Sam Harris

I'm a member of Netflix and received the above film yesterday.  I was entertained by the film but was disappointed that it began to take on a Monty Python sense of silliness.  I was hoping for a deeper study of the absurdity of Jesus and how such a myth could be based on so little. 

I take my Atheism very seriously and have been involved in many debates on what I consider the damage Christianity has done to the human mind.  I am not a scholar but have read many books on the problem of trying to cut through the myth of God that so many people rely on instead of rational thinking.

Has anyone here seen this film?  I would love to discuss it.

I recently saw it too.  I was hoping for more depth as well.  I figured on getting some friends together and watch it again over some beer (Party!).

One place to go for some real depth is Joseph Campbell’s “The Power of Myth”.  I’m about 1/3rd through the full transcript between Campbell and Bill Moyer - some real good stuff.  Here’s some Christian/Jewish/Islam poison for you The story of the Fall in Genesis could be viewed as a political statement against the Canaanite symbols of life - the snake, the tree, and woman.  All men must enter this world through a women (even guys named Jesus 2000 years ago).  The snake has been used by many civilizations throughout history as a symbol of the cycle of life, and the fruit tree represents to bounty from the Earth, which can be seen as the mother of all life (the Sun of course being the father).  So, the invading Hebrews destroy the Canaanite society and “spit” on their religion, incorporating that into the Genesis myth.  With the inclusion of a god who walks through the garden as a man would, here’s what you end up with Snakes are cursed (partially to blame for the Fall), women are cursed (also partially to blame for the fall), nature becomes subject to man’s power (without our respect), and by definition mankind is separate from his god.  Eastern religions don’t seem to make this sort of distinction, that man starts out alienated from the Eternal Thou (see Martin Buber) and that the point of religion is to make the journey back.  I have only barely scratched the surface of the East, but Campbell seems to be saying that the Eternal Thou is in all of us and all living things, and that the point of religion is to discover this part of ourselves and to discover this as part of others.

Anyway, because these religions just so happen to have been geographically located in the part of the globe that had the richest variety of domesticatable plants and animals (the Fertile Crescent), it’s the Jewish/Christian/Islamic world-view/religious-view that is dominant in the world (please read “Guns, Germs, and Steel” for an enlightening view of the last 13,000 years).

You can certainly say that throughout history much good has come by way of all three religious traditions, but the counter to that is to ask, who else was around to do the good?

Hope I didn’t get too far off topic - I just got going.  And my disclaimer is - I may not have a clue what I’m talking about.  ?

I have “Guns Germs and Steel” in my bookshelf and plan to get into it in the next couple of months.  I regret that I find Campbell a tad too much for my simple mind.  I’m too old to try to get into that kind of depth and have been weeding out the garden of my mind for the last 20 years.  I have been writing on political things and that is enough fertilizer for anyone to take in.

What the film brought to me was more dialog with which to fight off the zealots. 

I liked you post and will review it again in the morning. 

Sandy

I enjoyed it.  The extra interviews were good.

[quote author=“Sandy”]I’m a member of Netflix and received the above film yesterday.  I was entertained by the film but was disappointed that it began to take on a Monty Python sense of silliness.  I was hoping for a deeper study of the absurdity of Jesus and how such a myth could be based on so little.

Here’s a forum you might enjoy for questioning the historicity of Jesus:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JesusMysteries/  From the DVD, Earl Doherty is there but quiet lately.