Green Day singer tells Bill Maher: ‘Religion is a bunch of bullsh*t’

[Echo In Light]

Green Day's lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong might have suffered a "brain fart" during his Friday appearance on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, but this is one punk rocker who still knows how to cut to the chase in one concise breath.

"Religion is a bunch of bullshit," he told Maher, after essentially stammering for a moment.

"That's what I want to hear!" the famously atheist host said, slamming his palms on the table and laughing.

Armstrong, who's been on the media circuit lately to promote Green Day's upcoming tour and the "American Idiot" Broadway show debut, appeared somewhat befuddled by Maher's prompting to talk about religion.

"One of your favorite subjects," Armstrong wryly said.

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0410/green-day-singer-tells-bill-maher-religion-bunch-bullsht/

See ya at church! :evilgrin:

[ixion]

1. k/r

for the Truth. :applause:

[spanone]

2. it's more dangerous than 'bullshit'.

what other organization let's you abuse children in the name of god?

[Cirque du So-What]

3. Scratch the surface and you'll get that response

even among many churchgoers, many of whom attend for a multitude of reasons that have nothing to do with religion.

[LiberalFighter]

9. Back in Revolutionary times it was the way to power and connections.

So if any were of any particular religion it didn't mean that they practiced or believed.

[obxhead]

10. It's still the way to power.

I doubt will will have a confessed atheist run a successful presidential campaign. The "what magic man in the sky do you believe in" question carries far too much weight in the election cycle.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. Green Day and Mr Armstrong are terrific

I always like them well enough, but then I saw a show. Those guys, they deliver. They make a show. Armstrong lays himself out there, and they give the fans what they came for. They love their audience, and that means I love them.

[NotThisTime]

8. They definitely lay it out there... good for them

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. That was a great interview.

Lots of good stuff.

[SidDithers]

6. Well said...

we need more public figures, entertainers, atheletes promoting the same message. That's the only way humankind will ever shake itself of the delusions that religions promote.

Sid

[Selatius]

7. People have done awful and incredible things in the name of a faith that was never their own.

They did so for the sake of power or for their own selfish reasons. I am not a religious man, but I don't begrudge anyone for holding any beliefs. My only problem with people comes with their intolerance of the beliefs of others. They seek to impose their vision upon others rather than letting people choose for themselves. This is wrong, and it always will be wrong.

[obxhead]

11. That is the nature of the beast

Having a firm belief in the unproven forces one to have a closed mind. If you allow for other religions to have any validity, then you by default put a chink in the belief of your own religion. Religions are just another form of control and division amongst us.

[Odin2005]

12. So THAT'S why I love Green Day so much!

:woohoo:

[AnArmyVeteran]

13. "Religion is just another of man's inventions to get us to hate each other" - LSR

[iris27]

14. Yet another reason for me to like BJA...too bad the latest Green Day

album has nothing on everything that's come before it.

[humblebum]

15. It's good to see bigots going green. nt

[Goblinmonger]

17. Wow. Just wow.

So how, exactly, is this bigotry? He is expressing his views about theology. He says nothing at all about the followers of religion.

You really have to stop looking so hard for a reason to feel oppressed. You're the majority, dude.

[humblebum]

18. Since when do numbers have anything to do with bigotry?

Bigots don't come any more vocal than Maher.

[Goblinmonger]

19. First of all, Maher didn't say it.

Armstrong did. Secondly, bigotry has something to do with how your attitudes deal with people that are part of a class. Armstrong said NOTHING about the people that are religious, just that religions are bullshit. Please let me know how that is possibly bigotry. Or don't. I'm sure you are going to keep beating that dead horse.

[humblebum]

21. Nor did he discourage it. Maher actions past and present scream

bigotry. He makes no secret of that fact and has directed his comments at specific people many times.

[Goblinmonger]

24. Even IF that is true, you still have not addressed my questions.

What did ARMSTRONG say, specifically that meets the definition of bigotry since you claim was that what was said in the OP was bigotry? Stop with the red herrings that MAHER (may have) said bigoted things in the past.

[humblebum]

27. My original comment concerned Maher. I made no comment

on Armstrong. Maher is no stranger to being referred to as such; he may even relish it.

[Goblinmonger]

29. Nice backpedal

The OP title is "Green Day singer tells Bill Maher: ‘Religion is a bunch of bullsh*t’"

Your post is "It's nice to see the bigots going green. n/t"

Yeah, you were talking about Maher. Right. It wasn't a cute little play on the name of the guy's band. Sure. You meant Maher. The whole OP is focused on what the Armstrong said, but your comment was about Maher.

Whatever. Hard to kick field goals against someone who keeps moving the goal posts lies when asked to explain themselves.

[humblebum]

31. You are a crackpot. Nowhere did I mention anyone but Maher.

I don't think I'm the one backpedaling here. If Maher has Green Day on his show, then who is "going green"? Simple little quip, not too complicated.

[Hello_Kitty]

22. I'll consider you oppressed the day a President says that believers aren't real Americans

The way GHWB said it about atheists.

[laconicsax]

23. Wow, no mention of Stalin?

I think this is a first.

[onager]

34. Allow me ! "Stalin Meeting With Priests"

Thought this would be a refreshing change from that tired old "Stalin/atheist" meme:



Here's some more info on Stalin's religious ideas. e.g., when his daughter insisted that Jesus Christ never existed, Stalin insisted that he did.

A lot of this was written by an Actual Russian Person, so it is poorly translated into English from Russian. ("In Soviet Russia, internet censors you" style.) But understandable, I think:

5. Under Stalin‘s insisting In 1939-11-11, Politburo of the Central Committee has admitted prosecutions of believers "inexpedient". In 1939-11-11 Stalin canceled Lenin's instruction from May, 1st, 1919 for N 13666-2 "About struggle against priests and religion" and gave orders to People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) to release from custody already arrested priests "if activity of these citizens didn’t harm the Soviet authority.."

7. In 1942-1943 Stalin started to organze meetings with priests and incited to reopen Churches, seminaries, academies, publish religious magazines in "communistic speed" (as quick as possible) and promised full support. There are some documented speeches from these meetings...

http://www.rationalresponders.com/forum/sapient/atheist_vs_theist/10582?page=2

[humblebum]

35. That is only a very small part of the story. Stalin really had no choice

to cease anti-religious activities against the church during the war, because he needed all the support he could get to fight the nazis. Propaganda like this was very common. Once the war was over, it was back to business as usual. I suggest you consult the 'The Blackbook of Communism', 'The Atheist's Handbook' published under Kruschev in 1959, and the writings of Solzhenitsyn. The League of Militant Atheists was renewed after the war as 'The Knowledge Society'.

[onager]

36. Ha! You fell for it.

I knew any mention of "Stalin" would bring you huffing and puffing to defend the church. Complete with a mention of what seems to be the only two books you have ever read on the subject.

Yes, Stalin and WWII is only "a very small part of the story." Why don't you expound on the following topic for us?

It used to be thought that pogroms were planned by the government, but recent scholarship sees them as spontaneous outbursts, often fanned by the Russian Orthodox Church.

http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/5962/Anti-Semitism-in-Russia.html

The Russian Orthodox church, having long fostered a climate of anti-Semitism in the empire, was responsible for spreading the blood libel, which was also condoned and even encouraged by the government.

http://www.britannica.com/facts/11/766245/Russian-Orthodox-church-as-discussed-in-pogrom

The Russian Orthodox Church meanwhile did nothing to stop the carnage, but instead spewed anti-Semitic rhetoric, blaming the Jews for the misery of the peasants...

In the final years of the czarist regime the Jewish security situation deteriorated even further. On 19-25 October and 1-7 November, 1905 a total of 660 Jewish communities were attacked. In Odessa alone 300 Jews were killed and thousands wounded, while 40,000 were ruined financially. In total approximately 1,000 were killed and 7 to 8,000 wounded, with about 63 million rubles worth of property damage...

In the period 1905-1916, 14.3 million copies of 2,837 anti-Semitic books and pamphlets were sold. Nicholas II is reputed to have donated 12.2 million rubles of his own funds to the smear campaign.

http://grossmanproject.net/pogroms.htm

[humblebum]

37. Fell for what? Never did i say that Russian Christians weren't

involved in pogroms. Practicing Jews were persecuted under communist overlords too. History is history. But to say that Stalin was not a self-professed atheist and that he didn't pursue a very active campaign to wipe-out religion is an outright lie. There are far too many books, and films, and records, and witnessess against that fact. To deny such things is no different than denying the Holocaust - except in the case of Stalin as well as Lenin, Kruschev, etc, - many times over that number were murdered. “While every death is a tragedy, the death of a million is a mere statistic” (Stalin 1939) from 'Koba the Dread' by Amis.

[tiptoe]

25. . nt

[Odin2005]

26. Calling a bisexual, radical left-winger a bigot = EPIC FAIL.

[darkstar3]

28. You were expecting something different?

How many times, dear Odin, have YOU been called a bigot for not cowtowing to the awesomeness of religion?

[Goblinmonger]

30. No, didn't you read his response to me

he was talking about MAHER, not Armstrong. Although ever reasonably intelligent person on here read it as a slam on Armstrong, we were all wrong.

Sometimes I am still amazed at the game plan of progressives when it comes to religion.

[Iggo]

16. Green Day singer says water is wet, sky is blue...

...and bacon is delicious.

[Meshuga]

20. Punk Rock band with a broadway show.

They should have surviving members of the Bee Gees starring and singing on it.

[Dorian Gray]

32. I find it sort of ironic, as well...

though I will probably see it. (Being a sucker for Green Day AND Broadway!) Not sure how the two will meld.

Though, I'm happy the Broadway play isn't based upon 21 Guns. That album sort o sucks.

[iris27]

33. I'm intrigued, too.

Though FSM only knows how long it'll be before I have a chance to see it...I don't think "Tommy" has even made it around these parts yet.