Losing our Religion? Have a Little Faith!

I dropped by Jessica Zafra's blog recently, which had this entry on the new wiki, Conservapedia,:

“In Christian discourse, the name Jesus almost always refers specifically to Jesus of Nazareth, believed by Christian followers to be God’s dad, who came to earth as a human c 2 AD. However, God has recently revealed on His blog that Jesus is actually His nephew, not His son.”

This prompted Ms. Zafra to conclude: "The American religious right: Stephen Colbert’s unpaid writers pool."

Of course, the corresponding entry on Jesus has been changed to this, but the damage has been done. The Onion's A.V. Club already has an entry on the supposed inaccuracies of Conservapedia, which ends with:

"I don't know about all of you, but I'm really looking forward to the day when conservatives, in response to the obvious liberal bias of the angle of the spigots, make their own separate, conservative drinking fountains."

For people looking for a reasonable, insightful and well-intentioned alternative to the overly conservative Christian resources out there, a personal favorite is Mark Shea's blog, Catholic and Enjoying it!, which offers commentary such as "The Antichrist is the reduction of Christianity to an ideology, instead of a personal encounter with the Savior." (an observation which stems from a meditation message delivered by Roman Catholic Cardinal Giacomo Biff) as well as fun entries such as the satirical "Uncomfortable Questions about the Death Star Attack":

6) How could any pilot shoot a missile into a 2 meter-wide exhaust port, let alone a pilot with no formal training, whose only claim to fame was his ability to “bullseye womprats” on Tatooine? This shot, according to one pilot, would be “impossible, even for a computer.” Yet, according to additional evidence, the pilot who allegedly fired the missile turned off his targeting computer when he was supposedly firing the shot that destroyed the Death Star. Why have these discrepancies never been investigated, let alone explained?

7) Why has their been no investigation into evidence that the droids who provided the rebels with the Death Star plans were once owned by none other than Lord Vader himself, and were found, conveniently, by the pilot who destroyed the Death Star, and who is also believed to be Lord Vader’s son? Evidence also shows that the droids were brought to one Ben Kenobi, who, records indicate, was Darth Vader’s teacher many years earlier! Are all these personal connections between the conspirators and a key figure in the Imperial government supposed to be coincidences?

8) How could a single missile destroy a battle station the size of a moon? No records, anywhere, show that any battle station or capital ship has ever been destroyed by a single missile. Furthermore, analysis of the tape of the last moments of the Death Star show numerous small explosions along its surface, prior to it exploding completely! Why does all evidence indicate that strategically placed explosives, not a single missile, is what destroyed the Death Star?

Mark Shea's intriguing mix of both highbrow intellectual debate with gently subversive humor, is, in the end, the best argument for Christianity. Check it out.

Picture of Darth Vader comes courtesy of Basement, #24, The Art of Barry Bradfield.