I try to get involved in local atheist activities that I find interesting, especially undertakings which I feel are exceptionally broad in scope or are particularly challenging. Recently I was told about a movie being produced in my area, presumably by atheists though I imagine atheist friendly believers might be involved as well, and possibly just some people with senses of humor who are more interested in the project for its entertainment value than anything else. The premise of the film is as follows:

Aaron and Jeremy, two wayward twenty something atheists work at Jesus-4-Less, a downtown Tacoma Christian bookstore. They find themselves competing with Christ-Mart, their rival in the bible business, for acolytes and sales; and with each other for the affections of an irresistible and mysterious new co-worker, Michelle.

Amid protests, breasts, and homosexuality with the help of baby Jesus and a midget, the guys find themselves navigating the issues of fundamentalism, love, lust, greed, and marijuana in this dark comedy. Jesus 4 Less is sure to leave you wondering, offended, and most importantly laughing.

Right now the group seems to be in the midst of fundraising, which is always a tricky task to take on and requires a lot of work that often seems thankless. I’m happy to do my part in trying to promote them and their undertaking, and I hope to be able to continue to chip in any support I can along the way.

If you’re in the area, I encourage you to come down this Wed., June 2nd to the Comedy Underground in Seattle and support this group. It’s only 5 bucks, and you might win a spot in the movie (if that’s your thing) or other prizes they’ll be giving away as people come. If you’re not in the area, I’d like to encourage you to look for projects in your area that you have interest in supporting and get involved. It’s fun and it helps shape the face of the community to be more representative of the people that make it up.

When: Wed., June 2nd
Where: Comedy Underground in Seattle
How much: 5 bucks/clams/smackeroos

Unfortunately, the search engine told me I was pretty much on my own:

Searching for a function returns us as the first link.

That’s… not usually a good sign.

And on the counter-protesters… heh.

Sam @ 4:21

That was confusing as felicitous vacationers.
I’m really sorry about this one. The WP people were advertising that WP is now 5.3 compatible, so I didn’t mind the upgrade to 5.3 when I was rebuilding the server.
I really did check up on that before I did the upgrade because PHP 5.3 changes a lot of crap.

As one might imagine “felicitous vacationers” is a modification from the instant message original. I was really confused by it and some other, unrelated system I’m marginally in charge of catching fire.

Why is it this server that gives me the weird problems? I feel bad, also confused.

Anyway, it’s back up now, feel free to beat me with various fish when you see me again.

So they send out this e-mail update, and it shows a group of shiny happy people wearing Jesus fish shirt, and saying how great it would be if I ordered more shirts for my… atheist congregation??? Yes, that’s right. Somehow their automated category update generating software plugged in atheism as a demonination.

I guess under normal circumstances this might work, but not in this instance. I suppose it’s tricky to find place to put us unless it’s in the religion bin, but what about just “clubs and organizations”? And really! Congregation? Crosses? Jesus fish? AND atheist t-shirt?? Hilarious.

Three of the seven following sites are parodies, while the others are serious attempts at religious expression. Good luck choosing which are which!

Landover Baptist Church
4 Step Proof for God of the Bible
OBJECTIVE: Ministries
Rapture Ready
Time Cube
Chick Tract – The Last Generation
True Christian Church of Christ

KIDZ: ATHEISTS MIGHT EAT YOU! RUN AWAY!

Click on the goat’s head for some funny comments. “Hey kid, wanna read some Ayn Rand?”

I don’t *think* I look like that in the morning, but I do love sleeping in on Sundays!

And this cute little Ganesh takes it in the chin.

But the absolute worst BEST part of this website? The horrible hilarious illustrations by the children very funny people, like this one. Brace yourself.

There’s a video, but because I’m not 100% sure about the mythology behind it, I’m going to quote the Guide for an explanation.

On 3 March 2008, while appearing on a panel TV show, Sanal Edamaruku, challenged a tantrik to demonstrate his powers on him by killing him using only magic. The tantrik chanted mantras and performed a ceremony to kill Sanal Edamaruku on live TV. India TV received a large boost in ratings while this was occurring. After his attempts failed the tantrik reported that Edamaruku must be under the protection of a powerful god, to which Edamaruku responded that he was an atheist.

The whole video is on YouTube, but for the purposes of your time and sanity, I will first post a “condensed” version which is sped up and put to some “Drum & Bass” type music.

I honestly don’t know if this qualifies as “Drum and Bass” as I’m pretty blind in that range, but the music syncs up pretty well for about 30 seconds, and it does give you an idea of what Edamaruku experienced.

I think my favorite part is where the berobed guy tries to shove his thumb in Edamaruku’s eye and he politely declines. Magic where step thirty is “remove target’s eye with your thumb” is going to be pretty effective at partially blinding someone, I’m guessing.

Originally watched the “full” posted version, which includes chanting and only about three percent english, so I didn’t get most of it. It’s worth watching if Jesus Camp isn’t really doing it for you any more and you need a little variety in your furtive superstition voyeurism. You know, like me.

Original moves after the cut.

How many licks does it take to get to the center of superstition?

One:

Two:

Three!:

The soundtrack is straight out of Fox’s “When Water Heaters Attack”, but it’s literally crying for a remix.

I’ll let Amanda get back to telling you useful things now. Amanda?