Endtimes Techno-Boogie

The predominant message of the Roman Catholic Church is the message of peace. Furthermore, Catholic policy dictates that the pope dress in white. His helicopter, popemobile, and jet airplane are all white. If he had a horse, what color do you suppose it would be?

Disaster is all around us. Burma has sunk, retribution has found the Chinese, and twisters are destroying the midwest. It seems fairly obvious that we have (once again) reached the endtimes. Crazy talk, you say? A lot of people actually believe this sort of thing is likely to happen in their lifetimes.

On the other hand, actual religious authorities are getting more and more tolerant of the broader scientific worldview, and technology is changing the way we construct news and react to disasters. The ‘net, for better or worse, has made religious and scientific discussion endemic – and often interrelated.

It is the perogative of every religious generation to see itself as the one that will usher in the end of days; it’s natural – we all want to be part of something momentous. Now, I don’t see it that way myself, but am I the only one wondering how great hailstones would fare against reactive armor? Well… am I?

The Gospel According To Turok

Do you believe in killing dinosaurs with your bare hands? With a nod of the head to TGoSJ, I wanted to throw some old news up for discussion on 514.

The tremendously slick creation museum in Kentucky is consistently exceeding the lofty attendance goals it set for itself. The comments of religious leaders are seemingly set to play a huge role in the US presidential primaries. A new Turok game came out last month. What do these things have in common? 

Ok. The creation museum is at war with reality. John McCain’s pastor wants war with Islam . Turok is at war with dinosaurs, possibly in space. The creation museum believes men fought with and rode on dinosaurs. McCain wants Americans to return to space. Am I the only one detecting a memetic pattern here?

I know that creationists are basically batshit fucking loco (bias mine), but in a limited sense they are gaining ground; not only is Intelligent Design a hot topic in the US school system, but you can now get an online masters degree in, to cut out the double-speak, creation science. The American religious right may be as powerful now as it ever has been.

On the other hand, popular atheism is on the rise, Richard Dawkins is a best-selling author, and people like John Shelby Spong and the Archbishop of Canterbury are trying to move religion into the new century. We’ve always been good at projecting ourselves into the future tense, so I’d like to know what 514 has to say about this. Apparently the new Turok game makes it easy to love shanking your fellow man… but the dinosaur boss-battles are brutally difficult to resolve. Who said video games aren’t modern morality tales?