Far be it from me to judge the Jedi Church or their Force loving ways. As a matter of fact, I’d invite them in for a good long chat and maybe some lunch if they’d door to door like the JW folks. I bet they wouldn’t even call me the devil.

But, I still can’t help laughing at the symbolism of someone dressing up as Darth Vader and attacking Jedi Church members. To them, that must be like someone dressing up as a Nazi and attacking a jewish get together. Or the anti-christ attacking a tent revival. And while the first of those might not be funny, the second would be hilarious and almost as funny as being a Jedi Church member and getting your ass kicked by Vader.

What Would Matt Do: I’d try to keep a straight face if a Jedi Church member told me this…and most likely fail.

And this reminds me of it:

Wow. Just when you think Republicans can’t get any crazier, we find out that the powerful chairman of the Texas House Appropriations Committee, Warren Chisum, doesn’t even believe that the earth revolves around the sun.

Sure, that’s not the absolute craziest thing you can believe (thought it must be close), but the reasoning behind it, the Bible says otherwise, is so funny I can barely contain myself. Think what you will of the Bible, be it the gospel to you, or a book of lessons, or just junk, do me a favor…don’t try to use it prove that science is lying to you. It just makes me giggle.

From the site Mr. Chisum was pushing:

The solar eclipse tableau involving the sun, moon, and earth reveals a truly amazing fact about the universal acceptance of the Copernican Heliocentric Model of a rotating earth orbiting a stationary sun. That amazing fact is this: The Eclipse Tableau exposes as no other illustration does the bald truth that the Helio Model is built purely on assumptions that deny all observational and experimental evidence.

Notice these seven assumptions which are indispensable to the Helio Model in general and are so apparent in the Solar Eclipse Phenomena.

1) It must be assumed that the Sun is stationary in the “solar” system relevant to the Earth (and to the Moon) and that it has never traveled East to West daily across the sky as observed by everyone on Earth throughout all history.

That’s just the first “assumption” that science makes that any fool can observe must be false by watching the sky. Just like at night when you’re driving and you see the moon moving behind the trees…it really is following you.

What Would Matt Do: I can’t but wonder what the fuck is wrong with Texans. Presumably this guy got voted into office, right?

I know that most people aren't this intolerant, at least the people I've been around, but it still makes me deeply sad to see anyone being like this.

"There are a lot of things I have concluded to be wrong, without studying them in-depth. Evolution is one of them. The fact that I don't know that much about it does not bother me in the least."

That quote has to be most awesome quote I've ever heard to describe the average internet poster. Perfect. It's definitely some of the nicer stuff on that page.

It's disturbing to think that anyone thinks that way, much less that lots of people do. But I take solace in that that level of ignorance can't possibly be the norm…can it? I grew up in a household that believed in god, but didn't have a particular religion. On my mom's side we went to church and my grandpa was a respected minister for most of his life. But his church, or any other church I went, didn't preach hatred and killing. They preached acceptance and patience. They preached learning to get along and see the good in life and people. They preached the Serenity Prayer, basically.

As I got older, I realized that not all religion was like that. And that even though I didn't really get into the religion I had grown up with, it was perfectly all right. As a friend put it, in my household "ignorance was worse than anything else."  That's what really bothers me about all of those posts, or most of them anyway. They seem pretty content to be ignorant. They aren't looking for answers, the answers have already been provided to them so they don't have to look.

That's the sad part. If you've stopped questioning life, religion, god, the universe, etc…well, I feel for you. That's what life is all about, in my mind, questioning things, finding what works for you, using it and continuing to question it. If you can't ask questions, if you can't put forth different hypothesis, if you can't wonder about other ways, consider things from all angles, what the fuck is the point of it all?

Life isn't about looking for The Answer™. It's about looking. The doing. The continuing. I'm of the opinion if you decide you've figured it all out and have given up on questioning things, you've already failed. To bastardize an old phrase, if I claim to be a wise man, turn and run away.

What Would Matt Do: I don't know. Do the best I can by me and mine. Help those who ask for it and make fun of everyone. Even me. Well, maybe not that last part. I'm pretty damn cool and all.