Why do some people think it's wrong to make fun of speakin' in tongues?

[Taverner]

To me, it is incredibly hilarious - and so OBVIOUSLY fake. Some of these fools actually convince themselves that they are speaking some long dead language, but neuroscientists are pretty sure the speaker is just making up random noises.

I could see being kind of this were some kind of tic, like Tourettes, where they can't control themselves. But the fact that it often happens in churches leads me to believe they know EXACTLY what they are doing.

[Downwinder]

1. I try not to make fun of anyone's religious beliefs,

unless they try to impose them on me.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. Are there any religious beliefs you consider laughable?

[Downwinder]

6. Have to admit,

the fellow wheeling his spouse down the street in a wheelbarrow did touch my funny bone. And Garner Ted gave me some good laughs. More often I just find them amazing. If you believe in ET's, why can't you believe in UFO's.

[DavidDvorkin]

12. So why not laugh at such beliefs?

[Downwinder]

13. To me it is a bit like laughing at a cripple.

I may not subscribe to their beliefs, but they are their beliefs. Who am I to say they are wrong. Do I have better proof that they are wrong than they have proof that they are right?

[EvolveOrConvolve]

14. Bad analogy dude

Do the handicapped choose to be handicapped? As soon as they do, I'll acknowledge your analogy. Until then, if someone chooses to believe some silly shit, I will feel free to laugh about it.

[Downwinder]

17. My father always said he was not handicapped,he was a cripple.

Brainwashing can be as debilitating as any physical injury. Some are more susceptible to it than others. Few have been afforded the opportunity to make an informed choice.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

18. When someone becomes an adult, I start treating them like one

If I ran into an otherwise normal 30 year old who still believed in Santa, I'd have the same reaction as someone who believes in transubstantiation or resurrection or any of the other silly things that believers believe. Sure, I won't go into a church and tell the people there how silly I think they are, but as soon as they come out in public and want to share their "faith", I'm free to have a snicker at the inanity of it all.

[Neoma]

20. I kind of see what Downwinder is trying to say.

There are cruel manipulative people out there. I know many (sometimes verbally abusive) religious nuts who take advantage of people in grief. I don't believe that Santa is used in that way.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

24. Point taken

I grew up as a member of a manipulative and abusive church so I know exactly how bad it can be. But no matter how controlling or manipulative the church was, I eventually had to make a conscious decision to question what they were teaching. At some point, I became responsible for myself and my decisions.

[Taverner]

15. Who are you to say they are wrong?

Mountains of evidence, that's why you can say they are wrong.

[skepticscott]

8. Other than

all of Scientology, you mean? And a goodly bit of Mormonism?

[Downwinder]

9. Or cannibals standing in line to drink blood.

[skepticscott]

10. That at least

has the leveling feature of being part of many cultural and mythic traditions. It is, I think, a much more deeply rooted human tendency that even the Catholic Church would care to admit. But Scientology is pure nutbag woowoo.

[Taverner]

16. What about eating poop?

4:11 Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
4:12 And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.

[mr blur]

4. Well, you're missing out on a whole lot of hilarity.

Why are religious beliefs off-limits, then?

[intaglio]

3. Oddly "speaking is tongues" is something I've done for years

I just never realised that my ability to spout gibberish was what the Pentacostalists were on about.

There have been times when I have wanted to go to such a church and have a conniption ...

[Warpy]

5. It's echolalic babbling

and any normal ten month old infant is capable of it.

It's been analyzed to death and there is no structure, just a bunch of nonsense syllables strung together and repeated.

[Taverner]

7. Yep. And not only that, your brain goes into a kind of sleep state.

Much like when you watch TV, drink 3 beers or stare at the wall

[Curmudgeoness]

11. There are people who are offended by just about anything.

So why wouldn't they think it is wrong to make fun of speaking in tongues? But I think that when the "anything" is religious belief, there is a line drawn.

With that said, I have known no one who doesn't make fun of speaking in tongues or handling snakes....so I don't know who thinks it is wrong.

[Iggo]

19. It's the slippery slope.

They start laughing, next thing you know it's their religion's turn.

[awoke_in_2003]

21. Yep...

I mean, come- feeding 5000 people with the equivalent of a couple McFish sandwiches, Noah's ark, the world created in six days. Every story in the babble can be ridiculed. Maybe change "can" to " should"

[BlueJazz]

22. tsk,tsk Taverner, you shouldn't make fun of people speaking Klingon

I agree with you...it's just another "Look at me, everybody, I'm filled with the spirit"

[cynatnite]

23. I asked someone who claimed to speak in tongues...

All they would say is that it was gawd inspired. I asked them if they knew what they were saying and they didn't.

It's in the bible so I do agree they know exactly what they are doing.

[AlbertCat]

25. Why do some people think it's wrong to make fun of speakin' in tongues?

I dunno... It's a great album!

[Ron Obvious]

26. Speaking in tongues

When I goaded a friend with the claimed ability to speak in tongues into giving me a demonstration, he produced sounds that reminded me of Andy Kauffman's Latka on the old sit-com taxi. People speaking real languages, even if you can't understand a word, just don't sound like that. It's stream of gibberish that sounds like it has no information content at all.

As for mocking them, I consider it important feedback.

[frogmarch]

27. I think it's hilarious!

Wrong or not, I laugh out loud every time I see a video of some wacko speaking in tongues. (It's called "glossolalia" or something like that, I think.)

There are two fine examples of it in this clip from Religulous.

[raccoon]

28. Off to greatest with you! And I sure don't think it's wrong. nt

[Kennah]

29. Ever stopped yourself from swearing someplace you thought it might not be appropriate?

"Son of a mother, cats and dogs, can't, aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!"

About as close to speaking in tongues as I get.

[Kennah]

30. Back when I attended an SBC church ...

... a couple of them got to talking about speaking in tongues at some sort of revival. People all but goaded newbies into it, and all concluded it was horseshit--my words, not theirs.

[lindysalsagal]

31. dut-dut-dut-UM-dut-DEET-dut-dut,

ela-hando-satelay-eek-condele-mosandrey-aseya