Stewart Lee talks about blasphemy and how religions deal with criticism. Talking to various commentators, including Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti, journalist Polly Toynbee and writer Alan Moore.
Darren Wilson well just ask yourself politically where are his barbs most directed. Then ask yourself what views he espouses. As bigots go he is way out in front of those he has a pop at. In fact the mental gymnastics he has to go through to hold the opinions he does, let alone have a go at those he calls bigots is truly Olympian standard. I find him quite funny on occasion but his political views are more comedic than his actual material.
@C Stew There is some real hate out there. Of the hate crimes based on a religious bias, `60.2 percent were victims of crimes motivated by offenders’ anti-Jewish bias.` ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2019/topic-pages/victims
@Jack Daw Two things to say when people make that Pascal's Wager argument: which god? There's thousands of religions, each mutually exclusive. Funny that god makes no appearance in the natural world, yet people still believe in fairy tales. To you, this sort of logic might be blasphemy, but to me, this is religion losing arguments. Are you getting it yet?
Its from a scooby doo feature: "Scooby Doo and the pirate zombie jungle island." And neither Partridge or any peartree was in this episode, eventhou they were specifically written into the script. But due to more than 30 year old budget cuts, they had to be removed.
The Goodness Gracious Me sketch being banned because 300 people out of 5 MILLION complained is fucking ridiculous.Letting the minority dictate what others can see is worrying
I consider myself educated (and still quite ignorant), but I always learn and have something new to think about when I listen to Stewart Lee - Stewart is a very clever bloke - keep it coming Stewart!
In every school I've ever worked in, the case for atheism and some of the blasphemy that goes with it has been made. What should be more commonly debated in sensible public forums is the notion that mankind only comes to know and think through the limitless benevolence of the creator. The movement away from godliness has come hand in hand with a dangerous reliance on science and technology. An atheistic mindset is ultimately less successful. Particularly in the next life.
@@FlyingSpaghettiMonster2000 Yes but who is doing the canceling these days, its the liberals isn't it.... so what does that tell you.. It tells me, the liberals of today, are not really liberals at all..
What I love most is these religious people bashing science while they drive a new car, probably the most advanced scientific conglomeration of scientific invention the average person will own.
Utterly compelling and I agree with everything stated here. Why can we not have Stewart Lee do a tour of schools? His personality and complete ease with any subject coupled with a beautiful use of language would enlighten any classroom.
Remember when Lee was opposed to censorship and did a documentary complaining about how his opera was censored? Well now we know it was all total bullsh*t - he's now protesting to have an interviewer censored for doing an interview with someone he disagrees with. Oh and he also used to pretend to be opposed to totalitarianism and pro-freedom, but as with all leftists this too is demonstrable nonsense, because he wants the state, lead by the Tories BTW, to be able to force people to be injected with experimental and dangerous drugs four times a year. Absolutely inexcusable behaviour. He's gone from one of my favourite comedians to probably my least favourite living person.
Mocking religion? And so it should be mocked, ridiculed, not only for the stupidity of believing in something for which there is not a single shred of evidence but mainly for the personal and mass hatred, misery, wars and death carried out in it's name. As Richard Dawkins said in an interview "When was the last time an atheist flew an aeroplane into a skyscraper" (paraphrased). Religion is not only primitive it is divisive, disgusting and kills.
I can remember when I first questioned the Catholic church. I was 12 years old sat in church with my mum shaking hands in peace with members of the congregation and I thought that's all well and good inside a house of worship, but what about outside in the real world? I like the quiet reflection you can have in the more ancient parochial buildings, when you are left alone with your thoughts without the intrusion of the 'Mass', but I can get that from looking out to sea. I believe in people, and love.
God is in the world and in people. Not one other object among others, or one other person among others. He is the source of all objects and persons. The love you feel and describe there any intelligent Christian would recognise as contact with God, but it is still far removed. Religion is guiding your sense closer towards God and guiding your life into alignment with him. Which is the centre of everything.
The current war on trans people in the UK is being conducted in the courts by evangelical Christian activist lawyers and by religious activists at the top level of government. Some members of the UK government at top level have been openly talking to Christian Nationalist groups in the USA.
An aunt of mine died and was revived after a few minutes. She had the wits scared out of her because she thought she had gone to hell and talked for months about how bad her near death experience in hell had been. In her words, insufferably hot and uncomfortable. Eventually, in an attempt to shut her up she was challenged to say something positive. Her response was "the catering was excellent, the devilled eggs were delicious"
Humorous at the end of your comment, but leading up to it, a truth which many other people are reported to have witnessed. I was never taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ sitting in a CofE church all the way through to my mid-teens. However, living in the U.S. since age 25, now 52, I found Christ at 38, he delivered me from 20 years of alcohol that began in the UK, and I have never been so happy being born again. It's not an American religious fanaticism. It is the UK that is spiritually super-cold and walking into the gates of hell by itself.... It needs a big revival like the one in Wales. The average person, me included, was raised to believe that you'll get into heaven if you don't do anything bad. You're a good person, you won't go to hell. Such utter rubbish and the height of ignorance of parents and others that think they know it all, being handed down the same mistruths down the years from older generations. And so it repeats. The devil is in the church all over the world, and that's IF you ever get to one. He doesn't have to work on you if you're already in the pubs and the clubs. He just never wants you to find out the TRUTH that you need to confess Jesus as your Lord, believe God raised Him from the dead, for you to be saved. Then tell everyone else. Pray for the sick, raise the dead. This is the commandments of our Lord. Mark chapter 16. We also need a relationship with Christ, see John chapter 15. Else he will tell us in that day, I never knew you, depart from me. The altar is not a ticket to heaven. It is the beginning of a commitment of a relationship with the one who loved you while you were still a sinner, and one who didn't deserve to die for you, so that you would live eternally. The devil os pulling out all the stops to try to prevent humanity from finding out the truth. See 2 Corinthians 4:4. In my case at least, he succeeded, until I was 38 when Jesus saved me before it was too late.
An excellent , reasoned and informative programme. Thoroughly enjoyed watching it again and, frankly, I am quite amused at the idea that some people really believe that a Pan dimensional ,Omnipotent Super Being would actually need them to stick up for it.
All these people are so well-spoken. Comparing the discourse seen here with an average American political issue interview just, well, it gives me conniptions.
Blasphemy cannot exist unless you believe in that religion which I don't, therefore it doesn't exist. So christians must be blaspheming to Jews and Muslims for saying Jesus is the son of God. It's complete and utter bollocks, how can a religion be offended, it's not conscious. Don't get me fucking started on freedom of speech, it's a matter opinion which nobody has a monopoly on. Isn't it ironic that if I condemn religions for actually mutilating baby and older boys penises that I'm the one doing something wrong. We have to have a proper secular society. If you don't like something on the tele SWITCH CHANNELS. They're part of the offended brigade marching up and down the street waiting for something or someone to offend them.
trying to understand nonsensical nonsense is a slippery slope that will at best leave you feeling frustrated and at worst leave you feeling angry and frustrated!
haha, i'll hold my hands up and admit i didn't realise i said that! rather embarrassing.. but still, i'm going to argue it's not hypocritical on linguistic grounds! it's a common expression! :S
I remember when "The Last Temptation of Christ" was released and I went to see it in Raleigh NC. I was VERY excited about the movie. My parents were Methodists (and, hence, pretty harmless, really) and they never ONCE said, "You should behave this way and believe this way blah blah blah". If anything, I think we went to church and Sunday school because THEIR folks had done it, and their folks etc., and it was basically just a social construct. Later in their lives, they pretty much stopped going altogether. But anyway .... that is my background. (And I'm an atheist.) When I got to the theatre, there were about 12-15 people outside PROTESTING. For them, depicting Christ (who was MADE to be played by Willem Defoe BTW) as possibly living a "human" life, loving a woman, having a wife and child - that was the highest form of blasphemy ever suggested! Oh NO! We can't have THAT! They actually were carrying signs saying stuff like, "Close this theatre!", "This whole cast will be thrown into hell!" or "The devil possesses Martin Scorsese!" (I am not joking. Who could forget THAT one?) They looked 100% ridiculous. Of course, this made peeps like me even MORE determined to see the film and I came out of it going, "Wow!" I'd never been exposed to thinking like that before. The movie was nothing short of (pardon the word) miraculous for me because, besides being a completely BEAUTIFUL film, it made me start thinking in so many other ways. I decided that the film made Christ MORE divine because HE HAD been a human man, dealing with basic life things and trying to teach people elementary tenants of good behavior in a terribly dangerous time and who, for all the good he did, got killed by the political machine that was Roman rule. Why? Because he challenged established government and law. People like him couldn't be allowed to go around or else the entire Roman way of life would collapse because .... people would start thinking for themselves. Christians say you have to have a "personal relationship" with Christ to be a good Christian. Well, how much more "personal" can you get than to identify with another human being pushed to his limits and still managing to be a gentle, kind and caring individual who - when pushed, like the story of him in the temple with the moneylenders - recognizes injustice and speaks UP? That is - or should be - universal.
That Christians have to have a 'personal relationship with Christ' is a result of Protestantism. In the old days, it was less important that you actually believed, and more important that you did what the pope said i.e. respect Roman rule. Protestants said their individual relationship to god was the important thing, and that's what made it more about belief and less about practical observance
I thought this was brilliant. A relevant documentary that manages to be both serious and funny . Gotta love Alan Moore too: I met him once, and he was just as witty, interesting, intelligent and warm (and quirky) as he seems on screen.
The weakness of this video is the way it seems to put protesting by singing songs with a guitar on the a par with rioting and murder when they are quite different things.
Very thought provoking :) I remember being very surprised by the outcry about those shitty characatures, when most people I spoke to had such a level headed lack of response to such petty antagonism. We have much to fear from paranoid religious conservatives everywhere.
I love Stewart Lee, but focusing on whether the Danish cartoons were funny or "clumsy" is completely missing the point. The response (death threats, riots etc) to them was inexcusable.
Yes, it didn't escape my notice that satire of Christianity was described as "thoughtful" or "insightful" or "affectionate" while cartoons satirising Islam were branded "clumsy".
@@tomherbert2361 I'm sure he did mean that, but as the guy above points out, his language and focus are noticeably different when talking about stuff to do with Islam. Let's not forget that innocent people died as a result of those cartoons. Perhaps he should be more concerned about that.
Thats the first time Ive ever seen Alan Moore crack a smile. Its beautiful seeing two of my heroes in the same room, clearly liking each others company. If you are truly religious and intelligent, isnt the only logical conclusion that the universe is run by a vain, jeallous, worship needy, vengeful smiter of a beast that you just better get onside with? I think most religious folk are just trying to buy insurance for the soul, and behave no more moraly than an athiest.
Enjoyable and informing viewing. A touch on the unbalaced side in terms of the number of those representing religious viewpoints vs else, but that's probably what Lee was going for. These sorts of programs make you wonder 'just how many people have their worlds flipped on their heads after watching programs like these?' Hopefully that number is exponentially increasing, because it is freedom of thought (if such a thing exists) which is pretty crucial (one imagines) if a society is to move toward enlightened times.
In the entire first Christian century Jesus is not mentioned by a single Greek or Roman historian, religion scholar, politician, philosopher or poet. His name never occurs in a single inscription, and it is never found in a single piece of private correspondence. Zero! Zip references! Bart D. Ehrman
Wasn't Josephus near the end of the first century? I never put much stock in the Josephus and even if it was it would still be an enormous lack of reference to someone as supposedly huge as Jesus, but in the pursuit of accuracy here...
@@anthonybowman3423 - Josephus never mentioned him either. No copy of his history from prior to the 4th Century contains the abruptly incongruent out-of-context passage about Jesus that gets inserted centuries later by church founder Origen. It's not even a _good_ forgery.
2:38 paradise lost 5:43 isn't 1508 7:30 god's no 8:00 life of Brian Christian 8:39 rashdi Muslim 9:15 Behzti Sikh 9:32 against free speech 10:33 race to be offended. Fatwa joke 11:24 manufactured protest 12:07 Danish cartoon cycling helmet 13:40 against religious protection 14:40 no right to be not offended 14:52 exception 16:07 Islam push for protection 18:40 BBC protection of religion 19:15 religious school division 20:15 divine right rather than electorate 21:19 jokes about beliefs democratic truth 22:15 protestants Vs Catholic 22:30 offense Vs provocation for the sake of it 22:53 new communities should adapt 23:10 24:12 legitimate religions 23:58 Iraq war 26:25 Paris Hilton 27:55 religious fundamentalism from religious revivalism 80 years ago 28:26 USA religion politics 29:52 faith schools - selection bias 31:35 34:08 religion taught as facts in school 32:50 USA George Bush religious loony 33:00 no secular school 33:40 politics use religion 34:45 Christian against Hinduism 35:16 36:05 religious taught in schools good Vs bad 35:32 accused of blasphemy 36:40 open debate free speech 38:00 beliefs not obstruction to dialogue Monty python
i'd like to see stu and polly toynbee talk more... i''ven heard loads of stu and allen moore before, but i get the feeling an extended section iwth PT would be quite rewarding viewing.
Such a brave man is Stewart, he only goes for the low-hanging fruit of the kumbaya happy-clappy christians, but doesn't dare say shit to the followers of a certain other Abrahamic religion because that would involve the very real possibility of him receiving physical violence.
Thank you...that was lovely ....and frightening. Sometime in the 60's ( I think ) someone wrote a play about the lifeboat rescues from a sinking ship of Whitby. The lifeboat crew , going back into the storm for about the 4th or 5th time were drunk and most drowned when the lifeboat overturned. 150 years after the event ( about ) and the playwright was driven from Whitby by death threats....... just saying that it isn't only religion that inspires irrational hatred.
There will always be exceptions where nutters and their nutty ways are concerned. That said, it IS mostly religion / right wing scum to be found at the bottom of that particular barrel. Capitalism devised religion and saw how the poor lapped it up. And that's why pretty much every government around the world loves it and the system is based on it.
No, it isn't only religion that inspires irrational hatred - but it is the primary force that attempts to make it look rational and culturally acceptable. You can get far more people to agree that driving the playwright out of Whitby was crazy than you can get to agree that killing a cartoonist for drawing Muhammad is wrong.
I was on a long coach journey recently and the man I was sitting next to informed me that he believes Jesus was perfect, the only perfect human being. So why didn't he found a better religion, if he was? If he was so perfect, why are his followers STILL contradicting each other about what he said and what we are meant to believe - and why do so many people not follow him at all? In fat, why did he found a religion whose central tenets have always been routinely lambasted by its own followers? Situations like that coach journey are terrible temptations...... tempting to quietly accept, because of the painful embarrassment of thinking out loud, utter crap, posing as goodness and moral fortitude. Praises be to Stewart Lee ! - for speaking out, barefacedly.
Same view here, I went to a UK state school, we were forced to learn religious education the Church of England way, from years 1 - 3, I opted out (backed up from a letter from my parents) and spent that lesson in the library self learning about all religions, I'm not special or clever, but possibly more rounded than most in this area, I would urge everyone to do the same, I think religious tolerance is key.... Not fighting for one corner
@@peteconrad2077 They are funded by Open Democracy and the Gates Foundation. If they had to survive on sales and ad revenue they wouldn't exist. It isn't independent in the slightest.
@@thevo4100 they are funded by sales and thousands of donors. The ones you mentioned are amongst the larger ones but they exercise no control over the paper and do not contribute a controlling amount. Contrast that with the billionaire owned right wing rage that you read. They’re independent in every meaningful way, especially free for the bigoted stupidity of fat right billionaires.
@@peteconrad2077 How do you know what control their donors exert? Why are they giving them money? Out of kindness? Why not say the same for other papers? Because left good, right bad? I assume that's the depth of the reasoning here.
Stewart is one of my favourite 'content providers' along with Wes Anderson and PT Anderson. My favourite of all the Anderson twins. I like that Stewart has featured Alan Moore and Chris Morris in his shows as well. It's a shame Bridget Christie isn't more prominent but I guess comedy is a difficult game for women and talent doesn't seem to count.
I love Stewart Lee and find all this right-wing, fundamentalist garbage impossible to take seriously. But I realize that it IS serious and that these folks are seriously dangerous to functional democratic societies.
Glad to see, even with all the hate his play got by these people, that he takes an open-minded, wide ranging view on religion, even as an atheist. A breath of fresh air in a sphere so often infested with lazy bigotry.
As a teenager I was a Christian and tried to follow a way of compassion and peace. It was other Christians who put me off the religion whereas my best friends, decent kind kids, were atheists. There are of course massive hideous faults in the bible, especially the old testament, but also the new testament. Most of the bible pollutes some of its decent aspects and there is a lot of holier than thou and repressive hypocrisy. Gandhi said he liked Christ but not Christians.
I always thought that was funny. People always talk about the New Testament like it's so morally superior to the Old Testament. Nobody gets condemned to excruciating torture for time beyond your imagination in the Old Testament. The New Testament condemns MOST people to that. Even if it was just one guy, that'd be exceptionally morally dubious.
Beautifully observed narrative. Thank you, Stewart Lee, I've just added you to my pantheon of heroes. I hope you do shows in Dublin because I would camp out to get a ticket. I loved your monologue on Richard Hammond and thanks also for turning me on to Mr Funny himself Henning Wehn. I'm off to check your tour dates to see if you're coming to Ireland. That was a brilliant documentary. Please do more...
