TbP, Ep 07: Religious Studies (f/ Reuben from Loose Canons)

download on iTunes Strap in for our longest podcast yet as Billy Ray Stupendous and I host th host of another ultra-popular podcast, Reuben from Loose Canons, to talk about th practice of religion.  Witness as we agree that arguing for or against God's existence is about as useful as debating whether Th Thing could take Th Hulk in a best-of-seven.  Witness as we discuss th similarities between modern Christianity and Windows 8.  Witness as th definition of religion gets looser and looser until th IRS grants th Libertarian Church th tax exemption they always dreamed of.  Witness as th Wyatt Earp Effect accounts for th origin of humankind and of th universe itself.  Reuben's world-famous in our neighbourhood as a devil's advocate, a first-class reverse snob, a mensch, and an outstanding dancer.  Witness how pleased we are to have him on th show.  That's right, go and witness to thy neighbour. Table of contents: 00:00  "How Far Am I from Canaan?" performed by the Soul Stirrers f/ Sam Cooke 02:49  Shoutout to Loose Canons  03:45  A simple Q: do you believe in God? / a simple answer / an answer that's a question 07:49  A breakup w/ a polyamorous God 10:04  Cameo 1: "Bart" blows her nose 10:27  Den again, th whole universe is odd / Hell, Heaven, & aliens are too human 13:49  Major Buffy spoiler / Joss Whedon loves his heroin...es 15:49  Sacred texts / playing non-literal / an atheist who is pro-religion 18:13  Local Church Full of Brainwashed Idiots Feeds Town's Poor Every Week 20:33  On whether Christianity is anti-sex / 99% pleasureless sex / Japan's penis festival  24:24  Sex drive vs religion / reproductive strategy of religion 27:29  There were African popes / there was a female pope 31:06  Billy's agnosticism / th importance of proof 32:40  Timeline of African popes 34:24  Religious persuasion & dating 37:08  Shoutout to Portland (& Basil from Loose Canons) 37:24  On growing up a Jew in Alabama 39:33  Christianity as Jewish fanfic 40:51  A quote from a devil's advocate / th evolution of Reuben's attitude re religion 44:55  Reuben's contrarian approach to cinema / Hunger Games: Catching Fire 47:40  Th unreliability of predictions & first impressions / th instability of personal context 50:13  On th extinction of "retard" 52:51  A quote on religion's failure by a supposed religious person (Henri Nouwen) / philosophical reflection vs th violence of everyday life 56:51  Religion as a haven for freaks and artists 57:49  Technical difficulty / shoutout to Justified / "the Golden Age of television" / TV vs movies / shoutout to James Finney (?) 1:00:46  Shit-talking Marvel / an appreciation of Ang Lee's Hulk (2003) 1:05:05  What do y'all make of Buddhism ? / a mission of self-destruction 1:09:00  Reuben's pros and cons of Buddhism / American bourgeois Buddhism as fantasy football analogue / "... a Libertarian religion ..." 1:13:07  Starting th world from zero / working for salvation 1:14:24  Alan Moore again / Are we special ?  1:18:31  Th Wyatt Earp Effect / Cameo 2: "Bart" makes a barely audible noise 1:21:08  Religion : spirituality :: collectivism : individualism / "Religion and capitalism are inversely related" 1:27:33  Secret origin of Jewish wealth 1:32:01  Capitalism adopts Christianity / cherry-picking th Bible 1:35:40  Biblical cinema / Fox News vs Darren Aronofsky's Noah (2014) 1:36:46  That's because Jews are smarter 1:37:42  Our longest podcast ever, officially / snippet of Jewish prayer 1:39:16  Q: Would human life be improved by higher levels of contemplation ? / interconnectedness of all things 1:42:32  Story: Reuben's mum goes to heaven / Pete Holmes vs David Lynch 1:47:11  Bonus Track: a song sung to God in God's own voice