WWGD?

First of all, a retraction: Starlog is still being published. I know. I'm as disappointed as you are.

Apparently it was an internet hoax; for a while, even Wikipedia had a mention that Starlog had ceased publishing.

The time for official celebration will have to be postponed.

One of the funniest websites out there is godtube. Is this site s clever parody of religious lunacy created by an atheist? Is it an unintentionally funny (and serious) website created by a christian? Who cares? All I know is that I’ve laughed myself silly looking aty the videos on the site. People that are trying to be funny don’t hit the mark as consistently as this site does.

By far, the best video maker on this website is someone calling himself “Soldieringodsarmy.” Sadly, this person’s videos have been removed from the website. But what great fun they were! The guy wore a ski mask over his face. He’d go on and on, attacking “skeptics, atheists and agnostics.” “Soldier” got to be really popular among the very selfsame “skeptics, atheists and agnostics,” for one reason: the guy was really, really funny. Was he doing dead on parody, or was he so clueless that he didn’t know how foolish he looked? I tended to lean toward the idea of parody.

The folks at godtube.com decided to remove all of “Soldier’s” videos. What is interesting is that there are christians who have also had their videos removed from godtube. Apparently no one is safe.

For those who wish to see what the fuss was about, you can see “Soldier’s” stuff here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=SoldierInGodsArmy .

A good summary of what was going on is available here http://www.xanga.com/powertothepenguins .

Apparently there have been a lot of people banned by godtube for various reasons. I was banned for praising it as one of the best atheist websites out there (the ban wasn’t terribly effective—I logged in fine the next day). One atheist tried uploading a bunch of Flintstones clips to godtube. After all, creationists say that dinosaurs and humans existed at the same time, so the Flintstones must be historic fact.

“Soldier” resentsd having been kicked from godtube. You can check out what he (and others) have to say about that here http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=banned+by+godtube .

My favorite: the CEO stating in a letter to “Soldier” that they have an “atheist problem” on godtube. One wonders at how many other videos were censored.

How very interesting! After I posted comments about “Soldier’s” videos, and a couple of weeks passed, the videos were taken off. Think about it! The person in charge of that website took weeks to figure out what was immediately obvious to atheists: that we were dealing with parody. One does wonder if that says something about the relative intelligence of atheists vs. christians.

I’m proud to have been banned from godtube, even though their ban was rather ineffective (they ban ISP addresses—just shut your modem off for a few hours and get back on—you’ll get around their ban).

I suspect that as the months pass it will become a badge of honor on both sides of the fence to have been banned from godtube. I can see it in a debate now: “You have no credibility! You haven’t even been banned from goftube yet!”

It’s a rare thing that both atheists and christians have something in common. There was so much to argue over: but godtube has brought us all together. Witness the following comment from digg.com:

"Don't bother with this site. I tried to upload a Christian music video. A few minutes later the video was removed and I was completely banned from the site. (I can't even get to the main page.) I guess the video wasn't Christian enough (not enough lyrics about God, etc., who knows?)It's not a site for just any Christian, it's a site for people who have the exact same interests and opinions as the webmaster. Basically, it's yet another Christian denomination."

Think of the following thought experiment: let’s say that a devout christian decided to upload some videos he made to godtube. Let’s say that our christian was a mainstream denomination: that he did not have a problem with evolution, and that he was concerned about how religious fundamentalists have seemingly taken over the mantle of official christian thought. Let’s say that his videos reflected those views. WWGD—What Would Godube Do?

Our christian is sincere, and he is honestly expressing his faith. Would godtube allow his videos to be viewed, or would they censor them? It's food for thought.