If you answered "The Sopranos," you're a winner. Yes, reputed New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano was visited by the two Evangelicals during his recovery from a gunshot wound in the hospital. One of the Evangelicals was an old boyfriend of Tony's sister, Janice.
Any way, at one point in their conversation with Tony, one of the Evangelicals picks up a dinosaur history book that Carmela had brought Tony to read. Tony comments that his kids loved dinosaurs when they were little. The fundamentalist agrees, but then comments, oddly, that anyone who says that Dinosaurs existed millions of years ago is going to Hell.
Tony, for once, is taken aback. Nonplused, he says, "I have many friends who would disagree with you."
The fundamentalist continues with his web of lies "No, Dinosaurs and man existed side by side. The Lord created this world 6,000 years ago. The Bible tells us that."
Before I dissect that nuggett, I wish to relate two further comments made by "Sopranos" characters in reaction to the Evangelical. After the fundamentalists leave, Tony's nephew/cousin, Christopher, comments "I don't believe him. In the Bible, Adam and Eve lived in paradise when God created the world. How can it be paradise if yous gots Dinosaurs in paradise?" Also observing Tony's meeting with the radicals was his Jewish friend Hesh and Hesh's daughter. Hesh's daughter comments that the Jews and the Evangelicals share a bond with each other due to their shared view of Israel as the Holy Land. Hesh chides his daughter saying, "Just you wait."
What is my point? The point is, scientific fact has proven that the Earth has existed for billions of years. It has proven that dinosaurs did not coexist with man in the Garden of Eden six thousand years ago. It has proven that the Earth was not created in six 24 hour days as told in the Bible.
Yet, as represented by the always stellar writing and acting on "The Sopranos," Evangelicals actually disagree. They do in fact believe that the creation story is scientific fact. That the world was created a mere six thousand years ago. That the world, in all of its complexity, was created in a mere six days. That Adam and Eve, even after they were expelled from paradise, lived among dinosaurs and managed to avoid and survive the same comet-caused apolcapyse that felled creatures 100 times their size.
I was taken aback. How can anyone actually believe that, when it is (nearly) universal scientific fact that the Earth was created billions of years ago?
But, the Evangelicals do. And the Evangelicals believe further that anyone who believes otherwise is going to Hell.
Indeed, that is the Evangelical wish. They want those who disagree with them to go to Hell. They want the facts that shatter their pathological world to go to Hell. For those scientific facts destroy the credibility of the Bible as literal truth. And if the Bible is not the literal truth, then everything these Evangelicals know and believe in means nothing.
This one excellent portrayal on a fictional television show is indeed a revelation for me. It explains why Evangelicals are almost uniformly conservative, for they want to remain in the past when such scientific facts were not known or were yet to be discovered. And it explains why they are almost uniformly Republican, for they are traditionalists who oppose societal reform or advancement.
And if Evangelicals behave and believe as they were portrayed on "The Sopranos," then they deserve every mocking they receive. They are undeserving of any political outreach by any political party.
For to be an Evangelical today denies truth. It denies fact. It scorns those who disagree. To be an Evangelical means you hate change. It means you are uneducated. It means you love the past. It means you hate.
Don't get me wrong, this is a free country and Evangelicals are free to believe and say whatever they want. It doesn't mean we all should be forced to listen. It doesn't mean they should be respected as a religious or political force. It doesn't mean they represent values. Hate and untruth are not values, they are failings.
Thanks for listening.
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