Born-again Christian Sherri Shepherd can’t admit that the world isn’t flat.
Whoopi Goldberg: “Is the world flat?”
Shepherd: “Is the world flat? I don’t know.”
This is a funny (and scary) piece of video from ABC, in which Born-Again talk-show host Sherri Shepherd says she’s “never thought” about whether the world is flat or round.
Shepperd is either being dishonest (has she really never thought about whether the world is flat?) or is incredibly stupid (has she really never thought about whether the world is flat, and if not what exactly has she been thinking about her entire life). I’ll go for dishonest, since dishonesty seems to be a recurring trait in Born-Agains.
Kudos to the Huffington Post for highlighting the video.
3 Responses to “Born-again Christian Sherri Shepherd can’t admit that the world isn’t flat.”
About this entry
You’re currently reading “Born-again Christian Sherri Shepherd can’t admit that the world isn’t flat.,” an entry on Bodhipaksa's blog, bodhi tree swaying
Published: Sep 19 2007
I agree that this is quite an alarming sight to see, but why take time to express such a seemingly unskillful response?
Why don’t we look for similarities?
We all have had times that we answer in fear or in need to be liked, or in need to be distinct or seen as strong for her convictions. She is no different, I imagine.
Take care,
A
I’m not clear what you think is unskilful about my post, although I appreciate your concern.
I pose two possibilities (stupidity or dishonesty) and choose to accept the one I think is more likely. Now Shepherd undoubtedly has some motivation for being untruthful, and you may well be right that that motivation is fear. I do in fact think that she was afraid to say what she really believed.
Now we’ve all been in situations where we’re been afraid to say what we really believed, although I can’t say that I’ve ever been afraid to agree with something as patently obvious as the fact that the world is not flat, not even in my extreme youth when I tried to convince myself of the truth of certain left-wing political ideals.
So why is Shepherd afraid to admit to something so obvious? It’s because she has chosen to embrace a religious path which (untruthfully, as it happens) claims to take the Bible as literal truth. (I say that this claim is untruthful because I’ve yet to meet a born again Christian who believes, for example, that people should be executed for working on the Sabbath or who has argued for the abolition of interest on loans). Admitting that the Bible is wrong in any way would amount to a repudiation of the one belief that holds all the rest of her beliefs together. Rationality is thus a path that she has chosen to deny to herself.
Shepherd has chosen a path of absurdity, and her absurdity was brought to light by Whoopi Goldberg’s question. Now I can empathize with Shepherd’s undoubted discomfort at being put on the spot like that. She looked intensely uncomfortable and I take no delight in that. But I believe she needed to be confronted with her own fear and the dishonesty that arises from that fear. I think she needed to be confronted with the absurdity of her beliefs. She won’t be able to grow spiritually if people insulate her through deference to her beliefs.
I think it needs to be recognized that Shepherd is just one of many evangelical Christians who believe absurdities and who wish to foist those absurdities on others (there are many other posts in this blog on that theme), who will deny the evidence of their own senses and refuse to engage rationally with the world in order to maintain the consistency of their position. There are many of her ilk who wish to establish a theocracy in the United States. Theocracies, in my understanding, rarely work well.
As Voltaire said, “Si nous croyons les absurdités, nous allons commettre des atrocités” (if we believe absurdities we commit atrocities). I think we have a duty to see that absurdities are exposed rather that translated into atrocities. This is going to be painful for some people, and I hope that we’re prepared to challenge as well as be compassionate. I think we need both.
A good example of the attempt to impose a theocracy is found in this story (dated yesterday) about the Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s lawsuit against the Pentagon. The founder of MRFF, Mikey Weinstein, a former White House attorney under Ronald Reagan, said he’s been contacted by more than 5,000 soldiers who claim that they were pressured by their commanding officers to convert to Christianity.