left biblioblography: CRIMINAL MINDS: ATHEISTS AND SATANISTS

Monday, August 07, 2006

CRIMINAL MINDS: ATHEISTS AND SATANISTS


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILER!

For those of you unfamiliar with this TV show, it’s a fantastic show, intelligent, well-scripted, strong characters and plot (and Lola Glaudini is an absolutely GORGEOUS woman), begins and ends with salient quotes.

There was a recent post at god4suckers.net that starts off with this:” So I’m watching A&E, and City Confidential is on. They’re talking about a group of teenagers from Pikeville KY, this was probably on the news a few months/years ago and I just missed/ don’t remember it. Anyways, there are these fucking teenagers, who called themselves “atheists/agnostics”, but dress all Goth like and claimed to have dabbled in satanism.”

Well, it was upsetting, to say the least. Atheists get lumped into those amorphous ‘others’ in society, pagans, satanists, and all sorts of sundry fringe groups. This was in relation to the Kentucky Goth murders of 1997.


So I’m watching this episode,
"The Popular Kids" Episode #110. ”When two high-school students are murdered in a small town, Hotchner and his team suspect they may have been the victims of a cult killing.”

And a fringe pariah group that called themselves the ‘Lords of Destruction’, who effect all the trappings of your standard Goth/Satanic stereotype (heavy metal, black fingernails, upside down pentagrams, that sort of thing) were of course immediately fingered (A tree near the decomposed bodies and the fresh one had ‘SATAN IS GOD, combined with a reversed pentagram, with the intials LOD underneath, all of course drawn in blood).

The ringleader is dragged into the local precinct (small town: but of course!), and when closely questioned about his belief system, he launched into a fairly decent speech about the hypocrisy of xtianity, how it’s shoved down throats regularly, and he tagged him and his ‘followers’ as “We’re atheists. Aggressive atheists.” He also explained that the word Satan stems from (this, from answers.com): “The English word "Satan" is from a Hebrew word meaning, "to oppose" or "adversary."

All in all, it was a great show, dispelling quite a few common myths (satanic human ritual killing has never been proven in this country, most serial killers aren’t Satanists). I wasn’t too fond of the lumping in of atheists with Satanists – but it was fairly clear in the context of the show that these were extremely young folks, who took the easiest shock route.

BUT: it most certainly didn’t end the way one would expect. In fact, the LOD was exonerated completely.

Let’s see, on the telly, there have been multiple references to non-religion. Malcolm in the Middle, one Xmas Hal and the boys decide to go into the Xmas tree business, they undercut the Catholic priests around the corner. The priests confront them, and one of the boys (Reese) laughs when they’re threatened. “Hey, in case you didn’t know, you’re talking to a bunch of godless heathens, so take your ghost stories somewhere else!”

Episode of Bones, about Voodoo, the two main characters are talking about zombies. The romantic interest (buzz-cut and square jaw type) gets upset when the lady coroner says xtians believe in zombies. “Jesus was NOT a zombie!” “Hey, he came back from the dead, didn’t he?” I roared.

The main character in ‘House’ is an atheist.

The commercial about Capitol One, where the guardian angel keeps screwing up (EXCEPT when the ‘watched over’ starts to use the wrong card).

One of the beauties of the American culture is this: ain’t nothing sacred.

Slowly, surely, we are becoming a part of the culture. As of 2005, the atheist/non-religious/agnostic portion of the world is now at 16%.

Slowly, inexorably, our numbers are growing, piecemeal, but growing.

I take comfort in that. But it may be too little too late.

Here’s hoping that it will be in time.

Till the next post, then.

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15 comments:

Mesoforte said...

Of course nothing is sacred in our culture, that's what makes it so fun. ^_^

While I'm at it, I've picked up a book recently called 'Breaking the Spell' by Daniel C. Dennett that's basically says that there should be a scientific study of religion itself, (not g_d) but the actual institution.

Maggie Rosethorn said...

I think I'm more agnostic than atheistic still. I just won't believe without proof. The "mystical feelings" wore out a long time ago.

Krystalline Apostate said...

MF:
While I'm at it, I've picked up a book recently called 'Breaking the Spell' by Daniel C. Dennett that's basically says that there should be a scientific study of religion itself, (not g_d) but the actual institution.
Hmmm....a 'double-blind' study? ;)

Mesoforte said...

RA

It isn't a study at all really, its merely asking the question of whether or not we should study religion scientifically.

Krystalline Apostate said...

MF:
I was just playin'.

Krystalline Apostate said...

maggie:
I think I'm more agnostic than atheistic still. I just won't believe without proof. The "mystical feelings" wore out a long time ago.
It's hard, sometimes, to just let go of the old patterns, the neural pathways.
Soft chains are hardest to break.

Anonymous said...

RA
I was watching House last week. It was an episode where he had to teach, and it was interspersed with flashbacks to when they almost amputated his leg.
The subject of NDE's came up and there was a short discussion of life after death. Someone asked if House thought it was fair that this was all there is. And he said something like it wasn't fair we were punished just for being here.

It was a great line. I wish I could recall it correctly. I thought I'd never forget it, but looky there, I already did!

Don't suppose you caught it?

Krystalline Apostate said...

karen:
And he said something like it wasn't fair we were punished just for being here.
Sounds kinda like G.B Shaw's quote about earth being a prison planet for aliens.
No, I actually don't watch House. I read it somewhere on the 'Net, truth be told.

Anonymous said...

MF said:"While I'm at it, I've picked up a book recently called 'Breaking the Spell' by Daniel C. Dennett that's basically says that there should be a scientific study of religion itself, (not g_d) but the actual institution."

That sounds very interesting. I bet they would find that it is all a psychological mind fuck that makes people do crazy stuff. But seriously, it might show how it causes all kinds of societal ills.

Ra

Your link to the Kentucky goth murders didnt work. Anyway, it reminds me of the Menphis 3 in Arkansaw. Three teenage boys were accused of killing three little boys because they were headbangers who dabbled in wicca.

Which leads me to a little rant. I have a lot of close ties with non-theist pagans and satanists and I can tell you first hand that they hold a lot of the same values as atheists. Like you pointed out there has never been any evidence of ritual killings by pagans, satanists or witches. The only ritual killings going on are done by sexual serial killers and I still stick to my stance that all sexual serial killers in America are christian or a follower of one of the abrahamic religions. I am still waiting for someone to prove otherwise.

Krystalline Apostate said...

SNTC:
Your link to the Kentucky goth murders didnt work.
D'oh! Been fixed, sorry.
Three teenage boys were accused of killing three little boys because they were headbangers who dabbled in wicca.
What was the end result?
I have a lot of close ties with non-theist pagans and satanists and I can tell you first hand that they hold a lot of the same values as atheists
Hey, I understand that. I realize that Hollyweird has cooked up a big ugly pejorative for satanists. There are a few who go overboard, but there's moderates as well. I had a discussion about this at god4suckers.
The only ritual killings going on are done by sexual serial killers and I still stick to my stance that all sexual serial killers in America are christian or a follower of one of the abrahamic religions.
Hmmm...intriguing. All of them? I'll look into that. I know the large % were. I think Ramirez was a satanist, wasn't he?
I'll research it.

Anonymous said...

Ra

Here is a link about the West Memphis 3. No one with a rational mind thinks the teenage boys did it. I truly believe it was one of the little boys step father. I watched the document about it on HBO a few years ago. As far as I know the the now young men are still on death row. IT is a heart breaking story. I guess this story is a bit different cuz these teens didnt do it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_Three


The problem with some satanists is that their idea of what and who satan is comes from the bible and they truly believe that Satan is a supernatural being. I lump that kind of belief in with the Abrahamic traditions, after all satan is a biblical diety.
Now, there has been a great change in a lot of satanistic cults with the evolution of science. Lavey Santanists no longer believe in a deity, their new motto is "believe in nothing".

Krystalline Apostate said...

SNTC:
The problem with some satanists is that their idea of what and who satan is comes from the bible and they truly believe that Satan is a supernatural being.
Guess they're not 'true' satanists.;)
Lavey Santanists no longer believe in a deity, their new motto is "believe in nothing".
Holy crap, is that where the theists get that ridiculous comment?
There's a wide diversity even in that belief system.
I'll take a look at the Memphis 3, thanks.

Krystalline Apostate said...

SNTC:
Holy crap, what a messy case! Unbelievable. They couldn't even match up the bite marks? No corpus delecti? No physical evidence?
Shit, they should throw the entire case out. Whatever happened to due process?
Polygraph tests aren't admissable in court, last I checked. Pure induction: they only measure the comfort rate of the questioned, not as accurate as most claim.
The 'occult' expert got his degree via mail order.
I'm just shakin' my head. So many problems w/the entire scenario.

Anonymous said...

Ra said:"They couldn't even match up the bite marks?"

Exactly! And guess who had all his teeth pulled when he was asked for his bite mark? The crazy christian fundamentalist step father of one of the dead boys.

It was a witch hunt and anyone that didnt fit the ideal christian discription was targeted. I guess this would be considered another case of discrimination against the non-christians? Man, do we put up with a lot of BS from those crazy christians.

Krystalline Apostate said...

SNTC:
Exactly! And guess who had all his teeth pulled when he was asked for his bite mark? The crazy christian fundamentalist step father of one of the dead boys.
Thanks, missed that.
Hmmm...suspicious, that.