Flemming: Duh ah, boy, you sure threatened much by my movie. I guess we're getting to [you].
Sheila: Now dear, if you're going to throw excrement against a fan, you'd better be sure it's not one of those little portable fans that can be turned around and blown back on YOU. You see, by that strain, your entire production of that movie means that Christianity was "getting to" YOU. And in fact, your reply to ME says that what I said "got to" you.
You're embodying that old "fundy atheist" paradox again: "You think if a Christian won't address your arguments, they are too frightened to do so, or know they can't answer them; but if they do address your arguments, you think it is because they are 'threatened' by them." No, dear -- it's not that we're threatened by you. It's that we happen to enjoy public humiliation of arrogant little insects. Okay, sweetie?
Flemming: DOH! Well, I say that the lessons Christ's followers taught us from what ya said was, 1) Mislead your readers and 2) If your case is weak, back it up with violence.
Sheila: I'd like to see how you back up 1). As for 2), that's a rather funny complaint from a guy who titled his campaign the "WAR on Easter," and also uses advertisements of a cute little bunny in the crosshairs of a rifle sight. But really, dear, it must be you who has serious problems distinguishing fantasy from reality. When you were a child, did you think Wile E. Coyote was doing instructional videos on how to catch a roadrunner? Really, now.
Flemming: Duh ah....well, you're bein' dishonest! The Orpheus icon that the cartoon focuses on is never actually discussed in The God Who Wasn't There. The icon appears for about five seconds as an illustration (along with representations of other ancient gods). No claims are made about the illustration in the movie, with regard to its date or anything else.
Sheila: Now just a moment, dear. Are you saying that media presentation is what this is all about, then? What message is it being silently presented, then?
Flemming: Duh -- what?
Sheila: Sweetie, it's very simple; do try to get it into your thick head, yes? You either think the thing was genuine or a forgery. If you thought it was genuine, then you were wrong; the experts stand against you, and you lose credibility as a researcher. If you knew it was forged, and used it anyway, you lose your credibility, as a liar. Now this business of it appearing for only 5 seconds doesn't mean a thing, dear. If we made a film about your life and flashed a picture by for all of 5 seconds that showed you having lunch with Saddam Hussein, did that make it more or less a claim of truth? What are you saying? That there's a 5 second cutoff before which it is all right to display falsehoods? And this rot about "no claims" -- now dear, we KNOW that thing is on the cover of The Jesus Mysteries. You can't tell me you weren't using it as some sort of verification that Jesus' story was stolen from pagan gods. Now come on, dear. Spell it out. Is it a forgery or not? If you think it isn't, what makes you a better authority?
Flemming: Duh ah, well, by "forgery," apologetics mean the icon was created after Christianity began and not before!
Sheila: No, dear. By "forgery" we mean it is not an authentic artifact, period. You may not realize that even Freke and Gandy, even as they were unaware it was a forgery, dated it to the third century AD. And besides that, the persons who said so were not "apologetics" (I think you mean, apologists?) but German experts on Orpheus. Now do you plan to defend its authenticity against the experts, or not?
Flemming: Duh ah, The Orpheus icon is not anything close to a building block of the argument made in The God Who Wasn't There.
Sheila: My goodness, have you ever got THAT right! It's not anything close at all to that. But it does stand as a splendid example of how appalling your scholarship is, and how willing you are to use deceptive material.
Flemming: Ha! You wouldn't know that from reading the cartoon, would you? I mean that it wasn't a building block?
Sheila: We never said it was, sweetie. We just said you used it. And you did, didn't you? Case closed. We also wouldn't know from the movie that the thing had been declared a forgery by German experts.
Flemming: Duh.
Sheila: Now last, dear, let me set you straight on some things. First of all, it is NOT my strategy to discourage Christians from watching it at all. I actually have in mind those who watch your silly little film will take what I say in hand as a study guide after having seen it, and make notes. And may I remind you that that's another excrement-coated fan that can be turned back on you just as easily.
Flemming: Duh.
Sheila:Second, it's pretty presumptuous of you in the first place to even think your film is credible enough to deserve an audience. But I really do want people to see it. It's fun to be able to humiliate you publicly. That's why we'll be going over your errors in fine detail over the next few weeks (dare we say, a "War on Error"?).
Flemming: Duh.
Sheila:Now before I leave, some of your, erm, "fans" had some comments too. Let's see...
eddie: Well Brian at least your [sic] real. That's all they have to throw at people is fairy tales.
Sheila: Hmm, your fans could use some lessons in the use of the apostrophe. But I must say, that was indeed a thorough answer on the issue of the icon. Next?
M: So, it is a christian cartoon where the bunny has a very low cut shirt on? They trying to sell a porno or christ. [sic]
Sheila: I can see you have the top literacy sorts in your fan base there, Brian. Anyway, this sounds like someone who hasn't been out on a date in a while.
Factman: I gotta say this was a good idea except that fighting religion is like trying to argue with an idiot, They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience. Blah blah blah
Sheila: Nothing about me or the icon in that either. I left a question on the blog about it. Wonder if anyone will answer it? Oh well.
Ridicule is a potent weapon. -- Sam Harris. Go to the introduction page.