Stephen Colbert - Catholicism vs. the goat paths to nowhere

Excerpts from Stephen Colbert's chapter on Religion from his book "I Am America (And So Can You!)."

Stephen Colbert's book on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Am-America-So-Can-You/dp/0446580503/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=...

Satan & Adam's "Mother Mojo" CD (re: this video's intro & exit music): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010SGETW/ref=dm_sp_alb?ie=UTF8&qid=122...

Also, the harmonica player in Satan & Adam, Adam Gussow, has a *great* instructional YouTube channel for intermediate and advanced harp players--see http://www.youtube.com/user/KudzuRunner

Colbert excerpts read by Todd Allen Gates, author of "Dialogue with a Christian Proselytizer" and "Hunting, Gathering, & Videogames."

My three YouTube channels:

- http://youtube.com/user/ToddGates - my musician channel

- http://youtube.com/user/ToddAllenGates - where I discuss the ideas in my book "Dialogue with a Christian Proselytizer" (a dialogue between a Christian proselytizer and a Socratic skeptic)

http://youtube.com/user/ToddAllenGates2 - where I discuss the ideas in my book "Hunting, Gathering, & Videogames" (such as "Why do we have to work?" and "Why do we have to use money?" and "How should we define 'success'?")

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• Stephen
• Colbert
• America
• Catholicism
• Protestants
• Baptists
• Quakers
• Mormons
• Judaism
• Shinto
• Buddhism
• Hinduism
• Islam
• atheists

[searchingformusic]

To ToddAllenGates, statues are only idols if you worship them, there is absolutely nothing anti-christian having religious statues as decoration and reminders of christ and those who followed him and made it to heaven (saints) in order to motivate you to imitate christ and his faithful servants; these religious images and figures inspire those who see them to live their lives as christlike as possible; they are not worshipped, nor is Mary, contrary to many protestants' beliefs, she is honored.

[ToddAllenGates]

@searchingformusic

1 of 4:

> statues are only idols if you worship them, there is absolutely nothing anti-christian having religious statues as decoration

Hi Searching,

All I'm doing in this video is reading selections from Stephen Colbert's book—and the sole aim is comedy / gentle satire.

But since you brought up the subject . . . my feeling is that the root of this particular clash between Catholics & Protestants goes back to the ambiguous directions in Exodus 20.

[ToddAllenGates]

2 of 4:

Exodus 20:4 starts out as if all statues—no matter what—are forbidden when it says "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above"

---but then the author muddies the water with the line "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them." I say this muddies the water because if ALL graven statues are forbidden, why even mention the part about "not serving them"?

[ToddAllenGates]

3 of 4:

It's like me telling my kids "You CANNOT go in the pool" . . . and then later telling them "You cannot make any big splashes in the pool." The second part of my directions makes it sound like it's okay to go in the pool as long as they make only little splashes. But I also think it wouldn't be surprising if my kids thought I was being confusing, and I would hope they would ask me to clarify myself.

[ToddAllenGates]

4 of 4:

Methinks centuries of bloodshed could have been avoided if only the bible took a clear stance one way or the other (in this area, and in other areas where Catholics & Protestants used to clash violently): either the Bible should have said: "No graven images whatsoever, even as decorations"

*or*

"Graven images are okay as long as they're just reminders, and you don't mistake them for anything Divine."

[Largo64]

Wonderful reading, Todd. You must be an actor, too.

[ToddAllenGates]

> Wonderful reading, Todd

Thanks Larry!

> You must be an actor, too.

Only back when I was a waiter and had to act as though I liked all my customers!

[searchingformusic]

To ToddAllenGates, statues are only idols if you worship them, there is absolutely nothing anti-christian having religious statues as decoration and reminders of christ and those who followed him and made it to heaven (saints) in order to motivate you to imitate christ and his faithful servants; these religious images and figures inspire those who see them to live their lives as christlike as possible; they are not worshipped, nor is Mary, contrary to many protestants' beliefs, she is honored.

[mrbluesky323]

Speak with your outside voice. You gotta do a colbert impression.

[BillKiernan]

"not some community center that doubles for a basketball court" hahah, nice.

[sdhjirhgh]

God has only one Church of different denominations, but little do you know your Bible, only those who are born again, receive Yeshua as their savior, believe the gospel, obey it, continue with His Word to the end, only than, one has assurance of ever going to heaven. Yahweh does not care whether you are black or white, Jew or Gentile, you must be born of the Spirit. Take care

[sdhjirhgh]

You shouldn't be promoting lies just to get attention!!!