Random Developments

Maybe I’m not reading the “right” Australian blogs, but I find it interesting that I saw no mention of John Safran in any of them so far. John Safran vs. God is a TV show (SBS, Mondays, 8:30pm) presented by, you guessed it, John Safran. He’s a jewish-born atheist who goes around the world, basically, making fun of every possible religion, and experimenting with their rituals.

In the first episode, for example, he went to the American west to try peyote in the middle of the desert; last week, in Utah, he tried to get a mormon movie producer to endorse his “Xtreme Mormons!” idea. This week, again in Utah, he dressed up as a mormon elder (white shirt, black pants, black shoes, bicycle), armed himself wih a copy of “Origin of the Species” and a “John Safran, Atheist” badge and went door to door to preach atheism. “Hello, ma’am, can I take a minute of your time to tell you about atheism?” “We believe in the teachings of a man called Charles Darwin.” Needless to say, the people he visited were, in general, less than amused. Very funny, though.

If you are in Australia and not easily offended (or disgusted), I seriously recommend this show. If you are somewhere else, you can get a tasting from the “multimedia” section in his web site, linked to above.