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CBS's new show "Friended by God"

Started by Sandra Craft, September 11, 2018, 12:15:13 AM

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Sandra Craft

Hemant Mehta has reviewed the first episode (in which an atheist college student is sent a friend request on Facebook by God) in case we were undecided about watching it ourselves:  Friended by God review.  This is Mehta's main problem with the plot:

QuoteAt one point, Miles Finer (played by Brandon Micheal Hall) is asked why he's an atheist.

His response is straight out of Christian Apologetics 101.

"When I was eight, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. And the doctor said she had six months to live. And so I prayed for a miracle, and then it happened! She went [into] full remission. The doctors couldn't even explain it... [But] on the way home from the hospital, she died in a car accident... I tried to make sense of it, and the only way I could was that there was no God. Because if there was, that means that He is cruel, and I don't want to live in a world governed by someone like that."

In short, he's an atheist because he went through something traumatic.

We don't get many atheist characters on American TV, but when we do and it's stated why they're atheists it's always some version of "god let me down".  I remember my surprise when the main character of Joss Whedon's "Firefly" was revealed to have switched from theist to atheist because of his disappointment at being on the losing side of a war.  My surprise was mostly because I had read that Whedon was an atheist himself and I would have expected a more substantial and realistic reason for a character's atheism than the hackneyed "god let me down".  When I thought about it, tho, I realized that Whedon was writing for a largely Xtian audience in a country where atheism, while not illegal, was deeply unpopular and he needed his main character to be sympathetic. 

"God let me down" as a reason for atheism probably is the most easily understood and relateable one for a Xtian.  Still, to me as an atheist, it's lazy and wimpy writing. 

Sandy

  

"Life is short, and it is up to you to make it sweet."  Sarah Louise Delany

No one


Sandra Craft

Quote from: No one on September 11, 2018, 01:03:11 AM
Note to self: Don't use faceplace.

Funnily enough, there is someone on FB that goes by God, and he's an atheist.
Sandy

  

"Life is short, and it is up to you to make it sweet."  Sarah Louise Delany

Bluenose

To be honest I have always considered anyone who holds the "god let me down" position to not really be an atheist.  You have to think a deity exists to be able to think it let you down.   I have never actually met an atheist that has said this and I'm not sure that it's a very common position, despite what xtian apologists might think.  Much more common in my expeirence is something along the lines of "I realised it was all bullshit".
+++ Divide by cucumber error: please reinstall universe and reboot.  +++

GNU Terry Pratchett


No one

"God let me down" is the diplomatic translation of "I realized it was all bulshit" so the thinned skinned needn't worry about getting their oh-so delicates in a twist.

Dave

I think the "god let me down" syndrome is the only 'acceptable' reason for atheism to a theist - a person themselves ruled more by their 'heart' than their 'head' can understand, an emotional responce rather than one based on intellect, rationality and logic.

Even if a person denies god due to abuse, say, with subsequent denial or cover-up by the church authorities, that is not really a rational reason, it ignores the variations of purely human nature - the genuinely 'good' people who do believe in a deity. I have met those who have eschewed formal, organised religion for a personal principle of 'goodness' due to an influence that they beleive lies outside of themselves, because human nature is flawed (which it is) and requires an external 'discipline' to guide it. Having been ''let down' by flawed human priests, or pastors, they have - probably - actually found that internal discipline they deny.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

xSilverPhinx

Quote from: Bluenose on September 11, 2018, 02:00:58 AM
...You have to think a deity exists to be able to think it let you down....

Yes! How does that even work? Something that doesn't exist can't let anyone down.  ::)

I can see how a disillusioned believer might feel that way, but an atheist.
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Icarus

The writers will not dare let the atheist character remain a non believer.  The character will have to find Jesus pretty early in the series or all the sponsors will be obliged to bail. 

Bluenose

Quote from: Icarus on September 12, 2018, 01:45:46 AM
The writers will not dare let the atheist character remain a non believer.  The character will have to find Jesus pretty early in the series or all the sponsors will be obliged to bail.

As a non-USA observer of American culture, this is one of the things that never ceases to amaze me.  The hold on public discourse held by what seems to me to be a very small minority of very loud players.  I see it with this sort of thing and with American politics.  From this side of the Pacific pond it looks like a small band of angry (mostly) men seem to hold everyone else to ransom.  The same seems to apply to the "taking the knee" thing, abortion and women's rights generally not to mention race relations.  I wonder whether anyone will ever "grow a pair" and call these people's bluff.   If someone did, we might find that the extremists are not so popular as it is usually assumed.
+++ Divide by cucumber error: please reinstall universe and reboot.  +++

GNU Terry Pratchett


Dave

Quote from: Bluenose on September 12, 2018, 07:04:15 AM
Quote from: Icarus on September 12, 2018, 01:45:46 AM
The writers will not dare let the atheist character remain a non believer.  The character will have to find Jesus pretty early in the series or all the sponsors will be obliged to bail.

As a non-USA observer of American culture, this is one of the things that never ceases to amaze me.  The hold on public discourse held by what seems to me to be a very small minority of very loud players.  I see it with this sort of thing and with American politics.  From this side of the Pacific pond it looks like a small band of angry (mostly) men seem to hold everyone else to ransom.  The same seems to apply to the "taking the knee" thing, abortion and women's rights generally not to mention race relations.  I wonder whether anyone will ever "grow a pair" and call these people's bluff.   If someone did, we might find that the extremists are not so popular as it is usually assumed.

Seems like Nike grew a collective pair and the market response is, for the moment, on their side.

If course, they will burn in hell for eternity for desecrating God's Own America.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

No one

Most Americans cry freedom, but forget that it is a 2 way street.

Dave

Quote from: No one on September 12, 2018, 09:46:34 AM
Most Americans cry freedom, but forget that it is a 2 way street.

I think I will have a variation of that on a T-shirt, No-one.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74