{"id":31639,"date":"2020-12-22T10:18:40","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T16:18:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=31639"},"modified":"2020-12-22T10:18:56","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T16:18:56","slug":"bread-and-circuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2020\/12\/22\/bread-and-circuses\/","title":{"rendered":"Circuses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hemant Mehta on <em><strong>Friendly Atheist<\/strong><\/em> is <a href=\"https:\/\/friendlyatheist.patheos.com\/2020\/12\/20\/watch-these-christian-megachurches-stage-elaborate-expensive-christmas-shows\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">puzzled by megachurch Christmas displays<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Here\u2019s what some megachurches are doing to celebrate Christmas. Far from a simple Nativity play, these are Broadway-style performances that, I think, are meant to bring you closer to Jesus.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Insane Christmas Productions at Church-What Is This?\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nm9BKJqhH6o?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I haven\u2019t figured out the connection yet, but maybe you can fill me in.<\/p>\n<p>How much money is wasted on these performances\u2026 and for what real purpose? Does any of that scream \u201cbirth of Christ\u201d to you? Does any of that make you want to join these churches? I have to imagine it does or else they wouldn\u2019t be doing it, but then I have to question the type of people suckered in by these spectacles who think they\u2019re somehow more devout as a result of watching the show.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The answer to <em>real purpose<\/em> is <em>maintenance of the epistemic bubble<\/em>. This is the fulfillment of a bonding need of a group of people. By providing it, the church reduces the risk of exposure to influences which may dilute both offerings and allegiance.<\/p>\n<p>This is how you build loyalty to irrationality. It&#8217;s a small step, but it&#8217;s the building of that bubble of a society, within the larger American society, that emphasizes homogeneity while reducing tolerance.<\/p>\n<p>If they didn&#8217;t provide it, members would seek it elsewhere &#8211; and their information stream would be less controlled by the church.<\/p>\n<p>Either that, or all of these megachurch pastors are <strong>drama queens<\/strong> &#8211; and that is entirely possible. After all, <em>megachurch<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hemant Mehta on Friendly Atheist is puzzled by megachurch Christmas displays: Here\u2019s what some megachurches are doing to celebrate Christmas. Far from a simple Nativity play, these are Broadway-style performances that, I think, are meant to bring you closer to Jesus. I haven\u2019t figured out the connection yet, but maybe \u2026 <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2020\/12\/22\/bread-and-circuses\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31639"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31641,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31639\/revisions\/31641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}