Is there a movie, play or book where we find a charlatan who uses religion as a tool to take Money from fools making a great speech about himself and his life philosophy?
I think in something like that guy from Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner, but more contemporary. I know that Molieré wrote Tartuffe, but there’s no great poetic-revelatory speech by the man himself in the play explaining his own life/business-cosmology.
Anybody here watched The Hospital or Network? I was thinking on a speech like the ones we see on that movie, but, like I said, made by a religious crook.
You should read the memoirs of the cardinal De Retz. Guy was a cardinal of the Catholic Church by right of birth but in his memoirs he calls himself 'the least God-fearing man there ever was' and in general he spent his life fooling around and using everyone.
Robert Wright
Not quite what you asked, but this might help
“I was walking along the bank of a stream when I saw a mother otter with her cubs, a very endearing sight, I'm sure you'll agree. And even as I watched, the mother otter dived into the water and came up with a plump salmon, which she subdued and dragged onto a half submerged log. As she ate it, while of course it was still alive, the body split and I remember to this day the sweet pinkness of its roes as they spilled out, much to the delight of the baby otters, who scrambled over themselves to feed on the delicacy. One of nature's wonders, gentlemen. Mother and children dining upon mother and children. And that is when I first learned about evil. It is built into the very nature of the universe. Every world spins in pain. If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.”
― Terry Pratchett
James Taylor
That was a good quote until it turned into reddit crap in the last sentence.
Jack Clark
Uh, William Blake?
Julian Long
I'm planning on writing something like this, but it will just be a small part of a greater work.
Brody Rivera
The Bible
Hudson Russell
Liked this a lot but would like to use other animals in order of not imitating Prachett so obviously. Any idea of other example of mother-children dining mother/children in nature?
Mason Parker
Foxes and rabbits?
Juan Wood
Marjoe
Julian Kelly
>animals eat each other >wtf we have to destroy God now ???
Daniel Barnes
>Animals who are incapable of having the intelligence to comprehend morality are evil
I think the main question there is that the world of living things is dependent of a chain of pain and suffering. Living things prey on each other and that’s the natural way that the cosmos is build. Humans not only prey on each other, but also on other living things.
I don’t think the world he chose - evil - is the right one. Even if we don’t use the word evil the terrible effects of suffering are enough for one to doubt the existence of a perfect intelligent design.
This is an old problem. The speech of God from inside the bowels of the storm in Job already addresses it. But there hasn’t been a satisfactory answer yet. In Job the great poetical beauty of the speech of God makes one agree with him, but his arguments are nonexistent: he refuses to explain and mostly scorns the daring of a human being in wanting him to explain himself.
Suffering is actually such a great problem that all religions basically say that in the afterlife suffering will be no more, that suffering is either a probation or a tax for bad deeds in another life or even a way of refining the soul. But no religions state that suffering is perpetual and that suffering will be natural even in paradise.
Lucas Walker
Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis and the film adaptation staring Burt Lancaster
Yes, but it does have a pretty redemptive ending for the protagonist.
Its a very well written book, its too melodramatic at times and too obvious with the message he tries to convey, so take some of it with a grain of salt and you'll enjoy it.
Cameron Ramirez
"Is that what God does? He helps? Tell me, why didn't God help my innocent friend who died for no reason while the guilty ran free? Okay. Fine. Forget the one offs. How about the countless wars declared in his name? Okay. Fine. Let's skip the random, meaningless murder for a second, shall we? How about the racist, sexist, phobia soup we've all been drowning in because of him? And I'm not just talking about Jesus. I'm talking about all organized religion. Exclusive groups created to manage control. A dealer getting people hooked on the drug of hope. His followers, nothing but addicts who want their hit of bullshit to keep their dopamine of ignorance. Addicts. Afraid to believe the truth. That there's no order. There's no power. That all religions are just metastasizing mind worms, meant to divide us so it's easier to rule us by the charlatans that wanna run us. All we are to them are paying fanboys of their poorly-written sci-fi franchise. If I don't listen to my imaginary friend, why the fuck should I listen to yours? People think their worship's some key to happiness. That's just how he owns you. Even I'm not crazy enough to believe that distortion of reality. So fuck God. He's not a good enough scapegoat for me."
