Carl...maybe you should have not had that mischeivous thought..What was your preceeding thought you had going into seeing this, any negative thought that gained strength by purposely wanting to see negativity? Never the less, I being a born again Christian, by the grace of God does not like when christianity is shown in a carnival environment, it dilutes the real meaning of Gods word. As for ancient book or theological nonsence as you stated, well I can see you definately need God in your life since you are full of self rightouness and everything revolves around your thinking. Stop the accusation of inserting child abuse and nonsence into something you dont understand because of clouded judgment.

I have seen the impact of Bibleman about six years ago when I lived in Wichita, Kansas when it played with the original Bibleman Willie Aames, and when it was staged for about 4,000 people at a venue that most of the flock referred to informally as "Six Flags Over Jesus". I think that I was the only one in the crowd to attend because of the "creepiness" factor, but was welcomed in the cavernous lobby by the sales of Bibleman paraphenalia that included:

Bibleman Swords
Bibleman Shields
Bibleman Action Figures
Bibleman Flags
Bibleman DVDs
and my favorite....Biblegirl hair extensions

And while the ground was fertile in Kansas for this type of Jesus/Merchandising tie-ins, it was interesting to see that the kids saw this as a bone fide Super Hero, not that different than Superman or Spiderman, so at the end when all the kids were asked if they wanted to meet Bibleman (and take Jesus as their personal saviour), the parents eagerly pushed their kids up to the front knowing that the kids were just hearing "Meet Bibleman" and not necessarily the Jesus part.

The most interesting irony was that one of the featured songs in the Bibleman show (which included two Jumbotron screens, a live band, and fireworks inside) was the use by Bibleman of the song "Easy to be Hard" (check it out, ASCAP and BMI for rights uses). The woman next to me said "What a wonderful song - it's fabulous to hear such a heartwarming Christian song." When I pointed out to her that it was from that "Christian Musical 'HAIR', she all but denounced me as a fear mongerer, and that couldn't be true.

I'll have to say that the Bibleman Action Figure I bought re-sold on eBay for a hearty profit. Take that, moneychangers! POW! BAM!

Yer pal.

I attended the Bibleman show Friday night, along with my wife and three daughters. I'll agree with the reviews of the show - it was not very good. The lip-synching was horrible (I could've done it better and I didn't know the script) and the choreography looked made up on the spot. HOWEVER, my girls were into it. My eight year old nephew loves Bibleman and learning the Bible verses from the video series has helped him become a honest and decent young man, in school, church and life.

Personally, I'm not into the whole "Christian rock concert" spectacle like I used to be. But at least with Bibleman, kids are receiving a positive message and learning Biblical principles. The Bibleman creators and the parents who support the product are trying to make a difference in the lives of kids who, with all the negative influences around them, need a hand in learning good values. Let's see...kids grow up learning how to respect their parents and authority, being honest and trustworthy and decent. Yeah, they're abused, just brainwashed victims.

As far as Strock's assertion goes that Christian parents are somehow akin to child abusers, he needs to get off his anti-Christian soapbox and stop ripping a large percentage of parents in our area that are trying to do right by their kids. Would Strock rather just let parents lock kids in their rooms with video games and the internet until they're 18? Let teachers and peers influence their opinions and beliefs? That's not parenting. Look up the definition of a parent. It speaks of passing down traditions and values from their ancestry to their offspring. That's what parents and families do, religious or not. Just because you don't agree with the values being passed along doesn't make it wrong or abusive.

In my opinion, Dawkins is an anti-Christian bigot and Strock is aiding and abetting the hate speech. This idiocy needs to stop and Christian parents need to be given the honor they're due for passing time-honored traditions of their faith down to the next generation.

I went to church as a child, not a very rabid one and even attended a Methodist college. However, I have not forced my child to attend church and only regret that she didn't grow up knowing the beauty of most Christmas carols.
That being said, it drives me nuts when educated people carry on these theological discussions ("as you know, in First Corinthians it says...") as if they were citing some reality. Don't these people realize that the Bible is the minority belief here. I don't doubt that there was a Jesus; hell there have been many really good people in the world, from many different religions.
Oddly enough, they're so alike that it's difficult to accept that most wars are based on religion. Kind of like a lot of identical twins fighting with each other. Perhaps all these religious types should get together and go back to the basis of their specific religions. Aren't they motivated by goodness?
The scary thing about such new-age quasi-religious entertainments is that they equate believers with the right side, even as they do horrible things to their neighbors. One doesn't have to believe in God, or any god, to be good.

Carl, I agree with you 100%, pretty much in your whole attitude toward Christianity and other religions.

I find it intriguing that the same Gazette issue also contained a letter from one Dave Hart taking you severely to task for your anti-Christianity writings. He seems particularly exercised by thinking that you couldn't say the same about (for example) Hasidic Jews without being declared anti-Semitic.

My approach to that possibility is consistent, I think: I consider ALL religions to be myths, unworthy of belief by modern humans. I'm not against any specific religion, but all of them.

None of those loudly defending Christianity has ever proved its validity to my satisfaction. I even got some mailings of allegedly probative literature from one true believer, but everything he sent was self-serving or otherwise unconvincing.

I believe what I experience, and I gather that you do too. So far, I have experienced nothing that would make me (again) into a Christian - despite the fact that I was raised as such. And this "Bibleman" stuff is just too silly to think seriously about.

Bibleman - I'm LMAO !!!! The really funny part is, that people think that believe in a myth, is better than reality.

I think the letter-writer asked a good question: I poke fun at Christians, why not at Jews? Please watch my column in the Daily Gazette for my answer. Coming soon .... CS

How about, for one reason, that Jews don't go around proclaiming this to be a "Jewish Nation"? For another, they don't keep trying to force the teaching of creationism (or ID, or whatever it's being called) in taxpayer funded science classes. And finally, 80% of the American population claims to be Christian, yet some claim they are being persecuted?

I'm sure you'll have something more eloquent and better fleshed out -- can't wait!

BTW, I'm not against religion, as long as it's believers don't try to affect my life, or the lives of others whose views differ. I simply don't believe in anything supernatural.

Carl, You are right on track on religion. A course in religion that I took over 50 years ago in a Presbyterian affiliated college noted that "almost" every society that has developed in mankind's history has contrived a "religion" (that provides a convenient explanation for the imponderables that control our origins, our destinies, and the forces that control our everyday lives). Most also claim some great revelation(s) in the distant and unverifiable past to some favored individual(s), and succession of the authority and power so endowed to a favored class of priests, shamans, or what have you. It doesn't take a lot of study to find that these explanations (religions) differ quite widely ranging from assiging supernatural powers to natural objects or phenomena to assuming the existence of omnipotent supernatural beings. These religions all share one thing in common, however. Specifically: The sincere efforts of many dedicated and capable seekers has amassed a huge body of evidence that contradicts them all. Pondering on this, it became clear to me that every person should has the right and responsibility to reject, refute, and repudiate everything that he/she has been taught by others about religion, and then having been so cleansed from the errors (or perhaps truths) of others, decide for ones self what conceptualization of deity, or none, suits that individual.

Carl, I got interrupted before I finished the previous thought. I wrote that "every person should have the right and responsibility to reject, refute, and repudiate everything that he/she has been taught by others about religion and then having been so cleansed from the errors (or perhaps truths) of others, decide for one's self what conceptualization of deity, or none, suits that individual. I should have gone on to write that: Having so done, refuse to infringe upon the same right and responsibility of anyone else, by keeping one's own convictions so derived entirely to one's self. Said another way: No person has the right nor responsibility to, in any way, determine or influence the relationship between any other person and that person's individual conceptualization of deity, or none.

And most importantly, no government or majority group, democratically created or not, should influence, support or restrict any individual's relationship or lack thereof with anything supernatural. That's more or less the First Amendment.