Tag Archive

Many religious Americans can simply not look in the mirror.  The deranged reflection looking back is not a palatable imagine.  This Sunday Disservice was started by Mystro with the third video that is going to be posted.  The back story was missing and I decided to see which interview Dr.Winell was referring to during her presentation.  As it turns out, Dr. Winell was interviewed on CNN about the Colorado shootings by Rick Sanchez.  The interview provides back story and generally meanders along.   But all of sudden, the conversation gets very interesting at the 5:00 minute mark when Dr.Winell mentions the secret suffering of people trapped in fundamentalist christian sects.

Rich Sanchez seems to go apoplectic as he begins feverishly defending christianity.

“but you’re not saying we can blame the faith for this…right??”….  @6:20 he begins arguing for incredulity as religion, particularly his religion could not possibly be responsible for such an atrocity.

The good doctor deflects his question pointing to multifaceted nature of situations such as these, and certainly religion was not the prime pathological factor, but one of many in the case.

Watching the hoops Dr.Winell has to jump through not to say the obvious that religious belief and faith in this case was the cause of shooting is impressive.  The implicit taboos about criticizing delusional behaviour are clearly in the foreground during this clip.   It gets even better though as Sanchez, true to his word had Dr.Winell back again, ostensibly with a Pastor this instance (to provide “balance” I imagine) to further discuss the case.

Hilarity ensues:

At 0:40 Sanchez reads a list of what life is sometime like in fundamentalist christian lives, and promptly dismisses it as raving of a mad man.  Journalism is about bringing news to people and helping them learn more about their world, would it not be good journalism to see if Mathew Murray had a point?  Of course not, how could we even think that the doctrine of christianity is delusional and evil…and to look into it on a news show(?), beyond the pale.

@1:40 – Sanchez relates the obvious and then proceeds to cut off Dr.Winell with questions about which christians are the nutjobs, and which are not.  It is obvious he has dismissed the idea that most religious belief is toxic in nature and plays a minor riff on the “No True Scottsman fallacy” with regards to christianity in general.

@6:35 – Sanchez intones – “You’re not religion and christianity are you?”  – What an incredibly dense question, no kidding she is against religion and christianity as a subset thereof, that should be obvious.  What the good doctor has to contend with would be the results of saying yes she was against religion and christianity in a country that is embracing the delusional tenets of christianity with increasing fervour year after year.  The social consequences would be dire for the good doctor if she were to make such a (factually correct) assertion.

This was, in Sanchez’s words an ‘amazing conversation’.  Oh indeed it was amazing; an amazingly frightening portrait of a country that will not critically examine that factors that cause so much harm to its’ people.

And of course the video of Dr.Winell speaking after the interview beginning to describe what RTS is and the effect it has on people.

Perhaps, as the doctor states, if we can label RTS we can get more help for the people trapped in fundamental religious though prisons, so they to can breathe the free air of rationality.