now.
Starting point is 00:06:21 What we don't see is that on the dark side of the moon is another man. Did you watch the trailer for this? There's a trailer auto plays on this on this uh and it's it's a trailer for anything that auto it's a trailer for a for a movie called four blood moons yeah i saw that fuck you and it it's it looks ridiculous i guess it's already out i haven't watched it yet but it it looks terrible it's but it says it's based on a new york times bestseller so it must be good it also says it's like a documentary. Right. And I'm like, what the fuck are you documenting?
Starting point is 00:06:46 But it's a documentary with the shittiest recreations of Columbus and stuff that you can imagine. Like somebody used their mother's curtains to make costumes for ancient or old. I'm trying to say ancient, but ancient isn't right. Whatever the fuck Columbus was. How old was he? How far? 1400. 1400.
Starting point is 00:07:12 He was a fucking monster. There is that. There is that. Anyway. So what do you guys... So, I mean, are you guys nervous? Have you invested entirely in gold commodities for the upcoming apocalypse? You know what?
Starting point is 00:07:27 We've been burned by this before, you guys. I've got to be honest with you. It's a little known fact. This is true, actually. Our show started when Frank and I went on a local radio show. You remember, lo those many years ago, about four or five years ago, when Harold Camping had his big prediction. We love Harold Camping. How good,ing. We were all going to die. I still feel I'm going to die
Starting point is 00:07:50 though. I think that's still accurate. Technically, you are going to die. Good. You have that figured out right. That's true. We went on this local radio show and we did Rapture Watch. We basically were just sort of
Starting point is 00:08:05 waiting for all of us to get raptured that sounds amazing that sounds super great it didn't work though there was no rapture you didn't get raptured it turns it turns out that nobody got raptured and uh it was it was a big disappointment but that's when we decided that it would be fun to do a podcast is it not possible that like just one guy was raptured and nobody knows right with a small enough number of people god just like steve in indianapolis was the only guy that was raptured when we staged a rapture has anybody seen steve where was steve it's just a low level rapture i gotta admit though i absolutely love when they start putting dates on these things because then you get a chance to
Starting point is 00:08:41 because because we we we listen to clips every week and and almost uh almost inevitably someone will say something like it's just around the corner or something bad is going to happen and they never give a definitive timeline this is an absolute definitive timeline that hagi gave he said hagi said that it's going to happen before October of 2015. Yeah. Well, I think that's great because I've got a big project that's due October 3rd, and I haven't done any of it because asteroids. Perfect. Go out and buy something on spec or buy something with credit. You'll be fine. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:09:18 Exactly. It's time to buy that Ferrari you've always wanted because don't worry, it won't come due. So there's a little bit of a Mormon angle to this. There is a weird Mormon angle and so Frank and I are both ex-Mormon so I thought I'd just... What I need to explain to you because I know
Starting point is 00:09:35 that everybody thinks Mormons are the goofiest shit out there and believe me, they are. They got some goofy going on. But I do think that Jehovah's Witnesses give you guys, I shouldn't say you guys, but give them a run for their money in some respect. Yeah. But they have some pretty wacky beliefs.
Starting point is 00:09:53 But in the end, Mormons in general are the most pragmatic people on the earth. Yeah, absolutely. They have boring meeting rooms and they have, like, everybody's just a buttoned up business person in Mormonormonism they're all mitt romney every last one so just joyless robots yes basically that is exactly it they are joyless that's perfect so imagine all of these joyless robot people and then somebody starts claiming that there's going to be like the the end of days is happening with this blood moon yeah it's it never happens they don't go for this shit no so there's a fringe
Starting point is 00:10:32 element of mormons that are buying into this let's let's and it is french it's not it's it's not it's not mainstream at all but there's this are these the ones who marry a bunch of people no no they're still in the mainstream mormon church okay but they're just like this weird fringe element of them okay um but there's this lady uh named julie rowe who wrote a book she's a mormon she's a mother you know of three or whatever which every mormon woman that's ever described you'll see the word mother of blank after her name because that's all they care about i mean a mother of three is like i mean she's like barely even she's barely even folded that point you're thinking about quiverful people no dude the mormons pump them out the mormons do
Starting point is 00:11:16 they do like to have a lot of a lot of babies it's because i mean in part they're like irish catholics dude they really are and in part that that's because the only thing that women are worth in the world is baby machines. That's the only thing that gives them any value in the Mormon church. So they kind of have to keep doing it. Is part of that because you have to live on a planet with your family? I mean, it'd be super boring if there's only two of you. Well, the problem with that... So, I mean, Mormon afterlife is very confusing because the problem
Starting point is 00:11:45 with like the planet that you're going to go live on with your family and yeah that you're told that your family's going to be together forever but your kids get their own planet too i know like where the fuck are you it doesn't make any sense maybe they clone them all yeah exactly so uh so this lady uh this mother of three apparently had a near-death experience and went beyond the veil and uh and when she went beyond the veil she she discovered that yes uh these blood moons are indeed going to uh trigger the uh the the second coming of the lord and all of those sorts of things right but she brings in a whole bunch of like Mormon shit. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:28 As long as she had this realization while she was oxygen deprived and dying. Yeah, exactly. That's when your brain is really hammering. That's the good stuff. That's right. Yeah. I mean, they say that the last thing that happens when you have a near-death experience is that you get that influx of DMT, the same drug that's in ayahuasca, the big hallucinogen. So it doesn't surprise me that she got a really influx of dmt the uh the same drug that's in ayahuasca the the big hallucinogen so yeah yeah yeah it doesn't surprise me that she got a really interesting happy uh story told to her
Starting point is 00:12:52 she wrote a book but she wrote a couple books and they've sold like 20 000 copies or whatever and uh and now there's this group of people and the mormon church is denying it the mormon church is just it keeps saying things like no this is not real don't worry about it but there's this group of people man mormons are really into and here's how mormons deal with the apocalypse coming they don't like pray and get all kooky they go and buy like prepper stuff they go and buy like you know four years worth of food and and guns i you know i've never understood if and i maybe i just don't understand the word apocalypse but to me an apocalypse means nobody lives so what do i need the food for it still seems like a waste right like oh it's gonna be an apocalypse everybody's going to die oh Oh, I better stock up on jelly.
Starting point is 00:13:46 Like, why? I'm going to need ammunition. There's nobody to shoot. Right. You're dead. They're dead. If you're not and they're not, it's not an apocalypse. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:13:59 Well, just like with everything, Mormons do it wrong. They do apocalypse wrong. They just, their apocalypse is like, yeah, a bunch of, there some maybe some earthquakes and some stuff but most people live yeah and then and then the worst part is here's the worst part about mormon apocalypse is that after you know the all of the earthquakes happen and then jesus comes back and then those who are still alive have to stay alive for a thousand years and do work genealogy already doing that they're just doing they're doing genealogy work and they're baptizing people for the dead for a thousand fucking years wait a minute you gotta stay alive for a thousand years doing paperwork yeah yeah you're just it's like the religion things you're like congratulations davis things. You're like a Kim Davis for God.
Starting point is 00:14:45 You're like a clerk. Congratulations, you're now permaclerk. Enjoy that. Oh, God. Yeah, it's a privilege that I dream not of. That's not an apocalypse, though. That's a fucking global inconvenience. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:59 That's all that that is. And that's probably how the church should describe it. The LDS Church Global Inconvenience. Maybe that's the name the church should describe it. The LDS Church, global inconvenience. Maybe that's the name of them, too. One thing I don't see, you mentioned Harold Camping earlier. One thing that happened with that is that people really did go out and spend all their life savings, sever ties with people they thought that they'd never see after you know may 22nd or whatever it was right and basically just really treat this as if it were the end of the world i i don't see that as like a massist like this is the only article i've seen right this is not like it's plastered
Starting point is 00:15:39 all over the television i don't see a bus that rides by that says, beware the tetrad blood moons. It does kind of speak to Hagee's popularity versus campings, right? Like, yeah, his followers are cool right up until he says, hey, there's a real thing. And then they're all like, oh, no. Yeah. I'll buy your book. Yeah, exactly. And just so just so when God calls us all, I'll be like, I did buy the book. I just didn't plan. Yeah, exactly. And just so when God calls us all up, I'll be like, I did buy the book. I just didn't plan.
Starting point is 00:16:06 Right, yeah. My favorite thing that happened with camping was that some brilliant person came up with an idea where, like, pay me right now in advance, and then when you're raptured, I'll take care of your pets. Oh, yeah, yeah. That was great. So smart.
Starting point is 00:16:22 That was great. We saw that. I actually think that maybe Hagee's followers have just gotten it right. They're just like, oh, it's going to be the apocalypse September 28th. What are you doing? It's going to be the apocalypse Wednesday. What are you doing Tuesday? I don't know.
Starting point is 00:16:35 Fucking going to work. I don't have anything else to do. What do you want? I'm fucking going to die Wednesday. What do you want from me? I have no hopes and dreams. I'm a Hagee follower. That's a it's not like clearly i've given up on life it does make one wonder if like life experiences like you know skydiving suddenly gets a little
Starting point is 00:16:55 bit of a bump yeah suddenly like all of these scuba scuba people are are seeing a small a small uptick in their in their participation but i think, too, like scuba diving, we'd be like, ah, fucking yawn. You know, like you've fallen out of the lake. Like, well, all the fucking fear is gone. Tomorrow I'm checking out anyway. Right. If this doesn't work out, all I did was just move my timeline up a day. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:17:19 Fucking less snooze. Maybe it's like an increase in like strap-ons. Right. You know what I mean? Like, you know, more anal lube things like that you know because i because if i found out the apocalypse was coming i'd just be fucking until i would fuck my way to the apocalypse absolutely but that's every minute of the day i'd fucking borrow someone else's dick when mine got tired of fuck with it i don't care but the sad part
Starting point is 00:17:42 about it is that that's like the non-believers way of doing it if you're a believer you're not allowed to sin like the last thing you want to do is actually do something that's gonna fuck it up for you the day before you meet jesus you go up you go up to see jesus he's like did you get pegged by your wife last night the fuck the fuck carl what's going on we're doing fine you you're like a holy person, Carl, until you got fucked in the ass with a 20-inch dildo. I got confused. I'm sorry. Who's the end of the world? I didn't know what to do.
Starting point is 00:18:15 I was thinking about scuba, but then I just decided. I get excited by the snorkels. I don't know. It's just. There are tubes everywhere. My wife stuck the snorkel inside of her and everything. They're not weird. Oh, no.
Starting point is 00:18:33 I never have to come up for air. This is great. So we'll be back in a very short while with Dan and Frank from Thank God I'm Atheist. I think it's Thank God I'm an Atheist. I think you're wrong. I think it's Thank God I am an Atheist. Thank God y'all are atheists. That's a different show.
Starting point is 00:19:00 That's Bobby C. And Miss Ashley. But we'll be back with Dan and frank at the end of the show uh but we're going to do a couple of news stories in between for you to suffer through alabama town to ban saggy pants and two short shorts after councilman prayed about it so uh alabama has evidently solved all of its other problems right yeah right sure this is like and now they're now they're going after the short shorts and there is some shutterstock the shutterstock my favorite is my new favorite search term teens in shorts
Starting point is 00:19:38 and like i read that and i thought you didn't have to tell me they were teens. Yeah, I don't see any cesarean scar. I'm just saying if legs could look happy. Gosh, booty shorts. They're trying to get rid of booty shorts. And there's a great picture of booty shorts on this article. And you're like, who other than some asshole would go to get rid of those? A joyless
Starting point is 00:20:10 Mormon robot. How dare you? Yeah, exactly. That's exactly it. So this is obviously, what they really want to do is they want to get rid of the baggy pants. And then they decided that that was kind of sexist so they had to do something mean to women, too.
Starting point is 00:20:25 It really says that. That's the rationale. No, absolutely. They're like saying, well, wait a minute. We're being mean to men, so let's be assholes to women, too. So they've decided that the functional equivalent of saggy shorts is short shorts. And that could not be further from the truth. I wouldn't mind if they got rid of saggy shorts
Starting point is 00:20:46 for women they all had to wear like yoga pants and short shorts tights sure just no saggy drawers yeah all right well i mean that's a win-lose yeah so all right all these guys walking around in tight pants i know you're just like ah no, ah. I don't know what to think. Alabama is so confusing. You're like, that one's got long hair. Not sure. Not sure. Oh, it's got a rat tail.
Starting point is 00:21:13 It's a dude. In Alabama, that's a dude. Right? You're just like, not sure. In Alabama, Would not fuck. You know, this is so similar to, you know, basically putting your females in a bag. Sure. You know what I mean? It's very similar to that.
Starting point is 00:21:32 It's that. I understand. The saggy pants thing, I don't get. I think it's racist. I think it's racist, too. I think they're basically saying, like, don't dress in a style approximating black urban youth yeah right that's what they're saying because they think black people are scary yeah and black people clothes are scary and black people culture is scary and so they want to avoid anything remotely
Starting point is 00:21:58 black urban yeah right and then and then the other side of that is uh anti-sex right so the other side of that is well we don't want to we don't want to teach the kids about sex, but we don't want them touching either. And the booty shorts facilitate the touch in. Sure. Well, shouldn't our religious ideas stand up even under a scientific approach? I mean, either thing is true or it isn't. Well, certainly. But listen, Joe, there are some things we just have to accept on faith. So I almost never cover the like the one off churches like, you know, a flying spaghetti monster guy gets to wear a colander and his driver's license picture. Never. It's never going to be on the show. Like, it's never, ever going to be on the show. But this one, this one did make me laugh because they have a billboard. The only reason we're talking about this is because of the billboard.
Starting point is 00:22:47 The story comes from Metro.co.uk. Church of Bacon sees rush of new members after free wedding offer. And they've got a billboard that I think is actually really awesome. It's a set of hands in the prayer thing with a strip of
Starting point is 00:23:03 bacon between the thumbs. Right on the thumbs. It's like, here's the the prayer thing with a strip of bacon between the thumbs. Yeah, like right on the thumbs. Yeah. It's like, here's a steeple. Here's the bacon. And it's like, when I look at that, I think like, that's the most awkward way to eat your bacon. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:13 It's really weird. But you got to open the church doors first time. That's how it works. It stretches the bacon. Yeah. And then it says, bacon is our God, because bacon is is real and then it's praisebacon.com yeah i love this i think it's very funny thing is though i would join i'd join the church of short ribs you know i would join the church of roast turkey with dressing and cranberries. Yeah, I'm on that.
Starting point is 00:23:45 Yeah. I would join the soccer tort church. Oh, for sure. Yeah. The Cuban sandwich church. I would do that. I would. The gyros church.
Starting point is 00:23:57 That's a church, though, that you don't want to go and sing the hymn. No. Because everybody in there is just. Stinky. Oh, God. That's an outdoor sing the hymn. No. Because everybody in there is just... Stinky. Oh, God. That's an outdoor service. It is, yeah. Admittedly, a lot of these require an outdoor service.
Starting point is 00:24:10 Very true. Very true. The Hibarito Church, I know you're not a fan, but I would attend. I would stay away from the Tofu Church. The Tofu Church would just be full of fucking annoying people. Like the congregation for the Tofu Church? The whole time they would just tell you about how it's how great the tofu church is it'd be exhausting this tofu shaped like bacon
Starting point is 00:24:31 they would try to convince you that it tasted like actual meat yeah that's what they would be like oh no this is a tofu burger fucking bite your tongue you can make it a circle but that's not a fucking burger you know you can shape a fucking poo into a circle but that is not a burger i watched a video today it was on reddit so it was like the top video on reddit for a while so probably a bunch of people have seen it but the the title was i paid 50 i i made a 1500 sandwich and500 sandwich. And so when I first saw it, I thought, well, how did you make a $1,500 sandwich? He did everything for it. So he tilled the land and planted the vegetables. Then he went and had wheat and he crushed up the weed and did all that.
Starting point is 00:25:17 He went to a place to kill a chicken and killed his own chicken. And how they killed the chicken was crazy. They had this little board on the ground. You put the chicken's head under the board. You step on both ends of the board and you just pull its head right off. What? Yes. Its head just pops directly off.
Starting point is 00:25:32 That's not. It's crazy. That's. Wait. It's crazy. Chicken. There has. Dead chicken on there.
Starting point is 00:25:37 That's like one of those things. He made his own. There's got to be a better way. He made his own butter and his own uh his own uh cheese and he basically did all this extra work you know he went out to the to the ocean and got sea salt for the salt and like you know what i mean like yeah so he did all this extra work and he takes a bite of this chicken because he he cooks the yeah you know the chicken up and he makes it and he takes a bite of this chicken and they said so how was it he says it's not bad and then he looks like he's gonna cry because he spent six months of his life
Starting point is 00:26:11 for a sandwich that's not bad it's so awesome it's it's just i that is just there are there are a few foods that when you make them from scratch they are nothing but work and then they yield a product that's identical to what you could have done short. I find puff pastries like that. Pumpkin pie is the same thing. Roast a pumpkin, fucking get all the flesh out, get all the seeds and shit, make a pumpkin pie. It tastes just like you use the can. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:26:38 It tastes just like you use. Yeah. All you did was add time and work to it. That's all you did. You didn't get anything better out of that equation. Yeah, no, there are some foods that are like that. There's a few foods, though, that you make on your own, and you're just like, oh, my God, this is the greatest thing ever.
Starting point is 00:26:53 Yeah, and you'll never go back. Mayonnaise. Mayonnaise is a perfect example. Mayonnaise all day. You eat a food with your own mayonnaise, you're like, mm. That's a good one. That's a good one. A thousand times better.
Starting point is 00:27:03 Way better. Yeah. But the Church of Bacon has you covered. So, nothing else to say about it. I'd join the Church of Mayonnaise, too. I would join the Church of Mayonnaise. Some would argue I have joined the Church of Mayonnaise, or at least I sing in its choir on the regular.
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Starting point is 00:28:18 Topless protesters disrupt Muslim conference on women. So I saw this a handful of times and I didn't I clicked on a couple of the articles and I wasn't real impressed by a few of the some of the reporting on it. But I grabbed this one in particular, this article in particular, because when they showed up, when the protesters jumped out, the conversation that the fundamentalist preachers were discussing was the question of whether or not wives should be beaten. And I thought, like, how is it 2015? Yeah. People are standing on a stage in front of a fucking crowd of people in a country like France. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:29:07 Having a conversation as if they were civilized people. Yeah. In a civilized country. And you can't even ask that question even if your answer is no. Because your brain should immediately reject the question. Yeah. Right. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:29:22 The question itself. The question itself is absurd. You should never even bring the question right yeah right exactly the question the question is itself is absurd you should never even even bring the question up to engage the counter argument is to presume that the argument itself has any merit whatsoever in some way right i'm fucking flabbergasted yeah and it said that the protesters aged 25 and 31 grabbed microphones and shouted feminist slogans in French and Arabic before being roughly bundled off the stage by about 15 men and handed over police. Video footage of the incident shows a man apparently kicking one of the women. And I guess that answers your question on whether or not women should be beaten. Right. It was on the pro side of that argument.
Starting point is 00:30:06 I would like to argue for the motion. And the con side is like, well, I guess weather is still a conversation, but we're definitely doing it. Whether we should, should is still part of the conversation the you know and also like some of some of the men in the audience shouted dirty whores and then kill them these are people expressing a contrary view yeah with their shirts off though tom right you're you're neglecting that they had their shirts off and that should allow you to kill them. That shit is in France, man. That's fucking unbelievable. Yeah. The part of the nipples that isn't blocked out,
Starting point is 00:30:52 I can see je suis at the top. Yeah. So, I mean, I can tell. It's not like they're communicating with these people that are in the audience even in Arabic if they're writing them on themselves in French. In French. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:03 Right. Yeah. Although maybe it would be harder to write in arabic on yourself the little words you look at you wind up looking like the lord of the rings ring you gotta put her in a fire and order a reader oh they totally do that they would have done that they'll fucking they would dump these women in a mortar without a second thought. Oh, gosh. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:26 And the thing is, is from the inside, there's a group of people saying, this is horribly sexist. This is awful. You shouldn't be doing this. You shouldn't be talking about this. So this is from the inside they're doing this, which is heartening because you need people on the inside of of that religion to agitate for change to say no more this is stupid we shouldn't be going through all these backwards policies and they're pushing the envelope not just by taking the stage but by taking the stage shirtless right you know pushing the envelope pushing it as far as they can and
Starting point is 00:32:02 they were you know they got a beating for it. But, you know, hats off to these women. Oh, brave as fuck, right? Brave as hell. Because you know that they knew going in that the stakes were high. They knew going in that, you know, by doing this, if they're part of this community, they're not ostracized from this community. You know, by and large. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:32:19 That they stand the risk of being, you know, beaten. Yeah. Whatever. I mean, vilified. vilified in every way. And they still did it. It's brave as hell. I just – like the part of me that galls the shit out of me, man, the part of this that galls me so much is that we would even have a venue that would allow a conversation like this to occur as if it were legitimate. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:32:49 There are some questions which are so ridiculously backward, so outlandishly barbaric, that to lend them credence by putting them on a stage and setting up a microphone and pretending that you have esteemed colleagues yeah right you know on this day this is not like the debate you know between uh even like bill nye and ken ham right like that's two sides of an absurd argument you know the question is absurd but it's not violent yeah the question is absurd but it's not damaging to 50% of the fucking world population. This is not a conversation that we should even allow people to have and still pretend that we're having it in a civilized fashion because there's nothing civilized about the conversation. You're right.
Starting point is 00:33:43 It's basically hate speech. speech yes it's hate speech now should they you know we we should we should you know definitely they have every right to have this conversation you know every right to have this conversation but just because you have the right to have this conversation doesn't mean you're free from consequences consequences which is you know somebody jumping on stage or you being called an idiot, somebody who's an awful person for even, even entertaining this idea. And, uh, and this is, this is a good thing that it's coming from the inside though. At least it feels like it's coming from the inside, right? Right. That's a good thing that that's happening because, uh, you know, the fundamentalist Islam is a bad idea. It's a lot of bad ideas, all sort of mixed up into one. And if there can be a breaking out of that and a removal of some of those really horrible ideas, you know, that women aren't equal, that women should be injured, you know, that gays should be killed, that people should have to put their hands in a hand chopper machine.
Starting point is 00:34:43 If all those ideas go away right you have a much more civilized religion something that can actually be reasoned with do you think honestly that that that's even possible because you know that man they were fucking they were burning witches in the united states fucking 200 years ago, maybe longer. I don't know how long ago that was. 1600s, was it? Maybe 400 years ago, 400 years ago, something like that. They're burning witches.
Starting point is 00:35:12 I guess I guess that's that's true. They're there. There's there's there's still horrible shit that Catholics do. You know, there's still horrible. How many generations, you know, like like because I've heard that I've heard a similar argument, you know, that I think that you're making is that Islam is still a young religion and that Christianity went through these growing pains and it came out the other side. Well, imperfect, deeply imperfect, you know, but much less violent. Yeah. Well, I think I think this is just I mean, fucking I don't know the real reasons here.
Starting point is 00:35:44 Well, I think – I mean this is just – I mean fucking I don't know the real reasons here. This is just a speculation. But I also think that Islam sort of had its own idiot circle that sort of perpetuated all the same ideas for way too long without outside influence. So it never really had the sort of any kind of progression look it in its face and say hey let's fucking change this you know what i mean like let's fix this and now there's social media and tv and you know ways in which you can find things electronically etc that there's no there's no way to keep out those ideas you can't isolate yourself anymore sure and so i think that it's just a matter of time before islam starts shedding these so you think that will have a moderating effect on islam i think so eventually yeah because it seems to be having a polarizing effect right now yeah the thing is is of course
Starting point is 00:36:36 we're only finding out about isis we're only seeing you know these assholes that say awful shit people who chop other people's hands off. There's plenty of moderate Muslims. They happen to be leaving Syria right now. Yeah. I'm not pretending that all of Islam is represented. No, no. I know. But I'm saying like all the moderate Muslims, they're on a boat. Right.
Starting point is 00:36:54 They're heading over the fucking water. Right. Trying to get to a place that isn't going to fucking have them die. Yeah. You know. Right. And I know that's a blanket statement. Clearly, I'm sure there's fundamentalists
Starting point is 00:37:05 and whatever but what you understand what i mean but if you if you send cecil an email no please tell me the exact number of people fucking syrian refugees that are fundamentalists because i'd love to know you know twitter protests or twitter posts afterwards called for the protesters to be stoned that's or collectively raped collectively raped i don't even know how that happens what do you do you pass them around like a plate right how does this work should we rape them well collectively yeah wait what what what do you have to like all tape your dicks together and at the same time many of us have to do this like uh like like the executioner like what a what a fucking liar's punishment that is too like it's like oh i gotta rape somebody
Starting point is 00:37:52 today geez it's just like it's just somebody is just a violent power hungry shithead yeah right that's the only reason something like that could possibly exist. You want answers? I think I'm entitled. You want answers? I want the truth! You can't handle the truth! So this story comes to the raw story. Liberty U pastor tells Bernie Sandals... Sandals? Bernie Sandals? Fucking hippie. It totally fits him, though, doesn't it?
Starting point is 00:38:22 Oh my God, you know that's going to be a thing if he becomes – they're going to call him Bernie Sandals. OK. So Liberty Hugh Pastor tells Bernie Sanders that cops shoot unarmed black people because of sin, not racism. I just got to start off like is this man really that shade of orange? It's so orange. No, I think that's bad lighting. That's got to be because he looks like a Cheeto. He does look like a Cheeto.
Starting point is 00:38:58 He looks like Chester Cheeto. I was moderating this. Like, just her cheeks. I was moderating this. Whenever Bernie says something, he's like, that was dangerously cheesy. This guy's impossible to look at. Look at him. I can't. It's like.
Starting point is 00:39:23 I can't. He looks like he looks like the fucking face on the moon you remember like the old movie he looks like that he's got like a rocket sticking out of his eye oh somebody you guys have to go to see this at the raw story
Starting point is 00:39:41 the best image the thing is like your screen is not acting up. This is not unique to your screen because I'm looking at another screen and it looks ridiculous. It's so funny. When you say that Cheetos, it's perfect because it looks like he just rubbed the dust. He's got Cheetos fingers, but he buried his whole head in the mat. Yeah, he was bobbing for Cheetos. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:07 Oh, good times. I remember those days. Yeah. So this is a very long piece, so we won't play it. But let's talk a little bit about what he says. Now, Bernie Sanders goes off on this big line. I watched this thing earlier and he goes off on a very well prepared bit in front of liberty university talking about you know the uh economic problems that black people face in
Starting point is 00:40:33 this country the discrimination that they face the you know the disproportionate number of them that are arrested the disproportionate number of them uh that are charged and the excessive charges that black people face in comparison to other races. And, you know, I mean, all the systemic racism that happens in our country. And he does a very good job of listing all this stuff. And to their credit, the audience follows him. And at the points where he's making these things to say that these sort of things need to change the audience is up giving applause throughout the whole piece um but they really do kind of flip out when the platitude comes out of cheeto man he says we would say and i think i speak for many of our students that it's
Starting point is 00:41:20 not so much a skin issue as it is a sin issue. What does that even mean? What it means is the same thing the Mormons thought, that blacks is bad. That's what it seems like to me. Yeah, but then he follows it up. He says that we can change the behavior of police. We could put cameras on them all day long, but behavior modification can only stop so short as identity change. I think we want what you want. I think he's saying that the police then have a sin issue. I'm not saying this as hyperbole at all. I read that paragraph because that's the
Starting point is 00:41:57 key paragraph for this whole story, right, is what he says. That's the reason I picked it. And what bothers me about it is that I don't actually know what he's saying is that that skin issue, sin issue thing, it sounds like something, but it's a deepity. I think so too. I think you're right.
Starting point is 00:42:13 I think it's a deepity. There's nothing there as a sin issue. Okay. Well fucking elaborate, make a point. But instead of making a point, he goes on and says that, you know,
Starting point is 00:42:22 that we can change the behavior of police. We can put cameras on them all day. Behavior modification can only stop so short as identity change. And then again, no follow-up as to what that means. What is that? He does another deepity later on when he says, I think you're going to find a commonality. You're going to find commonality is at Liberty University. We are not interested in making sure people are invited to sit in the bus or even sit at a restaurant table we want to see them own the bus and own the
Starting point is 00:42:49 restaurant yeah what does that even mean like I mean right like not everybody can own a bus that's just not a good idea for traffic that's a terrible traffic idea for everybody and you know everybody owns a restaurant like there's no one to eat at our restaurant. And we also own a bus. We own too much shit. Why is everyone in the service industry? But I hate shit like this. I hate this nonsense where it sounds like they're saying something.
Starting point is 00:43:21 They want a hand up, not a hand out. Right. I mean it's just – it's a real quick little turn of phrase that makes you say, oh, yeah. Wait, what? Yeah. OK. Can we just – if we can't get past the platitudinous nonsense, then we're not having a conversation. And he can't really do this, but I sort of think it would be amazing because bernie sanders is the kind of candidate who almost would is to get a response like that
Starting point is 00:43:49 and be like when you're prepared to have a real conversation then re-engage he has he has done that to reporters i've seen him do that he did that to that reporter that tried to hijack him and he's like i don't do ambush interviews the guy's like well i do ambush interviews and he's just like good luck with this one. He just bailed. He's like, I'm not doing it. Yeah. You know, have your people call my people.
Starting point is 00:44:10 I don't do it that way. You know, it's interesting. This political cycle. All these people going on all these different venues that I would not expect them to go to. Bernie Sanders speaking at Liberty University to me seems really weird. Yeah. I thought i was actually pretty brave i uh jeb bush on the tonight show yeah that's um but they but but candidates do things like the tonight show but that seems like the saxophone i know but it seems like the realm
Starting point is 00:44:38 it seems like more the realm of democrats than it does the joyless joyless especially you know Donald Trump had a couple of them a daytime show wound up getting Donald Trump he went on the view as a caller did he really recently went on the view as a caller and then Ellen had a Hillary on you know I mean like so like there's
Starting point is 00:45:00 some some they're really sort of getting a weird circuit now there's a different trajectory. I think this election does feel weird. You know, it feels what it feels like is that is that Trump opened it up for something like this. Now, I'm not saying that this is a brand new experience because you remember when maybe you're a little young for this. But Bill Clinton went on MTV and it was a big deal back in the day. He went on an MTV thing and people were big deal back in the day he went on an mtv thing
Starting point is 00:45:26 and people were like whoa what are you doing nobody goes on mtv but in his first term before he was elected he went on mtv played the saxophone and did a you know i remember the saxophone so you know you're talking about a guy you know what year was that 1992 yeah so you know we're talking about you know it was the first election i could vote in so it was years and years and years ago and it was you know it was a totally rogue maneuver on his part to try to get some young people but you know now and i don't know if they've always i don't know if reagan went on fucking carson or something like that doesn't seem like something he would do but maybe he maybe i don't know I don't know. But, you know, like it feels – this feels new though.
Starting point is 00:46:07 And I think this feels more – especially this early in the race where they're still doing the nominee thing. I agree with that for sure. Because Trump is a star on television. And I think they're all trying to cash in on that if they can. I think they're going to have to, right? Because he's going to be totally unafraid of the medium. He's going to be unafraid to be on any of the
Starting point is 00:46:31 television programming, whatever. He's going to be like, hey, this is my fucking ballywick. This is my home. So to beat him on his home turf, you're going to have to do that kind of thing. Yeah. So we're back with Dan and Frank from Thank God I'm Atheist podcast. Guys, I said it right. You did.
Starting point is 00:47:09 You nailed it that time. I said it right, Tom. You see, the difference is I said it right. So, guys, if people never heard your show, could you describe your show for them? Yeah, it's your show, only worse. That's the worst thing anybody's ever said before lighting themselves up that's like isis being like hey it's it's like being mean but i mean we do current events. We talk about that.
Starting point is 00:47:52 And we try and get in depth with some of the issues that affect atheists and nonbelievers. We've had some cool interviews. We've had some cool people on. And I don't know. You describe your show first. It's not easy. Why did you guys start it uh you know it's it was just so i had i had the blog i had the url thank god i'm atheist and uh and i i had been blogging uh and i wanted you know frank and i are both sort of media guys frank's a a filmmaker and i'm a i don't know
Starting point is 00:48:23 i'm a dipshit you're an an actor. I'm an actor. He got that. So we just... Yeah, you sound real enthused. You're an actor. I just hear... He's a good actor. He's a good actor.
Starting point is 00:48:34 He does a good job with that. Frank has always loathed to pay me any kind of compliments. It's part of our dynamic. That's why it works so well. It's what's so charming is how much frank hates me frank and cecil would get along great you hate dan too cecil
Starting point is 00:48:55 don't tell him i said but uh it's uh you know it's a fun show. We have a good time. People seem to... Some people seem to like it. Your moms, you know. Totally. Literally. Well, my mom listens. Frank has not even told her.
Starting point is 00:49:14 My mom doesn't even know I have a podcast. And that's for the best. Yeah. So you guys are both ex-Mormon? We are. Yeah. How long ago have you been Mormon? Mormond. I don't know. I don't really know what the verb for mormoning i think you got it i think you nailed it i haven't i haven't been
Starting point is 00:49:33 mormon for 20 years now yeah oh my i'm at uh i was 22 probably about 17 or 18 years so but yeah i mean we both we both were raised in Mormonism. I was raised in Utah and Salt Lake City, and Frank was raised in buttfuck Oklahoma. And we sort of... What people don't understand is that Salt Lake City has this great counterculture, and we met sort of, you know...
Starting point is 00:50:03 I think a lot of people assume it has no culture the idea of a counterculture seems well you know and and frankly uh i think salt lake's one of the our country's best kept secrets so let's just keep it that way let's just sure it's the worst you guys don't ever come here our listeners are gonna to flood to Salt Lake City now. A second exodus to Salt Lake City. You'd be surprised. That's actually happening. That's a story for another time. So why did you guys leave
Starting point is 00:50:34 the Mormon church? You just decided, fuck it. This doesn't seem real? What was that process like? Well, Frank has a better story than I do. Well, then I want to hear yours. Yeah, I served at LDS Mission. i went to to italy uh for two years and um yeah so i i had you know a lot of different experiences you know preaching the gospel uh to uh to the folks there didn't uh you know didn't have a lot of success with that. As you can, I'm sure you can imagine. Strangely, uh, really in Italy,
Starting point is 00:51:05 people in Rome don't take to Mormonism. It's weird. Yeah. They've got their minds. We've got this base covered. Yeah. They have more religion than they know what to do with there. Um,
Starting point is 00:51:16 they just tell, you know, very, very, very, uh, very vigorously with their hands. They're like,
Starting point is 00:51:21 no, forget about it. Um, but no, I had a number like, no, hey, forget about it. But no, I had a number of little run-ins with people who really challenged my worldview and kind of rocked me to the core a little bit. But then after my mission, I went to BYU, Brigham Young University, LDS University down in Provo. And yeah, it didn't sit well with me at all well i was taking religion classes because you're required to do that and it just wasn't it wasn't working i was seeing a new side of mormonism that i hadn't really encountered before and ultimately
Starting point is 00:52:00 one one night i just was laying in bed i was like well i don't think i really believe this whole book of mormon thing and i don't believe in joseph was like, well, I don't think I really believe this whole Book of Mormon thing. And I don't believe in Joseph Smith. So I can't believe in Mormonism. And well, do I still believe in God? Probably not. And that was it. Like, it was just this quick unraveling.
Starting point is 00:52:16 But it can't have helped that you were more interested in the other men at BYU than the co-eds. Oh, those men down there. There's something else. They're all so sexually frustrated. They just run and run and go to the gym, and it's like the most amazing thing ever. Now, the Mormons have been, there's no secret that they backed some legislation and things. They were pretty anti-gay for a long time yeah and i know that they recently at least on their face changed their stance i don't know how much of that is lip service
Starting point is 00:52:52 or not lip service i guess the only the only way that they changed their stance was that they're like well if you got like if the government see that what you need to understand is that like especially here in utah mormonism can like the if the church tells the legislature to do something they do yeah so what the what the mormon church said was it's okay if you like allow gay allow for protections for gay people so that they can't get fired just for being gay right like that was their being gay that was their big like thing but it's not like they they're not cool with gay people no like you can't be so they didn't they didn't reverse their stance like the you know like the color of your skin is you know how sullied you are how close to fucking ham time or whatever
Starting point is 00:53:42 that fucking nonsense is right no it's it's it that's still that's still 10 to 15 years off they will do it because as soon as they start to feel how unpopular they're getting they'll definitely like suddenly there'll be a revelation from jesus that just says oh no we're suddenly totally cool with the queers what are you talking about we were we were never mad at you guys. Come on! I love that they can get messages from God. That is the best. Oh, yeah. That's one of the major innovations in Mormonism,
Starting point is 00:54:15 is that they can get direct messages from God that no one in the church is allowed to question. That is actually the smartest built-in feature, the this-just-in feature. Extra, extra, read all about it. Prophet says tithing is down, so here's our new decision. Yeah, exactly. Right? Breaking news. Because that church seems to be all about the fucking money.
Starting point is 00:54:37 Yeah. Well. That church seems to be a significantly, I mean, not that many of them are not. Yeah. But, like, theon church does money right like it is aggressive from what i'm to understand about its tithing oh yeah you literally they have so many systems in place to make sure that you pay a full 10 of your gross income like they are not fucking around you have to sit down you have to sit down in front of your bishop every week
Starting point is 00:55:06 every year and look him in the eye and he says hey did you pay a full tithe and if you say if you say yes like if you don't say yes shit comes down on you yeah you're i would just one of the best mechanisms that they have is is actually the temple and the temple marriage, right? So you have like a set of parents, right? They want to be able to attend their child's wedding, right? And there's all this pressure. You get married in the temple. You get married in the temple. If you're not a full tithe payer, you can't go to the temple.
Starting point is 00:55:38 So they keep families out from the marriage services. But not only that. So like if you can't if you don't pay your full tide you can't go to the temple well as soon as somebody gets married in your family even if it's not your kid if you say oh i can't go to the ceremony everybody in your family knows you haven't been paying the full tide yeah it's big it's this huge tattletale sort of thing and they've got it all built in they got it locked and loaded and loaded. Well, there are other reasons why you might not. You might have slept around or something. There's all sorts of reasons why you maybe aren't there.
Starting point is 00:56:11 But none of them are good. It's not like I don't have the right shoes or something. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's not like your pants are pleated you can't play. Exactly. You're terrible. Is there a carve-out if you're a poor mormon where you're just like but i need that money for food no they got that handled too because what they
Starting point is 00:56:30 because the mormon mormonism actually has a really uh aggressive uh uh what welfare system so if you're poor you're expected to pay a full tithe but then you can go to the bishop and just say i can't afford x y and z and like they'll pay for first they'll give you food but if things go go really pear-shaped for you know a couple months i you know i used to work in the cell phone industry and people would come in and pay their cell phone bill uh with a church check so really so like they they got you covered to some extent on that as long as you're paying that 10 so you're making next to nothing you're living under the poverty or you're making under the poverty line right yeah now you're 10 but they then they just shower you with you know
Starting point is 00:57:17 so they're cool that way and whatnot they're money they're very pragmatic at least it's not that awful like you know like the the televangelists with their prosperity gospel and, you know, if you pay me, you'll get rich sort of thing. They're not like that at all. They're just like, if you pay me, we'll get rich. That's basically it. And if you don't pay me, I'm making sure everybody in the ward knows that you're awful. Don't pay me. I'm making sure everybody in the ward knows that you're awful.
Starting point is 00:57:55 It's still, though, like I understand what you're getting at, though, and the social pressures there, that's a real devious way to get people to, you know, under your control. To do a voluntary thing. Yeah, exactly. It's supposed to be voluntary. Right. the idea that you know while you're poor you still have to tithe 10 but we'll be able to like pay your cell phone bill if you fall behind on it you know that almost feels like it feels like the nicest mob in the world yeah right you know it's totally the mob you have no idea like this is we are talking about a mafia here if you go you know if you need a plumber they got a guy you know if you need it doesn't matter like anything you need well no you come to me. Don't go outside the church. You can come to me.
Starting point is 00:58:26 I'll find you somebody. So you guys mentioned earlier that you've had some interesting guests on, um, for people that are, that are going to come over to your show. Tell me a couple of episodes where you've had some guests on that you thought were particularly interesting. You know, when we had, when we had Pete Bogosian on, that was actually a really, a really interesting chat. Uh, his book, Emmanuel for creating atheists. When we had Pete Bogosian on, that was actually a really interesting chat.
Starting point is 00:58:49 His book, A Manual for Creating Atheists, we had gotten in trouble because a couple weeks before that, we had sort of... Because we are... We're sort of... I guess our reputation is that we tend to be nice guys. Like, we're pretty... We're not... We don't scathe the way certain other podcasters do. Which is totally cool like we're
Starting point is 00:59:05 down with noah and everything but that's just not our name so uh so we we kind of went after the book based on an article that we read about peter bogosian's book so then a bunch of people came down on us and we were like well okay let's have him on the show and it was it turned out to be a really cool conversation. Yeah. So that was a good one. That was a good one. I always liked your Bishop of London. That was an interesting one. I actually interviewed the guy who's the third in succession from the top of the Anglican Church, of the Church of England.
Starting point is 00:59:42 So when I was in London, I actually got to interview the Bishop of London. So that was a really interesting interview. The church nobody in England really belongs to. I mean, they belong by default. Yeah, they all belong to it. They just don't care about it. So guys, if people were going to find your show, where would they look?
Starting point is 01:00:00 Oh, you know, so you could go to thankgodimatheist.com and it's there. But, you know, on your iTuneses and your Stitchgodimatheist.com and uh it's there but you know on your ituneses and your stitcherses and your all of the all of wherever you go to find your content wherever fine podcasters sold right exactly check your local listings guys thanks for joining us it was awesome hey thanks so much, guys. We really appreciate it. Well, that's going to wrap it up for a short show this week. We'll be back on Monday with a full show.
Starting point is 01:00:36 We want to thank Dan and Frank from Thank God I'm Atheist. Let's thank God I am an atheist. For stopping by. We appreciate them coming by. If you want to check out their podcast, you can go to thankgodimatheist.com. That's thankgodimatheist. I will post that on this week's show notes. If you want to check out their show, they were a blast to have on. They were a lot of fun.
Starting point is 01:00:53 We should be appearing on their 200th episode. They interviewed us very quickly, and we had a lot of fun on their show. So if you want to check out that, we'll have a link when it posts. It may post by the time this show comes out so it may be on these show notes if not it will be on episode 250 of our show we will list our appearance on theirs uh but i think that's gonna wrap it up for this time uh we'll catch you on monday and we're gonna leave you like we always do, with the Skeptic's Creed. Credulity is not a virtue. It's fortune cookie cutter, mommy issue, hypno-Babylon bullshit.
Starting point is 01:01:31 Couched in scientician, double bubble, toil and trouble, pseudo-quasi-alternative, acupunctuating, pressurized, stereogram, pyramidal, free energy, healing, water downward spiral, brain dead pan sales pitch late night info docutainment leo pisces cancer cures detox reflex foot massage death and towers tarot cards psychic healing crystal balls bigfoot yeti aliens churches mosques and synagogues temples dragons giant worms atlantis dolphins truthersers Birthers, witches, wizards Vaccine nuts Shaman healers, evangelists
Starting point is 01:02:09 Conspiracy, doublespeak, stigmata Nonsense Expose your sides Thrust your hands Bloody, evidential Conclusive Doubt even this. Council. so you know mom passes away and i get back to work and there's tons of cards in my mailbox so people at work i work at a big place where people send – I know dozens of people.
Starting point is 01:03:27 You know what I mean? Sure. I might even know hundreds of people where I work. And so I got maybe two dozen cards. That's actually quite nice. And people sending me messages. Yeah. And I got a handwritten note from a priest that I had as a teacher in my undergrad.
Starting point is 01:03:46 Really? So he sent me a handwritten note that said, just so you know, I know when a man loses his mother, it's a very big deal. It's a very difficult time. And, you know, my thoughts are with you. That's kind. And it was a really kind, really great message. But I got a lot of messages both on Facebook and off and in these cards.
Starting point is 01:04:11 Sure. It was like, I'll pray for you. You're in my prayers. You're in my thoughts and prayers. Yeah. And I've always seen people get really bent out of shape by that. That they've sort of – they look at that and they say you know what you know i've seen people i've seen comments and yeah right that sort of it's it's that sort of like push
Starting point is 01:04:30 back against that like don't pray for me kind of thing sure and uh i didn't feel anything but thankful that they said that i never felt like it was an imposition or that I needed to care how they spent their time. You know what I mean? I never felt like I was being insulted when they said they would keep me in their prayers, that they were doing nothing. Because the people who said that they would keep me in their thoughts are doing the exact same thing that the people who are doing their prayers. They're doing the same thing. Both of them are effectively nothing. But at least they're doing – they're still thinking – what they're saying is that your distress will be on my mind.
Starting point is 01:05:14 Yeah, right. Your hurt will be on my mind. And I got another message from someone that said at this particular mass coming up and it didn't give a date which was weird we'll be praying for your mother's soul and they listed my mother's name we'll be praying for her soul and the first my first reaction was well don't expect me to come like i'm not gonna go super busy not going to totally. Totally not going to go. Yeah. But again, I don't care that they do it.
Starting point is 01:05:48 And then part of me, there was part of me said, well, what happened if I would have died? Like, let's say I was going down the road and I fucking hit a car and fucking died. There's part of me that would say, don't do that for me. You know, respect my beliefs enough now so that when i'm dead you shouldn't do that to me and then i thought about it for 20 more seconds and thought i won't care right because i'll be really dead at that time so i won't care yeah so who cares whether or not someone prays for my soul after i die who gives a shit yeah you know i mean, I mean, I've always felt, I mean, it's not an original thought or saying. Like, you know, a funeral or whatever, it's for the living.
Starting point is 01:06:31 It's not for the dead. Yeah, sure. Right. So it almost is tangential to the deceased. In fact, it is tangential. Absolutely. The tangent is the folks that are living. Sure.
Starting point is 01:06:42 Like, we're holding a funeral so we can do a thing that gives us closure. Yeah. If the thing that gives us closure involves some rite or ritual of religious significance for the living, then I mean I'm kind of right there with you. Yeah. would i want were i to give were i the kind of person who would plan their own funeral which feels weird and kind of like narcissistic to me yeah to think about sure i wouldn't do it um but if i were going to plan my own funeral would i plan a real of course i would not plan a religious ceremony but you know thinking about that maybe that would be a little mean to not plan a religious ceremony if my family were religious now they don't happen to be religious but
Starting point is 01:07:29 um you know i like the i'll pray for you thing that always struck me like somebody's going like someone's spending time on me yeah like they're spending their time sure that they don't have to spend thinking about me. And, you know, it's just nice. Yeah. It's. And I feel like I've read the pushback. You know, there's a ton of, you know, whether they're memes or they're, you know, screenshots of Facebook conversations or whatever it is. And, you know, what I noticed when I because I posted a very short eulogy after my mom died on Facebook.
Starting point is 01:08:07 I posted a very short eulogy, something very quick and just said – and I think I posted a song for her. I posted a very short message and then a song and said like goodbye mom or something. And I noticed all these people were saying, I'm really sorry. I'm really sorry. And there was a bunch of people. The people who don't know me said, I'll pray for you. The people who I don't know and haven't known for years or fucking went to high school with or whatever, those are the I'll pray for you people. The people close to me,
Starting point is 01:08:36 the people who know me, none of them said that. Not a single one. Even if they were religious, they didn't say that because they knew that that wasn't a thing to me so all it does is show me you know while some people you know maybe just writing this just to sort of you know as a cathartic thing on their own you know getting through their own grief right you write a little card out because you still are dwelling on your own passings and things for sure yeah other people you know because i i got some cards from people that clearly are religious and they didn't say anything about prayers. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:09:08 They're just telling you what a lot of times just telling you they're writing down the thing they think you want to hear to make you feel bad. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I do think sometimes some families are like crazy religious families and they'll use funerals as an excuse to proselytize. Sure. Sure. That's an A. I think that's an atypical experience. But when that happens, I think that's ugly as fuck. Crazy religious families and they'll use funerals as an excuse to proselytize. Sure, sure. That's an – I think that's an atypical experience. But when that happens, I think that's ugly as fuck.
Starting point is 01:09:29 I do too. Absolutely. And I would have pushback if somebody were to – if somebody were to go farther than I'll pray for you and instead post something about, oh, well, don't worry. Your mom's with God sitting hand in hand with God in some place. I may react to that. I may react to something like that and say, well, look, that's not my belief. I think my mom's gone forever. I don't think my mom's coming back.
Starting point is 01:09:53 And for you to animate my mom in your little fucking fantasy is kind of offensive. I might go there. You know what I mean? But the innocuous, I'm not going to touch that. I'm just going to say you're in my prayers. Right. That doesn't bother me. Yeah. I think I think that's like that's like if someone says Merry Christmas. You know what I mean? Like got a smile. They're expressing. It's a gin. At this point, it's honestly become kind of a culturally generic well-wishing. Right? It's like you sneeze, someone says bless you. Exactly. It doesn't mean anything to me.
Starting point is 01:10:30 It doesn't. I am never going to be offended when somebody's like, I wish you well. I'll be like, fuck you. I hate you. I'll fucking stab your children. Don't you bless me, motherfucker. Shirts off now. Sons out, guns out, motherfucker.
Starting point is 01:10:45 Like, what is happening?

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