NationStates Jolt Archive

For those who don't know, 30 days is a TV program that takes a person with strong feelings on a particular subject and places him in the home of a family with the opposite ideas on that same subject.

Last night they put an atheist woman in the home of a born again Christian family. The Born-Again wife seemed like a pretty tolerant and understanding person, but the husband struck me as bewildered and angry that anyone could doubt his religion's truth. He refused to put himself in another person's shoes and answer the question "What if US currency said 'there is no god' instead of 'In god we trust'?" He also couldn't wrap his head around the idea that atheists could be ethical people without a god to hand them their ethics.

you know they always choose the most extreme of extremes for reality shows right?

did you see the "born again" lady on the trading spouses or whatever (I mean of course you did)

did you see the "born again" lady on the trading spouses or whatever (I mean of course you did)

BEST. SHOW. EVER.

For those who don't know, 30 days is a TV program that takes a person with strong feelings on a particular subject and places him in the home of a family with the opposite ideas on that same subject.

Last night they put an atheist woman in the home of a born again Christian family. The Born-Again wife seemed like a pretty tolerant and understanding person, but the husband struck me as bewildered and angry that anyone could doubt his religion's truth. He refused to put himself in another person's shoes and answer the question "What if US currency said 'there is no god' instead of 'In god we trust'?" He also couldn't wrap his head around the idea that atheists could be ethical people without a god to hand them their ethics.

Are you surprised?



And you will never see a Born Again in an atheist home, because the violence and language would make it unshowable.

Are you surprised?



And you will never see a Born Again in an atheist home, because the violence and language would make it unshowable.
really? I married an atheist. We lived together for a while before he converted.

really? I married an atheist. We lived together for a while before he converted.
Ah, but you two sound sane. You said yourself they choose the extremes for these shows. Makes good TV mind.

It's a great show, and is done by the same guy who did "supersize me". They may have changed the format, but it wasn't always "put person X with group Y", for instance he once tested what it was like to live on true minimum wage for 30 days. If I recal the producers almost had to stop the show and force him into the hospital because he got pretty sick, and refused to go to the doctor because he would not have, were he working on minimum wage, actually had insurance (although he as a person certainly did).

For those who don't know, 30 days is a TV program that takes a person with strong feelings on a particular subject and places him in the home of a family with the opposite ideas on that same subject.

Last night they put an atheist woman in the home of a born again Christian family. The Born-Again wife seemed like a pretty tolerant and understanding person, but the husband struck me as bewildered and angry that anyone could doubt his religion's truth. He refused to put himself in another person's shoes and answer the question "What if US currency said 'there is no god' instead of 'In god we trust'?" He also couldn't wrap his head around the idea that atheists could be ethical people without a god to hand them their ethics.

I saw the Christian guy who became Muslim and stayed in Dearborn (I think) for 30 days.

Good show. Enlightening.

you know they always choose the most extreme of extremes for reality shows right?

did you see the "born again" lady on the trading spouses or whatever (I mean of course you did)
They weren't all that extreme. The Christan lady of the house seemed very tolerant and nice. It's just that her husband seemed a little angry and confused that someone could be an atheist. He didn't really act like an asshole about it, but at one point he seemed to be starting to lose his temper when the atheist lady took the christians to a meeting of an atheist group.

They weren't all that extreme. The Christan lady of the house seemed very tolerant and nice. It's just that her husband seemed a little angry and confused that someone could be an atheist. He didn't really act like an asshole about it, but at one point he seemed to be starting to lose his temper when the atheist lady took the christians to a meeting of an atheist group.

To be fair to him, those things are usually terrible.

They weren't all that extreme. The Christan lady of the house seemed very tolerant and nice. It's just that her husband seemed a little angry and confused that someone could be an atheist. He didn't really act like an asshole about it, but at one point he seemed to be starting to lose his temper when the atheist lady took the christians to a meeting of an atheist group.
That was creative production.
Im sure if they tried, they could have found a christian couple where both people were very tolerant and nice, and found an athiest who was lost their temper over the sight of anything remotely religious.

you know they always choose the most extreme of extremes for reality shows right?

did you see the "born again" lady on the trading spouses or whatever (I mean of course you did)

"She's not a Christiaaaaaaaaannnnn!"

*'splode*

For those who don't know, 30 days is a TV program that takes a person with strong feelings on a particular subject and places him in the home of a family with the opposite ideas on that same subject.

Last night they put an atheist woman in the home of a born again Christian family. The Born-Again wife seemed like a pretty tolerant and understanding person, but the husband struck me as bewildered and angry that anyone could doubt his religion's truth. He refused to put himself in another person's shoes and answer the question "What if US currency said 'there is no god' instead of 'In god we trust'?" He also couldn't wrap his head around the idea that atheists could be ethical people without a god to hand them their ethics.
I think that actually gives a reasonable view of things, since you've got a "moderate" Born-Again Christian along with a not-so-moderate one.

Lots of Born-Again Christians are well-meaning and normal individuals who don't especially want to get in anybody's face. Sadly, there are others who cannot seem to coexist with anybody who doesn't share their precise beliefs.

I think the bit about the husband refusing to put himself in another person's shoes is the real key. Empathy is so critical when it comes to issues like this. You have to be willing and able to imagine how you might act in another person's place, and to imagine how you would feel if you were treated as they are treated. You have to try to understand the feelings that might have led them to the values and beliefs that they hold.

This doesn't mean you're going to end up agreeing with them, or even that you will decide that their choices are good ones. But it humanizes them. It forces you to see them as a person like yourself, albeit one who has taken another path in life.

It's much easier to hate people and to treat them like shit if you convince yourself that they aren't really human, at least not in the way you are. It's easier to justify walking all over somebody if you can convince yourself that they don't deserve any better. It's much easier to be comfortable disrespecting other people if you keep yourself from really seeing them as people.

did you see the "born again" lady on the trading spouses or whatever (I mean of course you did)


Best. Television. Ever.

The girl loves that show, I personally can't stand it. But I watched that one with her and I absolutly could not believe what I was seeing.

That was creative production.
Im sure if they tried, they could have found a christian couple where both people were very tolerant and nice, and found an athiest who was lost their temper over the sight of anything remotely religious.
I think such atheists are, proportionately, much less common in the general population. This is not because atheists are better people, or more mellow, or anything like that. It's a simple matter of practicality:

Atheists, in the US, live every day in a world where God-belief is forced into their faces. They live in a nation where the overwhelming majority of people are Christian. Their money has "In God We Trust" on it. Their president calls upon God in every speech. Every level of government is dominated by Christians and other religious believers. Religious holidays are national holidays. The list goes on.

What does this mean? Well, it means that pretty much any American atheist who can't handle being exposed to Christianity is already going to be either in a mental ward or a prison. If they haven't been pushed over the edge by living their day-to-day life surrounded by Christianity, then they're probably not going to be much troubled by having a few Christians come to visit.

In contrast, there are a whole lot of Christians who could go their entire lives without ever meeting an atheist face to face. They could go their entire lives without having a single government representative who is non-Christian. You see where I'm going with this.

Again, I want to make it really clear: I'm not saying atheists are better people than Christians. I am NOT saying that atheists are more in control, or more respectful, or nicer. Atheists are people, and people run the range from awesome to jackass.

I'm just saying that atheists, in America, are going to be pretty well accustomed to dealing with Christianity on a daily basis. They're going to have a lot more practice with confronting people who are non-atheist than Christians are going to have dealing with those who are non-Christian. If atheists were in the majority and Christians were the minority, I would expect the situation to be pretty much reversed.