The Big Picture: Nerd Gods

[Nerdfury]

I happily accept that if a deity of some kind were to appear before me and prove his/her existence and power without a shadow of doubt, I would happily accept religion into my life. As a person who believes in science and technology, it would be hypocritical to deny the existence of a god when proof is made available.

Of course, I've yet to see proof.

what if in a crowded room you were the only one to see said proof? would you still accept it so hastily? I for one would (in true scientific fashion) try my damnedest to disprove it, get eye witness reports, etc. If it held up, well then I guess there's a god. (I hope he's not a dick)

Me, personally? That's a pretty tough question. It's like asking what someone would do if all their favourite famous girls asked them for a sex party - it's nice to say what you'd like to think you'd do, but who knows what you'd actually wind up committing to. Likely stare, stammer, and be impotent.

Of course, any god-creature worth my time would give me powers with which to prove his existence..

 

[itsmeyouidiot]

So, um, what was the point of bringing up Scientology at the end? I thought for a second that you had a good point about having modern-day gods be pop-culture figures until you brought that up.

Why derail your own argument?

 

[dunnace]

Bokonism.

It's in a book called Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. It's a religon that doesn't even believe in itself. The head of the religion doesn't even follow his own advice because he reckons it's probably bad advice. Absolute must read.

 

[ucciolord1]

Gandalf'd make a good one.

 

[GamemasterAnthony]

Hold the phone - the History channel has stopped talking about the Nazis and/or Hitler?!

THIS IS MADNESS!

Madness? No...

THIS...IS...SPARTA!!! *kicks Woodsey into the pit*

Sorry...had to get that out of the way.

Anyways...I'm glad to see something like this, and this was actually the first Big Picture I've seen which, incidentally, got me into this series. Personally, I'm for the idea of following the ideals of religion (love thy neighbor, respect for others, etc.) without necessarily having to follow the religion itself too strictly. This especially true now when it seems CERTAIN religions are keen on breaking their own rules because something upsets them.

 

[Endocrom]

Oh, sky cake!

 

[mega48man]

all hail the dark lord kthulu! and praise his herald, the BP oil company for releasing him from his dark slumber through accidental drilling!

 

[aba1]

its kinda funny i went to catholic school and kids went in catholic and left agnostic

everyone agree's in its very basic ideals most religions have good intent n morals but then the people running the church get involved and start pointing fingers and writing rules and it gets bad real quick cause some take this way to farrrrrr

 

[aba1]

Hold the phone - the History channel has stopped talking about the Nazis and/or Hitler?!

THIS IS MADNESS!

Madness? No...

THIS...IS...SPARTA!!! *kicks Woodsey into the pit*

Sorry...had to get that out of the way.

Anyways...I'm glad to see something like this, and this was actually the first Big Picture I've seen which, incidentally, got me into this series. Personally, I'm for the idea of following the ideals of religion (love thy neighbor, respect for others, etc.) without necessarily having to follow the religion itself too strictly. This especially true now when it seems CERTAIN religions are keen on breaking their own rules because something upsets them.

this

 

[Spydiggity]

We aren't due for a new major religion til 2150. put your godzilla idea in a time capsule, bob. Godzilla the Water Bearer might not fly though.

 

[Blayze2k]

NEIL GAIMAN'S SANDMAN!

I would totally worship his version of Death.
Or Terry Pratchett's.

 

[Quillpaw]

Worshiping Haruhi is already a thing. It's called Haruhiism. They have a symbol (well, technically a flag, whatever).

But on the subject of nerdy religions, for a good year of my life I had to explain to people I adamantly in the Reaper's Game and the concept of a Composer from TWEWY.

 

[Theodore Eu]

He forgot to mention that for several thousand years "before christ", man worshiped many many figures who had at least one of these in their bio: 1. born December 25 2. born of a virgin 3. died and rose three days later 4. claimed to the son of god 5. sunday day of worship 6. claimed to the sacrificial lamb 7. claimed to be the truth, the way the light.

And for those Chirstians out there, go search one of these figures that are just a few I can think of: Horus of Egypt, Mithra of Persia, Krishna of India, Attis of Phrygia, Heracles of Greece, and the list goes on.

 

[netrom07]

Yay, Church of Haruhi! All hail the allpowerful schoolgirl!

Perhaps Kyon will be some kind of demi-god...

He is our saviour. It works.

I have Haruhiism and the Cult of Cthulhu as my religions. People then ask, "What?" and go look it up.

Nice work, Bob.

The Church of Haruhi Suzumiya?? ok I'll go for that but only if the second season is recognized as false scripture.

Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody was a good episode and The Disappearance movie made up for Endless Eight. Yes, it did. Season two stays.

Another important reason to keep season two is that any good religious source material needs boring parts that can separate true believers from the layman.

 

[Doog0AD]

The Church of WAAAGH! for me, thank you.

 

[GazDM]

For all the Fry lovers, Hitchens lovers and athiests!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zHcBF-g7-c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfmqiBfoPwA&feature=related

How can atheists be seen as boring? So many of my heroes are atheist (including the great Fry), I mean just check out the wikipedia list of atheists. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_atheists

What is perceived to be militant atheism is a frank and blunt discussion in an important area which has for a long time enjoyed some sort of special protection from any criticism. A.C. Grayling says about the term militant atheism "how can you be a militant atheist? How can you be militant non-stamp collector? This is really what it comes down to. You just don't collect stamps. So how can you be a fundamentalist non-stamp collector? It's like sleeping furiously. It's just wrong."

 

[KalosCast]

I've always hated the idea of "Militant Atheism"

-Militant Atheists argue bad philosophy in coffee shops
-Militant Christians gun down abortion doctors in coffee shops
-Militant Muslims blow up coffee shops

MAN I SURE HATE THOSE MILITANT ATHEISTS.

 

[cokeordie]

According to the holy rule book of Warhammer 40K, the God-Emperor should allready be among us...

This times forty thousand.

For the Emperor!

 

[DevilWolf47]

I actually already arranged a church of Haruhi. Kind of. The basic theology? The goddess wants entertainment so entertain her by following your callings and expressing individuality to entertain her. Write more, think more, find out how to entertain the goddess. It's kind of like Daoism meets George Carlin.
...actually it is Carlinism as i used to call it, i just added the Haruhi face to attract the aggressive bisexual crowd. And i do have followers. A lawyer who goes by the nickname Flounder applies this to his practice by thinking that what entertains the goddess entertains the jury, and that a jury will be more focused if they're engaged in the trial, so he uses wit and creative approaches in presenting evidence and rebuttals. My girlfriend often walks and plays with the animals she takes care of during her training because the goddess probably likes animals as well. One gloomy bastard who calls himself "Pyramid Head" or "DoesntWantLunch" depending on where you meat him also took it to the next major stage by even trying to come up with a symbol for the group and making a Facebook group. Never did figure out what happened to that project, though i hope i see it again. Compared to his fanfics the idea was fucking genius with how much depth he would put into it.

Still, the gnostic term... i actually am fine with people practicing gnostically. Trying to define a religion based on entire scriptures rather than central messages is just a recipe for fucking disaster, kind of like Scientology or biblical literalists. Maybe if people took religion less seriously, the international death toll would drop.
...rather significantly. Religious differences probably count for a decent chunk of homicides in many regions.

 

[munkymp3]

Thor wouldn't have to make a comeback. "Thursday" was named after the God of Thunder, aka, Thor.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Thor
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Thursday
Yay, Norse mythology!

As for the whole religion thing, I am a firm believer that 95% of them are sexist. I don't know anyone who would say they believe in Wonder Womanism or Zatannaism.