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Wednesday, October 18, 2006
But could they fill the Albert Hall?
This doesn't have anything to do with anything but the article has been sitting on my computer for a couple weeks so I figured I should do something with it. Long story short, evangelicals are trying to delude attract the kids with lame right wing "rock shows".
These guys are not just delusional, they're deluded. 2 million in 15 years is about 133,000 a year. I haven't looked at tour figures but somehow I'm just guessing Sir Paul might be able to swing that. What do you think, could he sell out 1st Ave. size venues two nights a week? Come on, everyone knows The Beatles were bigger than Jesus. (Sadly that may not be the case any more, at least by Google measures. But hey! Woo hoo, Buenos Aires! I knew I liked it down there for a reason.)To break the isolation and bolster the teenagers’ commitment to a conservative lifestyle, Mr. Luce has been organizing these stadium extravaganzas for 15 years. The event in Amherst was the first of 40 that Teen Mania is putting on between now and May, on a breakneck schedule that resembles a road trip for a major touring band. The “roadies” are 700 teenagers who have interned for a year at Teen Mania’s “Honor Academy” in Garden Valley, Tex.
More than two million teenagers have attended in the last 15 years, said Mr. Luce, a 45-year-old, mop-headed father of three with a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Business Administration at Harvard and the star power of an aging rock guitarist.
“That’s more than Paul McCartney has pulled in,” Mr. Luce asserted, before bounding onstage for the opening pyrotechnics and a prayer.
[Just for fun, here is the breakdown of how Mr. Luce's Christapalooza stacks up against McCartney. In all fairness though, they do clean up on Herman's Hermits.]
12 Comments:
I'm just saying (I commented on one of Hammer's posts earlier this week) that you guys consistentlly take cheap shots at people of faith. I'm not sure if you claim to be taking a higher road than people like O'Reilly, or Limbaugh or Prager, but if you do, you are delusional. They take cheap shots at feminists, environmentalists and "hollywood liberals". You take cheap shots at people of faith. There is no compassion, no reasonable perspective or benefit of the doubt. It is simply lobbing angry words and accusations from the safety of your bunker (in this case, your blog).
So continue to blog away, but I hope you are self aware enough to see you are no different, no more compassionate and no more open minded than your colleagues (enemies) on the far right side of the issues.
-MM
By 
, at
10:01 AM
Division is not a cheap shot. Jambo's criticism is factual. Luce says he's bigger than Paul McCartney. This is an obvious reference to Lennon's "bigger than Jesus" quote from 35 years ago. Jambo is pointing out that Luce is not, in fact, bigger than McCartney.
A cheap shot would be criticizing the kids who attend such events. Jambo didn't do that.
I attended similar events 20+ years ago. I know these are well-intentioned children muddling through life the best way they know how, because that's exactly who I saw at summer camps and rallies.
My father taught Sunday school. My brother is an ordained pastor. I've preached from the pulpit and learned Amy grant songs. My mother's family is littered with deacons and firm believers of the noblest order.
We don't take shots at belief. We criticize leaders who manipulate belief. We criticize people who seek to replace science with belief. Not on the grounds that the beliefs are wrong, but on the express grounds that it's bad science.
Yes, and tomorrow you can convert to Judaism so you can make Jewish jokes. Just because you come from a family of Christians does not make your blog respectful to them.
Read Jambo's post again. Are you honestly saying that you don't believe it is taking cheap digs at people of faith? delude/attract. 'woo-hoo buenes aires'. I mean, the whole point of the article - a guy is about to go on stage, he's a bit excited and he exaggerates. You don't know anything about this guy, but since he's an Evangelical Chrisitian you assume the guy's a moron. This isn't fair criticism. This is blind, prejudiced attack.
And then, my big question is, who else is guilty of blind, predjudiced attacks? Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Limbaugh.
And you.
By , at
12:00 PM
Jambo is definitely criticizing Luce. No one is pretending otherwise. Contrariwise, Jambo has not criticized any of the teens who attend the concert.
You say it's not fair criticism to call Luce a "moron". You call that a "blind, prejudiced attack". Great. Perfick. Except for the fact that you're criticizing Jambo for something he never said.
You can ask Jambo what nefarious motives he had in using the word "delude" in his intro. Knowing Jambo, I assumed he was talking about the crappy music.
If you want to get picky, I didn't say that Jambo called him a moron. I said he assumed he was a moron. Which I assumed he assumed from reading his post. Feel free to switch 'moron' out and put in 'delusional'. I think my point is still valid.
But seriously. I'm spending too much time on this. I have work to do.
-mm
By , at
2:27 PM
I'm certainly not above the occasional cheap shot (which reminds me, someone told me the other day that Katherine Kersten has a blog, I need to check that out) and I know I took one at Alan Fine the other day. But I don't think I'm taking any here. I DO think this guy is delusional if he thinks his little rock shows are in a league with one of history's most successful singer/songwriters. That said, I do think that the biblical literalism which many (not all) evangelicals practice is on its face ridiculous. Does devoting your life to something ridiculous make you a moron? I don't know. Do I think guys like Luce are roping impressionable kids into believing a load of irrational foolishness? Hell yeah.
And I'm okay with that, I guess. I'm calling for moderation and real dialogue, obviously, but I'll take integrity. If you openly admit to being as closeminded towards Christians as far right wonks are towards feminists and homosexuals, then, well shit, go at it. Enjoy yourself.
Just please don't a. pretend your respectful towards religion because you are related to some idiot Christians, or b. pretend that you are in any way more open minded than your conservative counterparts.
By , at
8:44 PM
I, for one, have really enjoyed the open-mindededness of both your assumptions and knee-jerk victimhood. Very positive. Very constructive.
Whoa, sarcasm. Listen, obviously this is your site and I'm not going to win anything here. But knee-jerk victimhood? That's just non-sensical. I'm just pointing out exactly what Jambo said. You guys think Christians are idiots. Or, if you want to be picky, Jambo said that Christians are irrational fools. That is what this site thinks of Christians. Ok. Honestly. I will leave you to it.
I would, and I mean this somewhat gently, encourage you to stop, Mr. Hammer, trying to pretend you have any respect for people of faith. Your Dad may have taught Sunday School, your brother may be a pastor but you think they are just plain dumb.
By , at
9:34 PM
I don't think they are dumb. I don't think you're dumb. I am, of course, willing to be convinced by the evidence.
Cute.
By , at
10:22 PM
I don't think Christians are dumb. There are far to many brilliant people in the world who are Christians to ever say that. But I definitely believe that on some level they believe things that are simply not true. Which, depending on how they put their faith into action, may or may not be a bad thing.
"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
