• Welcome to the new Internet Infidels Discussion Board, formerly Talk Freethought.

Fundy pastor visits Scandinavia; head explodes

Angry Floof

Angry Floof

Tricksy Leftits
Staff member
Joined
Jul 17, 2008
Messages
15,185
Location
Sector 001
Basic Beliefs
Humanist
American Bible-Thumper Travels To Scandinavia, Freaks Out After Discovering How Secular They Are (VIDEO)


A Georgia-based pastor had his mind blown when he took a recent trip to Scandinavia and discovered, to his horror, that nobody hated gay people or believed God created the Earth in a week.

Pastor Marty McLain, who describes his religious belief as deriving from a literal interpretation of the Bible, was given the opportunity to see how secular Scandinavia is by a documentary series called The Norden. The concept is simple: find narrow-minded Americans and throw them into countries like Norway, Sweden and Denmark and watch them have panic attacks. It actually sounds like a lot of fun.
Click to expand...
 
Wonder if the programme also picks up on the fact that here most christians, especially young ones, are actually embarassed to proclaim that they are believers.
 
I love how he just assumed that the Danish pastor would be like: "Yeah, we hate gays too! Fuck the government for making us recognize their marriages!"; and how they did the exact opposite of that.
 
His summary of Sweden's belief system at the end:

"To each his own, anything goes -- you know, there is no one solid, fundamental base; it's just kind of, whatever you'd like."

Sounds like a genuinely terrible place to live. So glad I live here in the USA where Christian fundamentalists are trying to force others to live according to the Bible instead.
 
The episode about a US correctional officer visiting Nordic prisons was really interesting too. At one point he's just utterly flabbergasted when he walks into a Norwegian prison's music room and there's a full on recording studio there with a bunch of really expensive looking equipment and instruments. They seem quite similar to what I know from our Dutch prisons. They're even building an entire 'prison village' to replace a bunch of older prisons, the renders of which honestly looks more like a luxury suburb than an actual prison.
 
Wow! Amazing how different countries are like...different.
 
Warpoet said:
His summary of Sweden's belief system at the end:

"To each his own, anything goes -- you know, there is no one solid, fundamental base; it's just kind of, whatever you'd like."

Sounds like a genuinely terrible place to live. So glad I live here in the USA where Christian fundamentalists are trying to force others to live according to the Bible instead.
Click to expand...
It seems more like; Behave toward others as you'd have them behave toward you; family values on a government scale; everyone helping everyone else to achieve their dreams.
Looks like Christian values to me.:confused2:
 
hylidae said:
American Bible-Thumper Travels To Scandinavia, Freaks Out After Discovering How Secular They Are (VIDEO)


A Georgia-based pastor had his mind blown when he took a recent trip to Scandinavia and discovered, to his horror, that nobody hated gay people or believed God created the Earth in a week.

Pastor Marty McLain, who describes his religious belief as deriving from a literal interpretation of the Bible, was given the opportunity to see how secular Scandinavia is by a documentary series called The Norden. The concept is simple: find narrow-minded Americans and throw them into countries like Norway, Sweden and Denmark and watch them have panic attacks. It actually sounds like a lot of fun.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link

Great show.
 
seyorni said:
Warpoet said:
His summary of Sweden's belief system at the end:

"To each his own, anything goes -- you know, there is no one solid, fundamental base; it's just kind of, whatever you'd like."

Sounds like a genuinely terrible place to live. So glad I live here in the USA where Christian fundamentalists are trying to force others to live according to the Bible instead.
Click to expand...
It seems more like; Behave toward others as you'd have them behave toward you; family values on a government scale; everyone helping everyone else to achieve their dreams.
Looks like Christian values to me.:confused2:
Click to expand...
You left out the need for hate and having enemies, and of course the need to make religion an end unto itself and not a means to something more valuable and productive.
 
Warpoet said:
His summary of Sweden's belief system at the end:

"To each his own, anything goes -- you know, there is no one solid, fundamental base; it's just kind of, whatever you'd like."

Sounds like a genuinely terrible place to live. So glad I live here in the USA where Christian fundamentalists are trying to force others to live according to the Bible instead.
Click to expand...

He sounded shaken to me, though. I think his preconceptions were really challenged and it took considerable mental effort to maintain his illusion. Here he saw a whole nation of people that didn't believe - and although by his reckoning they could do anything they like because anything goes, they weren't raping and pillaging and stealing. There was no god shaped hole in their hearts. They were happy and prosperous and kind. Yet, they're all doomed to hell.

I dunno, perhaps I'm too optimistic, but I swear I could almost see those wheels turning in his head during that last statement. He was repeating it like a mantra, trying to reinforce his own belief because his eyes weren't showing his mind what he expected to see. When I tweeted this a few days ago, I entitled it "A blind man who accuses others of being blind".
 
His informants were overly polite, in my opinion. They could have put him on the defensive by asking how he came to such extraordinary conclusions. They could have asked for evidence.
 
joedad said:
You left out the need for hate and having enemies, and of course the need to make religion an end unto itself and not a means to something more valuable and productive.
Click to expand...

Bolded: a simple yet brilliant summation of what exactly is the problem with religion.
 
hylidae said:
American Bible-Thumper Travels To Scandinavia, Freaks Out After Discovering How Secular They Are (VIDEO)


A Georgia-based pastor had his mind blown when he took a recent trip to Scandinavia and discovered, to his horror, that nobody hated gay people or believed God created the Earth in a week.

Pastor Marty McLain, who describes his religious belief as deriving from a literal interpretation of the Bible, was given the opportunity to see how secular Scandinavia is by a documentary series called The Norden. The concept is simple: find narrow-minded Americans and throw them into countries like Norway, Sweden and Denmark and watch them have panic attacks. It actually sounds like a lot of fun.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Love it!
 
Good point, it does take a lot to maintain the illusion. The church admits this, and that is why you have to pray so many times per day, plus choir practice, prayer night, church socials, movie nights, not talking to non-believers, accepting things on faith, not questioning God's will...and on and on. All important to maintain the delusions.
 
Fascinating how out of touch he is. In Britain that is seen as a symptom of poverty - there are children who have not travelled more than a few hundred yards from their homes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom