01.28.07
Brian Flemming on Fox News Channel
Wow. John Kasich of Fox News is really frightened about the Blasphemy Challenge.
Co-Founder of the Challenge, Brian Flemming, sat with him for an interview last night.
It’s intense.
(Incidentally, the other co-founder was Brian Sapient, who I spoke to a couple weeks ago.)
Technorati Tags: John Kasich, Fox News, Blasphemy Challenge, Brian Flemming, Brian Sapient, atheist, atheism
Popularity: 3% [?]
Siamang said,
January 28, 2007 at 11:30 pm
That video cracks me up.
Gee… I wonder if Fox News does an expose on religious groups prosthelizing to children. Like the Boy Scouts of America?
Shana said,
January 29, 2007 at 10:47 am
my post on myspace:
today i read about ‘the blasphemy challenge’, an event on Youtube which asks people to post videos of themselves denying God, the holy spirit, etc. i guess it’s supposed to encourage atheists to ‘come out’ so to speak.
anyway, apparently the co-founder brian flemming was interviewed by john kasich on fox news the other night (why he threw himself into that fire, i don’t know.) i watched the clip and it’s pretty infuriating to me for a number of reasons.
1. what kind of news reporter is so obviously biased on the subject of his interview? i thought the news was supposed to be without opinion? oh, right, this is FOX news. mr. kasich told flemming that he hopes that he will ‘eventually turn around’. flemming laughed at this….i imagine he’s been offered prayers by many people who want to save him from hellfire and eternal damnation.
2. the outrage over this issue is hypocritical. if a baptist or a christian or a muslim went on Youtube and asked people to post videos of themselves claiming that they DID believe in god, or allah, or whomever — no one would have a problem with it. how is this any different? don’t we have freedom of religion and freedom of speech as well? apparently those civil liberties don’t count when we’re discussing religion.
3. kasich asked the question of the moment regarding atheism: ‘why are you people so angry?’ i’m so sick of hearing this. why are YOU people so angry? many devoutly religious people air their beliefs constantly, and many do so in a threatening way towards those that they believe are sinful. even worse, many religious people are violent and horribly intolerant. if atheists, agnostics, nonbelievers or anyone chooses to talk about their views, or explain why they believe that religion is destructive to our society, that doesn’t mean that they are always angry, it means that they have a different opinion. what angers me is when that opinion is viewed as undignified or unacceptable.
4. like kasich, so many people do not understand one of flemming’s main talking points: young people who are ‘brought up’ with religion are not offered the chance to consider their options, weigh the evidence and decide what to believe. if you are an adult and you come to the conclusion that you believe in a deity, that’s your decision. a five year old ‘christian’ or a teenage ‘muslim’ may not have had that option - they were likely taught from their first days that whomever or whatever is the savior and the lord. when told those things at a young age (especially in more fundamentalist faiths where it leads to bigotry, intolerance, and violence) it is no better than brainwashing.
Stephanie said,
January 29, 2007 at 10:59 am
That was pretty funny. John Kasich sounded oddly familiar…oh yes that sounded almost exactly like something my father in law would say
We’ve been told we’re being terrible parents because we don’t take our kids to Sunday school and that we’re dragging our kids to hell with us…it just makes me laugh.
Karen said,
January 29, 2007 at 11:28 am
Flemming did an excellent job of articulating some good point that are almost never aired in “polite society” - let alone on Fox News. I had to laugh when he said something like, ‘Yeah, well I think atheists play basketball too.”
I think if the objectives of the Blasphemy Challenge were to 1) give atheists a way to publicly “come out,”; 2) show the world that many “normal people” do not believe in god; 3) generate some publicity for atheism and get some little-aired ideas into the mainstream - they’ve done a fantastic job! A+
Jennifer said,
January 29, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Ha!! I love when Brian rolls his eyes at the Fox guy. I didn’t realize that I loved Brian, but I do.
miller said,
January 29, 2007 at 2:08 pm
“Brian, I think you’re preying on young people…”
That is a hilarious, yet sad way to start an interview.
David Jackmanson said,
January 30, 2007 at 7:11 am
Brian has excellent media skills. He obviously had prepped hard for this interview and knew exactly what he was going to say when the attack started.
If you want to go on TV or radio, watch this over and over again.
I don’t know if I would have made quite the same points, but since I haven’t gone and got Fox to offer me an interview, my opinion on that isn’t that relevant.
Because of Brian’s skills, atheism got a 4 1/2 minute free ad on a major TV network. How much would 4 1/2 minutes of paid advertising on Fox be worth?
There’s little point being angry at Fox News - bigotry is just what they do.
Siamang said,
January 30, 2007 at 11:50 am
David’s right on the money. This is a textbook on how to be interviewed by a dumbass and come out looking cool.
Shana said,
January 30, 2007 at 12:24 pm
RE: “There’s little point being angry at Fox News - bigotry is just what they do.”
David - I know you’re right….sometimes I just can’t help it!
David Jackmanson said,
January 30, 2007 at 3:41 pm
I know the feeling. Sometimes I want to scream at the screen
Logos said,
January 30, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Dang, that John Kasich is a moron!
Rebecca said,
January 30, 2007 at 8:55 pm
I can’t believe that was actually on the news. Like many of you, I was surprised at how biased John was. It was disgusting. It’s people with such close-minded views like that who do anger me. And the fact that many people won’t realize John made a fool of himself; lots will just agree with him. Meh.
Tyler Durden said,
January 31, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Well, I saw this video just now and so I am a little bit late to the party. It sure doesn’t change my opinion of Fox News, that is for sure. “Fair and Balanced”… in whose hallucinations?
Because of Brian’s skills, atheism got a 4 1/2 minute free ad on a major TV network. How much would 4 1/2 minutes of paid advertising on Fox be worth?
Good for Brian! He managed to get in a very valid point in - repeatedly - about the questionable indoctrination of kids into their parents’ worldviews by threatening them with hellfire and damnation. And he came across as very reasoned and balanced in the face of a flood of leading questions, aggressive criticism, and interviewer bias.