I was fooling around on the web, and noticed the ad you see on the left. I was so baffled by it I got a screenshot of it. I honestly don’t mean to offend anyone here, but criminy, I have to wonder about this thing. Not about Christians singles wanting to meet like-minded folks; that’s natural and I have no issues with that.
My question is, what does "Certified Christian" mean? That part of the ad is obviously meant to look like some sort of stamp. Does the woman in the picture have that tattooed on her body someplace? Does the dog?
Seriously (OK, not seriously, but still) what can that possibly mean? They call the churches of everyone who signs up to make sure they attend at least twice a month?
I went to their website, and there’s no mention of this in the FAQ or the signup process (which I did not engage in). I went to their terms and Conditions page, and the word Christian is there dozens of times, but every single time it’s part of the website name, and never comes up in the context of "We make sure everyone is certified Christian".
Maybe they mean their own website is certified Christian. But who does that certifying? Is there National Board of Christian Websites, and they stamp you (or send a JPG of a stamp) when you qualify?
Just to be thorough, I checked the online Bible. The only time the word certificate is mentioned is in reference to divorce (seven times!), which I find a shade ironic given the nature of the wesbite as a dating service. Certified shows up in John 3:33 and has nothing to do with this context — "He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit." — unless you want to interpret that as being about lying in your dating video. Certify is apparently not mentioned at all, which makes me suspicious of the dating service’s motives.
I guess in the end it’s simply a bizarre thing to have on a singles advertisement. If I were single (and I’m not, Scarlett, stop calling me!) I don’t think I’d want to go to a service that certifies anything. I’ve been on teh intertoobs a little while now, and I know the hot young thing I’m talking to in the chat room has a greater than 50/50 chance of being a man my age or older, so I’d know to take steps to certify their honesty.
And if it did turn out to be a woman, and she had a stamp saying Certified Woman anywhere on her, I’m pretty sure I’d still run away.
ObConfession: After I finished the draft of this post, I did a web search on "certified christian", and found a site that asks the same question as I did. However, I’d prefer not to link to it, since it’s a mite less polite than mine.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:42 am
So much for the “no true scotsman” argument, right?
February 29th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Perhaps the “certified” is in reference to the slang for someone that is insane by clinical standards. It’s not too far of a stretch.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Maybe the two words are separate. The former being a reference to having been committed to an institution of the loopy-loopy, and the latter just a proud statement!
February 29th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Brango, I endorse your idea. In that case, however, the two are closely tied together. Redundant, even.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:07 am
I really like that they quote the bible at the bottom of their website.
…Do you think they check that you are pure and virgin?
February 29th, 2008 at 10:09 am
This reminds me of a label I saw on Hamburger Helper back in the late ’90s. It had a “stamp” that said, “Made with REAL ingredients.” What are fake ingredients? Isn’t EVERYTHING made with real ingredients? Are there imaginary ingredients?
As for Certified Christian, even if there was some type of board certifying that somebody is Christian, there are so many sects and not all sects are recognized as other as being Christian. I used to be Mormon and I would get people who would tell me that I wasn’t a Christian and that I worshiped Joseph Smith and not Jesus Christ which is not the case. Suffice to say, those people are just as rational about who is and who is not Christian as they are about evolution.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:11 am
OK, Phil, you need another project – quick!
February 29th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Not only can you be a certified christian, but a CERTIFIED GALACTIC DICTATOR thanks to this ebay sale of galaxy m81 that’s going around. I think the title is catchy, definitely impressive, and somewhat menacing.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:12 am
…PS: I also can’t help but notice that there is no “man seeking man” or “woman seeking woman” options.
I guess if you’re gay, you’re not a christian to them.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:14 am
I think I’m more troubled by the implications of the “Christians Join FREE” button.
This suggests to me that they have a surfeit of Jews, Muslims, Norsemen, and other heathens (presumably joined up looking for white Christian women), and need to offer incentives to improve their ratio of Christians.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Presenting the all-new:
CHRISTIAN seal of approval!©
If you have this during your entire life anywhere on your body, you get a guaranteed 5% extra chance of going to heaven! You heard right, a whopping 5 PERCENT!
Yeah, it’s pretty odd. How could someone be a “certified christian”?
February 29th, 2008 at 10:20 am
The (oxymoron alert) ‘religious right’ is geting nuttier and nuttier all the time.
How do they propose to ‘certify’ that a person is Christian? I was under the assumption that (in their theology) only God knows what is in a person’s heart (aside from blood, muscle, and nerve tissue, that is).
The best these people can do is to insist that a person sign an electronic form that states that they are, in fact Christian.
Of course, this would still allow Ted Haggard, Kent Hovind, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swagart, and Adolph Hitler to join…(sorry about the Godwining).
February 29th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Oh wait. WAit wait wait. This is good.
Look at the ad I got on this blog now!
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/1619/christiansoultk5.jpg
February 29th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Natural, perhaps, but still somewhat reprehensible to me. I am an atheist (and also not single) but I would never try to limit my potential partners to atheists only. I think it is lame that people try to limit the people they are willing to love! What makes us grow as human beings is being exposed to differing viewpoints and learning to accept and, yes, even love those who look at the world in a very different way.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Maybe Mr Christian has certified each one himself. Just the sort of thing he’d do, the dirty man!
February 29th, 2008 at 10:44 am
“I’ve been on teh intertoobs a little” mean?
February 29th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Just on principle, being overtly Christian would be something I would consider as a negative factor in any potential date/squeeze/soulmate/pelvic affiliate, just as I would “smoker”, “PETA member” or “politician”.
However, it is good that there are organizations that can help get Christians set up with each other. Keeps ‘em off the street, which means it keeps ‘em off my doorstep.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:50 am
I just saw an infomercial for a homeopathic spray that claims it can cure all pains, aches and stiffness in your pets. All you need to do is spray the special liquid, that contains nine homeopathic ingredients “never combined before” into your pets bowl once a day and the results are “guaranteed”, a 200 squirt bottle for only $19.99–no wait–two 200 squirt bottles for only $19.99.
This ad is essentially selling a tiny bottle of plain water to the public for $20, no $10, a pop, and no doubt they will make millions of dollars. The clever thing is that I’m guessing that FDA rules and oversight don’t cover bogus cures for pets.
People will buy it because they will believe what the ad is saying, even though it’s obviously complete and utter nonsense. In the same way, people will believe that because they use the phrase “Certified Christian” that means the site can be trusted more than other sites, even though its obvious to us that it doesn’t mean a darned thing.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:55 am
“Certified Christian”? Stamp? Tattoo? Can’t be any of the premillenial (or whatever they call themselves) ones. They wouldn’t dare. Mark of the beast, you know.
February 29th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Dr. Phil, What is the red arrow pointing to the Certified Christian
logo ? Also the red question mark?
Is that something that you put on the picture?
February 29th, 2008 at 11:11 am
YD, are you saying that christian churches are institutions of the loopy-loopy?
Surely not!
February 29th, 2008 at 11:17 am
BA: When we’re baptized, the bishop or pastor stamps the CERTIFIED CHRISTIAN tattoo on the soles of our feet.
February 29th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Blaidd writes:
[[The best these people can do is to insist that a person sign an electronic form that states that they are, in fact Christian.
Of course, this would still allow Ted Haggard, Kent Hovind, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swagart, and Adolph Hitler to join…(sorry about the Godwining).]]
Hitler was not Christian, and he said so explicitly several times:
http://members.aol.com/bpl1960/Hitler.htm
February 29th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Ladies, look no further. I’m certifiably ‘Christian’. (I’m at the very least certifiable.)
February 29th, 2008 at 11:30 am
@yd:
[sarcasm]Hardy-har-har-har. Laugh it up fuzzyball.[/sarcasm]
@tacitus:
“All you need to do is spray the special liquid, that contains nine homeopathic ingredients “never combined before” into your pets bowl once a day and the results are “guaranteed”…”
I’ve seen this commercial too. So laughable. Let me get this straight. Homeopathic ingredients are essentially things that are SERIOUSLY diluted in water, enough so that you could just say that the ingredient is water. So basically, they cleverly combined 9 batches of water together. Hmm… surely *someone* has done that before!
As for the “Certified Christians”, Blaidd Drwg is absolutely right. There are denominations that refuse to recognize other denominations – I know southern baptist who think that the pope is the anti-christ and that the Catholic church is a false faith. I’m sure that they wouldn’t certify a catholic anytime soon. And let’s not even start with the attitudes towards Mormons…
February 29th, 2008 at 11:32 am
@Barton:
Really? Mine stamp with with the Intel Inside logo. Perhaps I need to have a talk with him…
February 29th, 2008 at 11:48 am
I’m reading testimonials on that other christian meeting site I found on the ads here…
“I did not think that it was possible and quite frankly, I had totally given up on finding love. I truly can identify with Job in so many ways to include the blessing at the end of his trials after being faithful to God through it all. I too lost everything and wanted to have a family again and to have what Satan had stolen from me back.”
…Is it just me or she got the story of Job all backwards? It was GOD that took all Job had away to snottily prove to SATAN that Job would still worship him.
February 29th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Hitler was raised a catholic, but wasn’t very religious throughout his life. The wikipedia page has a well-referenced section on his beliefs.
February 29th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Hihihi,
funny thing, actually at least at their preview site you can go and enter “male looking for male” and “female looking for female”. The script just does not evaluate the first box, you get always the same answer, but still: It worth a giggle.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
@tacitus
You wrote: “The clever thing is that I’m guessing that FDA rules and oversight don’t cover bogus cures for pets.”
I believe that veterinary drugs and devices are, actually regulated by FDA, and that certain safety and efficacy regulations pertain. One could always take a look at the FDA web site and peruse the verious regulations and guidance documents that might apply, specifically to safety and efficacy requirements.
I doubt, though, that bogus claims would be investigated too vigorously. The impact on the overall health of animal populations (in particular pets) would likely be seen as quite low, and therefore not worth the resources to investigate. Since homeopathic remedies, if adhering to homeopathic theory, do nothing, either beneficial or harmful, and the impact on society is low, not to mention that most pet owners will likely take their pet to a vet, anyway, if it gets sick, there is little reason to combat this. The FTC, on the other hand, may want to get involved.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Huh. 12 posts before the first Hitler reference. You people have shown remarkable restraint today.
What makes us grow as human beings is being exposed to differing viewpoints and learning to accept and, yes, even love those who look at the world in a very different way.
You mean like people who only wish to date within their religion? I’m just sayin’
Personally, I can see why they might because Christianity has much to say about how people behave in relationships, especially the whole, sex thing. Dating within ones religion avoids messy situations. Sometimes literally.
As for “Certified”, maybe they splash holy water on them, and if it doesn’t burn, they get a certificate of authentication.
Or maybe there’s dogs trained to sniff out non-Christians like some dogs find drugs.
And just after I thought of that, I did a Google search and proved there’s NOTHING you can’y find on the Interweb. It’s all been done already, folks. Oh well.
http://www.reverendfun.com/?date=19981202
February 29th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Certified Christians? Had one last night and she had this cute little “999″ tatoo on her rear.
Or maybe I was reading that upside down?
February 29th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I gotta admit, I like the fact that the arrow pointing makes it look like the dog is the Certified Christian and not the lady.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
You need to do some courses in order to become MSCC.
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/default.mspx
February 29th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Reminds me of a few things.
Lable on clothing that says “Certified: Made in USA” – and sure enough, the label WAS made in the USA.
My father always said Chevrolet sold more “Fuel Injected” emblems for the Corvette than they sold fuel injection units. (knowing my father, greater than 90% probability of being apocryphal, but still amusing)
Certified Christian. What a very odd concept. Do they include Mormons? Baptists? Jehova’s witnesses? (sorry, but I didn’t see the accident.)
JC – Certified Atheist.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
@Quiet Desperation
Re: dating within one’s religion to avoid messy situations.
Back in college I started dating a girl who was an evangelical, but who broke up with me because I wasn’t Christian, quoting Bible scripture about how couples should not be “unevenly yoked.” I heard the same thing after I became an evangelical (I recovered remarkably) and wanted to marry a Buddhist.
But, it really is good advice, when it comes to such strongly held beliefs as religion and politics. Getting together with someone who is like-minded in these areas avoids all kinds of arguments and bad blood. Even though one person may be open-minded, their partner may not be, which can lead to, as you say, messy situations.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I’ve been amused for awhile that the Google Ads inserted at the top of the BA site include “Christian Astronomy”
But it’s not a site, just a Google listing.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Well, at least “Christians wanting to meet Christians” can make sense. (Though I agree with the wondering about “certified Christian”.)
What I don’t understand are the spams for “Christian mortgages”.
February 29th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
This is the old “are you tolerant to people who are intolerant” argument that I personally think is nonsensical. But to call your bluff, yes, as an atheist, I would happily date a Christian who thought that Christians should only date Christians to avoid “messy situations”.
My point in this is: values are not something that are associated with labels. I may in fact share many important values with my fictitious Christian date that would not be obvious if she sees me solely as an atheist and I see her solely as a Christian.
People are complex and I personally think Christians-seeking-Christians (or Jews-seeking-Jews, Muslims-seeking-Muslims, etc) is moderately offensive and sells all of us short.
February 29th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
What it should (but doesn’t) mean is dating members are Certified descendants of Fletcher Christian who led the mutiny against the sinister Captain Bligh of HMS Bounty, and sailed on to establish a Pagan Paradise on Pitcairn Island. Uninhibited Tahitian ladies and Englishmen can join for half price!
February 29th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I’ve never heard of a certified Christian. Apparently it’s not referring to baptized Christians because they would have said that.
Then there’s the whole issue of which denomination of Christianity they’re talking about. Are they Catholic or Protestant? Then are they Baptists, Presbeterians, Congregational, Methodists, United, Greek Orthodox, Non Denominational, or Born Again? And just for the record, they don’t all get along too well. I mean.. Otherwise they’d be one denomination as opposed to a bunch of separate ones.
February 29th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Hitler was a Christian, deal with it. If atheists are going to be saddled with Stalin then you’ve got to suck it up and take the spastic genocidal tw@.
http://nobeliefs.com/Hitler1.htm
February 29th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Phil – you are a man with too much time on your hands!
February 29th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
“Certified Christian” is nothing but marketing. Sort of like “99.7 percent pure” or “I’m lovin’ it,” just a little religious. It’s not meant to be literal any more than “certified lunatic.” [Insert comic of a shrinks passing out fancy certificates to newly diagnosed patients.]
As for whether a certification exists is in the Bible… I would rant about the irrelevance of that, but Phil actually capitalized the word Bible when using it as the title of a book. Some atheists refuse to do that, so I’ll pat him on the back and let him go about his day
February 29th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
B.A. wrote:
[quote]Does the woman in the picture have that tattooed on her body someplace? Does the dog?[/quote]
The arrow you drew, as far as I’m concerned, makes it obvious:
That “Certified Christian” logo is a METAL DOG TAG that the woman and her dog can both wear.
February 29th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Perhaps the certification process that produces a “certified Christian” can be used to certify things organic and we can go about stamping every carbon based entity in the universe.
February 29th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
lolife-
I agree that casual dating with someone who doesn’t share one’s same interests can be enlightening, but some people (and often times this tends to be those with strongly held religious beliefs) see dating as a means to eventually finding a life partner. Taking that approach, why waste your time, and possibly get deeply involved, with a relationship that has no future?
February 29th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Actually, in all seriousness, I can tell you exactly what all of that is about.
The “Certified Christian Partners” thing is a non-negligible part of the dominionist “parallel economy” (which is quite extensive in and of itself)–basically, it’s promoting itself as a dominionist-friendly alternative to eHarmony.com et al (which should give you some hint as to the intended audience; eHarmony.com itself is apparently run by a dominionist, itself has a bias towards “Christian” couples, has a ban on same-sex partners, and by the creator’s own admission is meant more as a marriage-matchmaker service than a conventional dating service).
As for how they enforce that “certifiably Christian” thing? If they’re anything like most services of this type (or, for that matter, the various “Shepherd’s Pages” and similar dominionist business directories published for the benefit of the dominionist “parallel economy”), they require everyone signing up for the service to file a statement of faith (and most of these require a very specific, Protestant, evangelical, and often neopentecostal statement of faith to be signed, at that). The info on the website indicates that members might be required to sign a statement of faith in the initial signup process–that in and of itself would weed out pretty much any non-dominionists.
February 29th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Ragutis posts:
[[Hitler was a Christian, deal with it. If atheists are going to be saddled with Stalin then you’ve got to suck it up and take the spastic genocidal tw@.]]
Hitler was not a Christian, deal with it. Hitler was a theist who believed in a vaguely-defined “divine providence.” He called Christianity a lie and a sickness and compared it to veneral disease, all of which I documented in the link above. Apparently you didn’t read it. Allow me to quote a couple of talking points:
“The best thing is to let Christianity die a natural death…. When understanding of the universe has become widespread… Christian doctrine will be convicted of absurdity…. Christianity has reached the peak of absurdity…. And that’s why someday its structure will collapse…. …the only way to get rid of Christianity is to allow it to die little by little…. Christianity the liar…. We’ll see to it that the Churches cannot spread abroad teachings in conflict with the interests of the State.”
“Originally, Christianity was merely an incarnation of Bolshevism, the destroyer…. The decisive falsification of Jesus’ doctrine was the work of St. Paul. He gave himself to this work… for the purposes of personal exploitation…. Didn’t the world see, carried on right into the Middle Ages, the same old system of martyrs, tortures, faggots? Of old, it was in the name of Christianity. Today, it’s in the name of Bolshevism. Yesterday the instigator was Saul: the instigator today, Mardochai. Saul was changed into St. Paul, and Mardochai into Karl Marx. By exterminating this pest, we shall do humanity a service of which our soldiers can have no idea.”
“”Christianity is an invention of sick brains: one could imagine nothing more senseless…”
All Hitler quotes. It goes on. I didn’t just point to a wiki page, I went to primary sources, which you apparently have not done, even when you could have done so at second hand by clicking the link I provided. Here, I’ll give you a chance to try it again:
http://members.aol.com/bpl1960/Hitler.htm
If you want to say Hitler was brought up in a nominally Christian family, you might have a point. But Christianity is a set of beliefs, and if you don’t hold those beliefs — even more if you explicitly reject and vilify them — it makes no sense to call you a Christian.
So deal with it, my friend. Deal with it.
February 29th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
What’s really hilarious is that the “certificate” looks an awful lot like the Laughing Man logo from the futuristic anime TV series Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex. The logo is the creation of a super-hacker who invades people’s cybernetic brains and edits what they see in real time. Perhaps this Christian certificate is a chilling vision of things to come.
February 29th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
It’s your latter assertion that I disagree with. I think a Christian and an atheist, to use one example, could very well find that they are life partners. To further try to illustrate this point (and I don’t mean this as a generalization) I know some Christians who are real bastards and I know some atheists who live a life totally consistent with Christian values.
I like getting together with people who think like me. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with that. It starts to get wrong, IMHO, when you exclude people based solely on a single criteria. I would never use an atheists-only dating service and I would never exclude religious people from my universe of possible mates.
February 29th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Women often ask me if I’m a “Certified Christian” and I tell them that I am, and that I even have an official registration number tattooed on my body. Then I drop my pants so they can look for it.
February 29th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Barton, whether we get the goods from your website or wikipedia, it is still a website. Given that I am not in the library right now, and my experience with the human condition in general, I find it most plausible that you did a bit of quote digging for anti-Christianity bits, while in reality Hitler was a complex personality with an equally complex spiritual life. In fact, most people (evil dictators included) are not particularly sure about their exact beliefs, and say different things at different times. Asserting that Hitler was (not) a Christian is with overwhelming probability a gross simplification.
February 29th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
The real question is, was Hitler circumcised? Only Eva Braun knows for sure, and she ain’t talking.
February 29th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Over on The Comics Curmudgeon we’ve been having fin with the “Christian Singles” ad for weeks, even intentionally mentioning it as often as possible to get it to reappear (assuming context-based ads care about comments.) One thing we noticed: if you click through you will get pictures of Christian Singles IN YOUR AREA!!! Each has a picture and an associated city or town from your region. Only thing is, we noticed that exactly the same pictures are appearing in exactly the same order but with widely varied locations, depend on the location of the viewer. Could it be that the Christian Singles website was…lying?
February 29th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Hitler incorporated both Christian and Teutonic mythology into Nazi ceremonies for propaganda and pageantry and this sometimes clouds the Hitler-Christianity question since devout Christians would likely deny the incorporated Wagnerian-like myths and ignore Hitler’s references to “doing God’s work” and think of the mythological parts as a corruption of religion. However the church, Catholic and post Reformation Protestant traditionally incorporated past pagan rituals long before Hitler and he co-opted that plus the terrible anti-Semitism that long permeated within European Christianity.
If you Google “Hitler and Christianity” you’ll find plenty of evidence for both sides of the argument.
Not terribly important but I find it interesting that on a very simple, basic symbolic level, Hitler’s air force, the WWII Luftwaffe, had Christian cross symbols on the wings of their planes whereas the Allies all had roundels (combinations of blue, white and red colors or with the Americans and Russians; stars,) which remotely symbolize aspects of nature on the wings of their planes. But that’s just a subtle observation. On a more blatant level, there are films and pictures of the Nazi’s taking part in church celebrations and services, so even if one wishes to say Hitler himself was not Christian many of his followers were.
If you’re religious in the Christian sense, you could choose to believe that Nazi church goers were not being true to there faith much as modern hate-mongers who “speak for God” such as James Dobson, Pat Robertson or the late Jerry Falwell are not true to theirs.
February 29th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
As Chip said, and to add, Nazi soldiers had “God Is With Us” on their belt buckles. Parading religion is a choice that Hitler made and played up. So, what his personal beliefs are really don’t matter in the scheme of things.
February 29th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
When did “christian” become an aphorism for “gullible”?
February 29th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
@ Barton Paul Levenson:
Oh, so you’re saying he wasn’t a True Scotsm… er Christian.
If you value quotes attributed to Hitler, from second hand , questionable sources over the man’s own recorded and documented statements, I guess there’s not much I can do. Yeah, Hitler had issues with “Christianity” (the institution) and spoke out about it, but FFS, he wanted to reform the German Church. As much as Christianity permeated and shaped his Nazism, he wanted Nazism to permeate and shape Christianity. Ever hear of Martin Luther’s “On the Jews and Their Lies”? Compare Luther’s “solution” to Adolf’s. He put prayer in the schools.
Perhaps it’s you that doesn’t follow and explore links you’ve been offered. If the words are hard to accept, there’s a link to a page there with lots of pictures.
Now, if you want to say that your favorite flavor of Christianity differs from Hitler’s, that your interpretation of the faith leads you on a very different path and provides you with a different worldview, well that’s fine and obviously welcome and applauded. If you want to point out the numerous christian individuals and leaders that stood up to him and denounced his acts, fine. But he worshiped the same God as you, followed the same Jesus as you, and found his inspiration in and formed his philosophy from the same holy text as you. He was born, baptised, raised a Christian. He self-identified as a Christian. His interpretation of scripture was a foundation of his perspective and, consequently, actions. Nor (AFAIK) has he been formally excommunicated from the Catholic Church. (Yeah, yeah… latae sententiae/ipso facto, whatever… personally, I’d want to make it super duper extra obvious and unquestionably official-like.)
Not that this is likely to change your mind, but sorry, IMHO you’re stuck with him. He was a monster, but that might be said about many Christians, depending on perspective: Luther, Cromwell, numerous popes, Jim Jones, Phelps and his sleazebag family…
Anyway, enough. I’m sure Phil doesn’t want this crap about that monster dirtying up his blog. Besides, it makes little difference. Even if he weren’t, the overwhelming majority of his followers and those who carried out his plans unquestionably were.
Peace
February 29th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
A conversation about Adolf Hitlers Religious beliefs in a blog post about a wacky ad for singles.
Yikes.
Damn you Godwins Law, Damn you to Hell!
February 29th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
My favorite name for a Christian dating site–for which there are actually billboards down here in Georgia–has to be Equally Yoked (www.equallyyoked.com). Yoked? Interesting word choice. Some definitions from Mirriam-Webster: yoke: an arched device formerly laid on the neck of a defeated person…an oppressive agency (2): servitude, bondage.
From the site:
“Equally Yoked© is the only company that presently requires its consultants to pass a course study on relationships and personal wellness.”
In other words, their consultants must be Certified Christian?
“The Equally Yoked© member is above average in discretionary income.”
…which is always important to know when you’re looking for a godly relationship.
Ridiculous.
February 29th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Certified? Is there a certificate of authenticity? Makes one wonder, Quis custodiet ipsos custodes, or who certified the certifiers?
George
February 29th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I agree with Nate. It’s just marketing.
February 29th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
[...] Astronomy Blog » Certifiably Christian This (well, not this post, but the issue is describes) is just about as dumb as what I posted about some time back about [...]
February 29th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Gee. *Of course* there is such a thing as a “certified” Christian!
Those would be the virgins. Of course that would make them red-hot dating material. Simple to check in some cases, too.
I’m surprised I have to explain these things.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
“However, I’d prefer not to link to it, since it’s a mite less polite than mine.”
Found it!
It reminds me of these ads in the Yellow Pages for “genuine” psychics. Ah, it’s so clear to me now: every psychic that doesn’t use the word “genuine” is a big fat phony! I think they would be better off saying “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.” — that would increase their credibility!
But it puzzles me when Christians say things like “Those people worship Jesus but don’t believe in a 6-day Creation, so they’re not Real Christians™.”
or
“Oh, so your friend was a devout Christian, and then renounced his faith and became an atheist? Then obviously he never was a Real Christian™ to begin with.”
Sounds like the No True Scotsman fallacy to me. As far as I’m concerned, Christians come in many flavours. Most taste like ice cream, some taste like broccoli, and a few taste like dog dirt. They don’t all get along with each other, but they all share at least a few things in common.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:29 am
Pieter Kok writes:
[[Asserting that Hitler was (not) a Christian is with overwhelming probability a gross simplification.]]
Christians don’t compare Christianity to venereal disease or say that it’s an invention of sick brains.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:34 am
Ragutis writes:
[[But he worshiped the same God as you, followed the same Jesus as you,]]
He didn’t follow Jesus at all.
[[ and found his inspiration in and formed his philosophy from the same holy text as you.]]
Really? Hitler followed the Bible? How do you suppose he interpreted John 4:22, where Jesus says “salvation is from the Jews?” Or Genesis 12, where God promises to curse those who curse the Jews?
[[ He was born, baptised, raised a Christian. He self-identified as a Christian.]]
No, he did not.
Hitler was a man who was followed around by photographers for more than twenty years. There must be thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of photographs of the man. Can you find even one photograph of him attending mass? Or any worship service?
March 1st, 2008 at 9:17 am
Michelleon 29 Feb 2008 at 10:07 am
I really like that they quote the bible at the bottom of their website.
…Do you think they check that you are pure and virgin?
LOL, the only thing pure and virgin in my apartment is my olive oil!
March 1st, 2008 at 11:33 am
BPL, you go right ahead and believe what you want to. I’m here for astronomy.
Which, as you might be able to tell, everyone can see. Unlike the religious hatred incited against Jews in WW2.
If Dr. Phil mentions 1987A again, you might want to step out for a smoke or something, since its existence burns a bunch of holes in the Bible and apparently produces “the Blue Screen of Death” on the face of its fans. Please argue about your book elsewhere.
March 1st, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Phil, what was the purpose of this particular blog entry?
I could understand it if it were about “christians” trying to get religion taught as science in the public schools, or even the idiocy of “seeing” christ in a potato chip, but it’s not about those type of “things” at all.
I am of the opinion that anyone can believe anything they wish as long as they don’t try and push their beliefs onto others…of course any rational person will agree that creationism/intelligent design has no place in public school science classes…
But this blog seems to be nothing more than an attack against those “stupid christians”, the reasoning being “they are stupid, so lets make fun of them”.
Personally, I’m about the most UN-religious person you’ll ever meet, but I see NO NEED to make fun of people as if it is a form of “entertainment”.
Seriously, Phil…you should be ashamed of yourself for “stooping” so low.
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:05 am
Tsh RAF. You make it sound as if they are right to make such a dating website.
Beside the fact that ALL dating websites are retarded, this one is particularly high on the retardation list. It’s prehistoric and close-minded. Also lacks a lot of PC. I mean, if you’re gay you can’t be christian? I know a couple gay christians myself. Also, what is a CERTIFIED CHRISTIAN (The whole point of this blog post)? How do they check that you are a CERTIFIED CHRISTIAN? Do you have to be ultra fundamentalist or the folks that don’t go to church and don’t quite follow the bible and yet believe in christ also qualify?
Seriously. The owners of the site are dumb to me.
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Following the bible is quite difficult, really. I’d have to wear only certain types of fabrics, grow a long beard, etc. Women have to have their heads covered. I’d have to stone adulterers. And where does covetting begin? How far away does a neighbour have to be to not be a neighbour anymore? I ask because the woman a few houses down is quite something to look at and I may be covetting her each time I drive by!
March 5th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
I kid you not, the second I pulled this up in google reader (I”m waaay behind) the mormons rang my doorbell.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Radwaste writes:
[[If Dr. Phil mentions 1987A again, you might want to step out for a smoke or something, since its existence burns a bunch of holes in the Bible and apparently produces “the Blue Screen of Death” on the face of its fans. Please argue about your book elsewhere.]]
Didn’t do that for me. I fail to see the connection between SN1987A (not “1987A”) and anything the Bible says.
I won’t argue about my book here if people here don’t misrepresent what my book says. Fair enough?
March 6th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Lars Bruchmann writes:
[[Following the bible is quite difficult, really. I’d have to wear only certain types of fabrics, grow a long beard, etc. Women have to have their heads covered. I’d have to stone adulterers.]]
How do you explain the fact that everyone who follows a Bible-based religion nowadays (Jews, Christians, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc.) does not, in fact, stone adulterers?
Have you read the whole book? All the way through?
Have you even read the legal section you’re quoting? Any capital crime required two eyewitnesses. The Jews in first century Jerusalem felt that any Sanhedrin that executed a man more often than once in seventy years was a harsh and judgmental Sanhedrin.
June 1st, 2008 at 2:36 pm
heh – stumbled across this blog whilst looking for something else. (( I have no idea what your website is about – astronomy? I’d guess that from the title – but – your post is about an advertising ploy? ))
But anyway, I thought I’d throw in my 2 cents, and tell you that it’s pretty obvious to me what that “certified Christian” logo is referring to.
There’s a very well-known, very heavily-marketed web-based singles-matching service. (Yeah I could just say the name but I’m not going to.) You see their ads on TV all the time. Also, they have ad banners on almost every Christian website.
Well, this particular .com started as a CHRistian dating service. That’s how they advertised themselves, and they got LOTS of free publicity from well-know Christian organizations.
But some time ago – perhaps a few months (?) before the date of your post – they decided that they No Longer wished to be considered a Christian service. That they wished to DISsociate themselves from the well-known and well-respected groups who had given them so much free publicity. That they were no longer Christian. They sent this in letter to the organizations that had previously lauded them. Which groups published the letter (”with sadness”) — and left it at that.
So. The people who heard this announcement on the radio – ONE TIME – know that ________.com is no longer a Christian Dating Service. Everyone who missed the announcement, doesn’t know that. And if you google Christian Singles, you quickly encounter ________.com’s banner ads.
In other words, ________.com is Very Well Known, and many Christians still believe that it’s a christian dating service. But it’s not, by their own decision and announcement.
A number of people, such as myself, still feel rather miffed about this whole thing. eH______.com used Christians as a niche market to grow, pretending to be a Christian business developed to help Christians, and then, once there were more profits to made elsewhere, publicly dumped us.
And, now, they still continue to advertise on Christian websites. They’ve dumped Christians, but still want business from those who will come to them just because they’re supposedly a Christian group.
Given this situation, to me, “Certified Christian” makes perfect sense as a logo on a singles website. They’re saying, YES, we DO claim to be Christian. We don’t apologize for it, and we seek your business AS Christians, not as a group ashamed to name the name of Christ.