Penn & Teller: The Vatican

  • Thread starter Thread starter ultramarine
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
U

ultramarine

Guest
Has anyone seen this? For those who don’t know, Penn and Teller are two atheists who have a series on Showtime that tries to debunk certain beliefs, philosophies, groups, etc. The other night they had a show devoted to the Vatican. It is available for viewing here if you wish to watch it. Please be aware that the show contains coarse language. Bill Donahue has issued a response regarding this show, but I would also be interested in reading other Catholic responses. Thank you.
 
And this kind of thing airs at prime time on CBS? Let’s see. They had the guy from “Catholics for a free choice”, they had some ex priest who’s now a lawyer specializing in suing the Vatican, they had the head of the British Secular Society, they had Robert Blair Kaiser the former Jesuit who’s now working to create a schism in the American Church through his American Catholic Council. Gee, were Ian Paisley and Jimmy Swaggart busy that day? The crazy thing about this is that Penn and Teller have a massive fan base who’ll believe everything they say as gospel and won’t bother to check if any of their facts were correct or distorted. It’s quite disgusting how they set themselves up as some kind of moral authority without offering the Church any chance to rebut their mostly misinformed or purposely misleading rant. What can a show like that accomplish? If they have problems with the Church they could lay them out in a constructive way, instead of taking the low road. It seems like all this show is intended to do is to stir up hatred for the Church, and it will definitely accomplish that.
 
MarcoPolo said:
Al Kresta also wrote about this in his blog.
Click to expand...
I love this line from Kresta:

“…a mark of intellectual maturity is the ability to represent one’s opponent’s position in a way that your opponent would recognize as fair and accurate.”

I should add that to my signature. 🙂
 
I guess it was to be expected that Jillette would harp on the condom issue, but the criticism is so inconsistent. They claim the Church is sentencing millions of people to death because it won’t let them have condoms, but if they’re such good Catholics, how are they catching AIDS in the first place? I understand the argument that husbands often go out and catch it and then bring it home to their wives, but if that’s the case then they have a much bigger problem than a few rubbers can fix. Ask yourself, if you knew you were HIV positive, do you think it would be right to have sex with your husband or wife even with a condom?
 
**As usual, lies, distortions, superstitions and half truths.

All from the “brilliant, enlightened” people who are supposed to believe only in “science and facts”, not superstitions!
**
They do their “act” in Las Vegas, the center of morality in the Universe, so they should know.

When the Pope spoke out about Aids increasing in all African countries that support condom use, he was factually correct. Dr. Edward C. Green (a non-Catholic liberal) of the Harvard Aids Prevention Research Project, in his article; “Was the Pope wrong?”, confirms that all data collected from governments agencies supports the Church’s teachings.

Why would a Las Vegas magician entertainer want to listen to facts?

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!

mark
 
Joe_5859 said:
I love this line from Kresta:

“…a mark of intellectual maturity is the ability to represent one’s opponent’s position in a way that your opponent would recognize as fair and accurate.”

I should add that to my signature. 🙂
Click to expand...
He says that line regularly when encountering this kind of stuff. 🙂 He is perhaps my most favorite listened to podcast right now. It’s really a great show, and he talks about stuff you can never hear anywhere else. 🙂
 
MarcoPolo said:
He says that line regularly when encountering this kind of stuff. 🙂 He is perhaps my most favorite listened to podcast right now. It’s really a great show, and he talks about stuff you can never hear anywhere else. 🙂
Click to expand...
I’m intrigued. I will have to give him a listen.
 
I’m trying to find out what they said. Nobody has a summary on the internet, and the videos keep getting pulled.
 
I am trying to figure out who in the world listens to these goofballs. I think that they are a disgrace to atheist around the world and just a plan out embarrassment to the media world. I know many atheist who would not even dream of acting like such fools as these two do.
 
st_lucy said:
I am trying to figure out who in the world listens to these goofballs. I think that they are a disgrace to atheist around the world and just a plan out embarrassment to the media world. I know many atheist who would not even dream of acting like such fools as these two do.
Click to expand...
I never even knew Penn and Teller were atheists until today. I just thought they were somewhat entertaining magicians. 🤷 I suppose the illusion is gone now (no pun intended…okay, maybe the pun was intended :)).
 
SaintNobody said:
I’m trying to find out what they said. Nobody has a summary on the internet, and the videos keep getting pulled.
Click to expand...
It’s on youtube if you care to search. Just look for Penn and Teller Vatican and it’ll pop up. That’s where I watched it at least.
 
There is no surprise here. Comedy is dead. If I were starting a Ministry of Propaganda in the United States, I would get comedians, because, apparently, they no longer do comedy. Here is what they do or have done recently.

Whoopi Goldberg decided to play amateur Bible scholar to teach her audience about Leviticus.

The late George Carlin made it a point to say he was Catholic until he reached “the age of reason.” He also said, "First of all, there is no ‘up there.’ " Then he complained about people praying for help to their dead relatives, hoping that through their prayers to God, they would be helped. “I know because I grew up with that ****!”

Lewis Black. Another guy who tries to make a few comments about the Bible and so on.

I am unaware of mainstream comedians who do not go on and on about graphic and perverted sex, endorsing various things that are against Church teaching and generally encouraging people to act badly, with the possible exception of Jeff Foxworthy.

It’s not entertainment if all they’re talking about is sex, sleaze and immoral behavior.

Peace,
Ed
 
edwest2 said:
There is no surprise here. Comedy is dead. If I were starting a Ministry of Propaganda in the United States, I would get comedians, because, apparently, they no longer do comedy. Here is what they do or have done recently.

Whoopi Goldberg decided to play amateur Bible scholar to teach her audience about Leviticus.

The late George Carlin made it a point to say he was Catholic until he reached “the age of reason.” He also said, "First of all, there is no ‘up there.’ " Then he complained about people praying for help to their dead relatives, hoping that through their prayers to God, they would be helped. “I know because I grew up with that ****!”

Lewis Black. Another guy who tries to make a few comments about the Bible and so on.

I am unaware of mainstream comedians who do not go on and on about graphic and perverted sex, endorsing various things that are against Church teaching and generally encouraging people to act badly, with the possible exception of Jeff Foxworthy.

It’s not entertainment if all they’re talking about is sex, sleaze and immoral behavior.

Peace,
Ed
Click to expand...
What about my favorite Bill Cosby, he is a great comedian.👍
 
edwest2 said:
There is no surprise here. Comedy is dead. If I were starting a Ministry of Propaganda in the United States, I would get comedians, because, apparently, they no longer do comedy. Here is what they do or have done recently.

Whoopi Goldberg decided to play amateur Bible scholar to teach her audience about Leviticus.

The late George Carlin made it a point to say he was Catholic until he reached “the age of reason.” He also said, "First of all, there is no ‘up there.’ " Then he complained about people praying for help to their dead relatives, hoping that through their prayers to God, they would be helped. “I know because I grew up with that ****!”

Lewis Black. Another guy who tries to make a few comments about the Bible and so on.

I am unaware of mainstream comedians who do not go on and on about graphic and perverted sex, endorsing various things that are against Church teaching and generally encouraging people to act badly, with the possible exception of Jeff Foxworthy.

It’s not entertainment if all they’re talking about is sex, sleaze and immoral behavior.
Peace,
Ed
Click to expand...
You get the award for the best post on this thread.
As I type I am looking at my bookcase filled with my DVD collection. And in the comedy category I notice an amazing thing. I have plenty of Britcoms. American comedies slow down considerably from the seventies to only one or two from the nineties. I have nothing from 2000 on.
Does that tell you of my opinion of the sad state of what they call humor today?

You know, another thought.
I notice as a society becomes more ‘politically correct’ the first thing that suffers is humor.
Example, name me one great comediene to come out of Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia.

Dang, them crickets are loud.
 
I have mixed feelings about how to react to this.

One side of me wants to be outraged, and to take action to make it stop.

Another side of me wants to completely ignore it, knowing that the only people attracted to this kind of hatred are haters themselves. No reason to publicize this for them - it will just attract more haters.

Thoughts?
 
paul_c said:
I have mixed feelings about how to react to this.

One side of me wants to be outraged, and to take action to make it stop.

Another side of me wants to completely ignore it, knowing that the only people attracted to this kind of hatred are haters themselves. No reason to publicize this for them - it will just attract more haters.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
If it was done on a network, like CBS, which I understand that it was, well then yes by all means make a stink. The FCC is supposed to have rules.
If it was part of thier act in Vegas they perform for the 20 people who show up…well let them enjoy the sewage they obviously live in.
 
st_lucy said:
What about my favorite Bill Cosby, he is a great comedian.👍
Click to expand...
I had all of Bill’s comedy albums growing up. I used to quote parts of them to my friends. Bill doesn’t do much comedy anymore but apparently, he grew up just like I did. His neighbors behaved like real people. “My mother usually knew everything I had done on the way home from school before I got home.” He was talking about misbehaving.

You should get his latest book, Come on People!. He has been on TV making it very clear that kids today cannot speak proper English. He challenges parents about why their children are carrying guns and not being fathers to the babies of young women they got pregnant. Asking why they drop out and sell dope. Why education is a dirty word.

I am seeing more and more anti-Catholic marketing from comedians.

Peace,
Ed
 
Why aren’t there any Catholic comedians?

I’ve sometimes harboured a desire to do stand up comedy. I look at my life as a mother of three children (two of them autistic), and I think there is fertile ground for humour.

Problem is: my husband wouldn’t want me to gossip about us 😃

Also: who would be my audience?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top