March 2012
49 posts
7 tags
Atheism for Lent: Religion as A/Theism (Peter...
For the final week of the “Atheism for Lent” Course, we will begin to look at the atheist critiques of religion (from Freud, Marx and Nietzsche) in the context of the Lent narrative in which God confesses God’s own atheism. I used some of Pete Rollins’ stuff to create some reading material for the group.
Pete uses a lot of Slavoj Zizek’s work, who in turn likes to...
3 tags
4 tags
Atheism for Lent: Sunday 5 (Ricky Gervais)
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Lie (Ricky Gervais 1)
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Lie (Ricky Gervais 2)
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Lie (Ricky Gervais 3)
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Lie (Ricky Gervais 4)
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Lie (Ricky Gervais 5)
9 tags
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Lie (Ricky Gervais...
The supposition at the heart of Ricky Gervais’ (2009) The Invention of Lying is that religion is so closely linked to story-telling and historical embellishment that it is understood as lying.
From Scepticism to Suspicion
In this film, the distinctions made by Freud, Marx, and Nietzsche in their critiques of religion (see here, here and here for “Atheism for Lent” Course...
12 tags
Advertising in a world without lying (video link) →
Hi, I’m Bob. I’m the spokesperson for the Coca Cola Company. I’m here today to ask you to continue buying Coke. I’m sure if you drink it, you’ve been drinking it for years, and if you still enjoy it, well, I’d like to remind you to buy it again some time soon. It’s basically just brown sugar water. We haven’t changed the ingredients much lately, so there’s nothing new I can tell you about that....
4 tags
4 tags
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Lie (Ricky Gervais...
Ricky Gervais’ (2009) film The Invention of Lying is set in a world where human beings have not evolved the fictional gene that allows them to lie.
Not only can’t they lie – which precludes the possibility of story-telling, mythology and, therefore, religion – but it seems that they have to actively tell the truth, which means that characters air their thoughts without regard for how these...
8 tags
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Lie (Ricky Gervais...
After his “holiday message” in The Wall Street Journal Speakeasy, there was a Q and A with Ricky Gervais, “Does God Exist? Ricky Gervais Takes Your Questions”. It further demonstrates his sceptical atheism, but as the week progresses I’ll also illustrate his hermeneutic of suspicion (see here on scepticism and suspicion).
Question: In your piece you write that,...
4 tags
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Lie (Ricky Gervais...
This Wall Street Journal Speakeasy “holiday message” from Ricky Gervais provides another good introduction to his sceptical atheism, that can frame later discussions of his hermeneutic of suspicion and his critique of religion as a lie:
Why don’t you believe in God? I get that question all the time. I always try to give a sensitive, reasoned answer. This is usually awkward,...
3 tags
3 tags
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Lie (Ricky Gervais...
The next few posts in this Atheism for Lent series will focus on Ricky Gervais, and can act as preparatory material before watching his (2009) film, The Invention of Lying.
It’s better to know the truth… My Mum only lied to me about one thing. She said that there was a God… I wish there was a God. I wish there was. It’d be great. From what I’ve heard, he’s brilliant… But you...
4 tags
Atheism for Lent: Sunday 4 (Derren Brown)
For the 4th Sunday in Lent, a roundup of the previous Atheism for Lent posts on Derren Brown’ critique of religion as trickery. Tomorrow posts start on Ricky Gervais’ critique of religion as a lie!
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Trickery (Derren Brown 1)
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Trickery (Derren Brown 2)
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Trickery (Derren Brown 3)
Atheism for Lent:...
5 tags
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Trickery (Derren...
When I ran this Atheism for Lent with a church group last year, we met up to watch “Messiah”, a documentary made by Derren Brown in 2005, in light of the preparatory reading material I produced (and reproduced here, here, here, and here). The Channel4 blurb for “Messiah” reads,
Derren Brown takes his debunking mission to America. In a country where his mind control skills...
6 tags
6 tags
5 tags
“How can the theological and material unite to fund resistance to capitalist...”
– Creston Davis summarises the ‘revolutionary political problematic’ in his “Introduction: Holy Saturday or Resurrection Sunday? Stages an Unlikely Debate”, The Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic? (MIT Press, 2009), p. 4.
7 tags
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Trickery (Derren...
Discussing Brown’s perspectives on magic (see here, here and here) made me think about Slavoj Zizek’s reflections on Jesus, in The Monstrosity of Christ, where he links the sequence of a magic trick in Christopher Nolan’s (2006) movie The Prestige to the crucifixion.
In The Monstrosity of Christ, Zizek summarises a particular sequence from The Prestige:
…when a magician...
4 tags
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Trickery (Derren...
Yesterday I wrote that Derren Brown suggests that as ‘intelligent human beings we should be prepared to question our beliefs and [to question] the people who encourage us to make life decisions based on the information they give us’ (“Messiah”).
Knowledge about what he calls the ‘false logic’ involved in religious, spiritual, magical, psychical and other...
3 tags
4 tags
Atheism for Lent: Religion as Trickery (Derren...
Derren Brown is a performer who ‘combines magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship in order to seemingly predict and control human behaviour’ (website). Behind his performances lie both an atheistic scepticism and a form of suspicion which ask questions about ‘why we believe things’ (Brown, “Messiah”). His study of religion, psychology, magic,...
