Ben Affleck & Matt Damon will reunite on-screen yet again, this time for a crime thriller called RIP. Hm. Sounds interesting, I guess. [Hollywood Life]
Paul Mescal is a big advocate for short-shorts on men. [OMG Blog]
The state of Louisiana mandates the display of the ten commandments in every public schoolroom. It’s funny because it’s not only unconstitutional, it’s also probably prohibitively expensive for public schools to buy all of those displays. [Pajiba]
Pharrell’s Olympic-themed Louis Vuitton collection is great. [LaineyGossip]
I’m glad Kesha is laughing but this Katy Perry sh-t isn’t funny. [Jezebel]
The backstory on how Kim Kardashian & Chloe Sevigny were paired together for Variety’s actor-on-actor series. Chloe wasn’t mad, y’all. [Buzzfeed]
Remy Ma’s son was arrested for murder. [JustJared]
Belinda Carlisle is having a holiday bash. [Socialite Life]
Matt Czuchry hangs out with his on-screen daughter. [Seriously OMG]
Michael Fassbender & Alicia Vikander were out for the LV show. [RCFA]
Why are fundies so obsessed with the old testament? Do they want to convert to Judaism or?
It’s part of the plan to turn the USA into a Christian Nationalist nation if Trump wins.
My partner came from that world and was the first to teach me that Jesus commands his followers to disavow the Old Testament. That the only commandment is love. Meanwhile, 8 years of Hebrew school studying the Torah taught me that everything should be questioned and interpreted in the context of real life circumstances. AFIK there’s no religion whose prophet commands a literal interpretation of the Old
Testament. The hypocrisy is absolutely maddening.
definitely plan to turn the US into a Christofascist state.
FWIW there’s really no such thing as Judeo-Christian, that’s just a term the fundagelicals made up to try to claim they weren’t pushing to Christianity and try to make it look like they were somehow including Jews (it’s the Christofascist equivalent of “my Black friend”).
Also, note that the law actually requires the posting of the 10 commandments (the Protestant version) at “post-secondary schools” as well so they want to continue the indoctrination at the college level too
Some idiot on FB tried to argue with me that I was mistaken about Texas attempting the same thing. “I have never heard of that, and I don’t believe you because that’s obviously unconstitutional.” No kidding. And tell me you aren’t living in the South without telling me you aren’t living in the South.
Fundies like the Old Testament because the New Testament isn’t scary enough. Fear, fear fear.
Re: Louisiana’s mandate to display the 10 Commandments in EVERY public school classroom — it will surprise no one that this will supposedly be paid for with “private “ donations: Yet another step in the selling of publicly funded common Goods to private entities.
I hope that the identity of this/these private entities gets publicly revealed in process of the legal challenges to this unconstitutional— yet politically adept — move that are already being prepared.
Meanwhile some good news: Politics
Senate Democrats launch investigation into Jared Kushner.
I have zero to say about ultra red states except, get out of there.
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I would type up the 10 Commandments, in the smallest type size, and then reduce it further so it fits on a 2 in x 2 in piece of paper and tape it to the trash can.
And I say that as someone who thinks the 10 C’s are a pretty good guide. However, religion does not belong in basic education (even university). Go to church and/or seminary if you want that sort of thing.
Commandments 5-10 are just good advice for being a member of society (which shouldn’t have anything to do with religion), but commandments 1-4 are problematic as they are so specific to Judeo-Christian practice, and specifically Jewish practice in regards to idols (which I believe are allowed in Christianity?) It’s an extreme violation of the separation of Church & State.
@BettyRose: I think you might be conflating “idols” with “icons” and/or other types of religious imagery (like statues)?
Idols are objects (often statues) that are either worshiped as divine unto themselves or as representing pagan deities. Those are never accepted within any branch of Christianity. (Examples: a statue of Zeus from a Greek temple, or the Golden Calf from the story in Exodus).
Icons are sacred images of important figures or scenes from the Bible (usually focused on Jesus and/or Mary) or of saints. They are an important element of Orthodox Christian traditions and are also part of some Catholic and Protestant traditions. These branches of Christianity also generally embrace other kinds of religious imagery like statues, paintings, stained glass windows, etc.
There are also some stricter (usually Protestant) traditions that reject the use of imagery and a lot of the more ornate, decorative parts of religious practice. It’s led to a lot of infighting between different branches of Christianity over the years, unfortunately.
Bkine – Thank you for that distinction. I think there’s a bit of a ven diagram here of where icons and idolatry overlap and where they don’t. I’m definitely not an expert.
@BettyRose: Most of it hinges on the difference between “worship” and “reverence”, and some of it is in the eye of the beholder,
In all branches of Christianity, “worship” is reserved only for God. For most branches of Christianity, that means God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit (the “Triune God” or the “Holy Trinity”).
Orthodox and Catholic Christians will show reverence to icons, statues, and other images that “point to” the sacred, and they have reverence for the Virgin Mary and the saints as exceptionally holy people. They don’t “worship” images or Mary or the saints – but they’ve been accused of it by Protestants (and others) and a lot of blood has been spilled because of it. Basically, what looks like idolatry to an outsider, from an insider’s perspective is not idolatry, but there’s a lot of nuance that the outside observer doesn’t always have.
I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic schools for many years. I was never taught to worship people like Mary, Joseph, or any saint. They’re people. Christian faiths will always claim that Catholics worship extraneous people in a fight for primacy, a ” we’re purer than you” fight. It will get repeated *forever* so check your source.
I would skip the 10 and type up the 2 attributed to Jesus in the New Testament, about fully loving God (ie not idolizing money or power or other people, stuff) and loving your neighbor as yourself. I mean, if you’re going to call yourselves bible toting Christians, might as well focus on his words instead of dragging up the old stuff.
But since those 2 commandments (and the rest of Jesus’s teachings) are the complete opposite of everything these Xtian nationalists do and say, they wouldn’t like that, now, would they.
Actually I’d love someone to draw the line, refuse, and instead post every reference in the US Constitution about separation of Church and State. Because that’s the law of the land, and the correct approach.
Can you imagine? They’ll be calling you a radical, a liberal . . .
I have only seen a couple of their movies together,does Ben ever get to play lead?
Batman?
As in the movies he does with Matt,its like he is always the supporting,but I have not seen all,didnt know they have done 9 movies together.
Thanks to Republicans defunding public education for decades, most people aren’t aware that we’re supposed to have separation of religion and state in this country. It’s in the Constitution. No publicly funded school/organization is allowed to espouse religious beliefs. Bring back Civics classes!
Not defending pubnicans *at all* but in a lot of ways the failures of our public schools are a feature not a bug. Originally they were designed to track the majority of students into unskilled labor, agrarian or industrial, for which critical thinking skills were counterproductive to complacency. Improvements have been made piecemeal over time, but there’s never been a complete reconceptualization of the public school system to adapt to a modern society where STEAM education and critical analysis of political rhetoric are the skills most needed to thrive in society.
I’m sure they’re not going to find any of that in religious schools.
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Re: Katy Perry, there was a thread on Twitter about this, and the thought is that she is still locked into her 6-album contract with Dr. Luke. So it’s not that she’s choosing to work with him, it’s that she has to.
She didn’t work with him on latest album? She is working with him again because most of her hits were produced by him. That was also what is reported: she went back to him to get hits again.
These 5 or 6 album contracts seem so unfair,most artist release new albums every 3-5 years. Unless your Taylor or rihanna(when she did). That is 15- 20 years of your life under these contracts,and you have probably churned your best work and dont even own your own publishing.
Wild theory here, is this what’s been bugging Ben the whole time? Having the Latina wife + life Matt has. Like Ben woo’d Jen to have this thing Matt has (also tried with Anna) and he thought Jen would be (Jen G) the doting quite wife/status partner?? I’m most definitely not a Jen L fan but I see something here where they are both chasing different expectations in their relationship. Her to prove she got her “A list white man” (the only I know she dated) and him getting his “prize Latin wife” like Matt (Ben’s thinking)? I dunno it seems odd doing a movie now after all these years and it triggered my theory.
I doubt it. Matt and Ben did “Air” together in 2021. Ben directed & Acted – Matt acted as well.
Louisiana will put up those 10 Commandments – Constitution be damned. ACLU and others will sue and it will wind through the courts (losing every time) until it ends up at the Supreme Court, where it loses 6-3.
That’s about when multiple trials start for Louisiana politicians who profited through the grift. Somebody’s gotta print the commandments and they need a nice frame, too! Maybe even a bible for each grade-level! Powerpoint presentations? Tee-shirts and ballcaps! Fieldtrips to the Creation museum! Get your hands out now!!!
The 10 Commandments thing makes me think that someone has to sell like 500,000 “Ten Commandments” prints that they are stuck with, so they got a law passed.
FAMILIES (ok moms) are responsible for religious education, not governments, as Faith is “exercised” and “practiced”; it’s not words written on a piece of paper. They know that, right?
And the 10 Commandments are easily memorized and churches are happy to hand out copies of these things for the fridge. Sometimes even laminated!
Hey what do I know? Maybe seeing these things every day will encourage kids to be good members of society and Louisiana will become a utopia of Amish-like community care funded by future corporate overlords that won’t turn into criminals. (lol, no)