A blurb on a nifty video I just watched last night:

I've been an Atheist for a while now, so it baffles me that I'd never heard of the documentary film "Marjoe" before this week. It's a documentary film shot in the 70s that was a miniature exposé on big time religion. I'm sure it had a much larger shock factor then. It can't compare with the audacity of the four horsemen, but I kinda liked it. (Though it is VERY SLOW PACED).

Basically, Marjoe was a famous child preacher, leading congregations since he was 4 years old. In the film, he describes how his parents "trained" him to be an effective preacher. He never believed in God or in the religion he preached, but he was a successful preacher because he "understood the gimmick".

Marjoe doesn't spend a lot of time talking in the film. He mostly shows footage of his sermons so that you can see the things he is doing and how it effects the audience. Basically, he's demonstrating that preachers are doing the same thing as rock stars, which is the high he gets from preaching (since he doesn't actually practice what he preaches).

He points out very small things that are common sense when you hear them. But having been raised by Pentecostal parents, it was really cool to see the man playing the Pentecostal preacher discuss his acting routine. (Not that all preachers are acting or think of it as acting. He asserts---and I agree---that even the congregation is "putting on a play" to a certain extent.)

The most interesting things to watch were his methods for affecting people. He shows that tone of voice matters. Confidence matters. If someone asks you if you're saved, he says, you can't hesitate. You can't say "Huh? Oh. Yeah." You can't simply say, "Yes". You have to look them hard in the eye, squeeze their hand tight, shake it vigorously, and say something like "You bet your life, brother. I'm washed in the same blood as you." The use of "blood" and language that suggests sameness are important. This affects people.

He talks about the gestures he uses while preaching. When he says the word Jesus, he might throw his arms open wide in a grand gesture, opening his chest to the congregation. When he mentions the devil or satan or hellfire, he leans forward, points his finger, makes a challenging gesture. It affects people.

He talks about using poetic language, especially antithesis and alliteration, and the use of cadence. He rattles off a long series of examples. I'll quote his example spiel for you: (throughout the spiel he speaks in pairs of antithetical rhyming phrases. The first is always spoken in a high tone, the second in a low tone, establishing a rhythm to go with the rhyme.)

"For seven years I was a heroine addict! A pill dropper! An LSD tripper! High risin' and low slidin'! Bustin' heads and poppin' reds! Settin' fires and slashin' tires! But then I met a man who was hung up for my hang ups!" etc. It affects people.

He even talks about the good crazy stuff. How do you make a person faint or collapse by laying your hand on their forehead? Easy. It's all about the build-up. You single them out and stand them up in front of hundreds of people. You tell them God is about to touch them. Don't just tell them. Exclaim it. Yell it at them. Ask them if they're ready several times, more vigorously each time. Ask the audience if they believe the person is about to be touched. Build it up until there is an expectation. The person to be touched is on the edge of their spiritual seat. Then, you do not simply lay your hand on the forehead. You turn, very suddenly, very spontaneously, and you press your palm firmly into their head, even shaking or rocking their head as you do so. The special circumstances and the build-up make the action a shock and a sudden release of tension. For some it causes fainting or collapse, and for many others it's simply a jolt of... something. How can they deny that they were jolted? It affected them.

He mentions speaking in tongues. It is just gibberish after all. There are a few who know it's fake, and they use it to show how incredibly holy and close to God they supposedly are. A person sitting in the congregation might think, "Wow, he speaks in tongues. I've never spoken in tongues. He must be far closer to God than I am." This makes them want to try harder, maybe. To follow that person's example. Other people speak in tongues when they don't know it's fake. This is accomplished by a group of people, perhaps three or more, who do speak in tongues (knowing it's fake or not) surrounding a person and "speaking in tongues" (read: talking gibberish) at the target somewhat violently. They might press the person to "talk to Jesus", to "let it out", to "set the spirit free" and so on. It puts a heavy load of pressure on the person to speak in tongues under the guise that it is doing no such thing. Consequently, the person will listen to what the other tongue-speakers are doing and will, in a moment of submission, start producing the same gibberish sounds. The other tongue speakers rejoice. This not only instantly relieves the pressure on the target, but it earns them highly positive feedback, which gives them a jolt of something nice. They just learned how to speak gibberish while believing it's not gibberish. (Gibberish doesn't "feel like" anything.) It affected them.

I especially liked the parts of the video where he showed how to ask for money. Talking about sin, hell, and calling for an examination of the spirit is key before you collect money. It doesn't have to be over-the-top scary stuff. Just get them wondering where they stand. I liked how he said things like, "Reach into your pocket and take out the largest bill you have. If that billl is a 10, you can give that 10. If the largest bill you have is a 5 or 1, that's all that God wants from you." It's clever how he asks for the largest bill they have while turning around and indirectly suggesting that the smaller bills are "good enough". No mention of the 50s or the 100s. It doubtfully works on everyone all the time, but I'm sure it works enough for a new car.

None of this is to say that this was the best "atheism video/movie" I've ever seen. Most would probably find it kind of boring, since 2/3 of it is just watching him in action in front of a congregation (i.e. watching church). But it's cooler to watch anything when you have some insight into how it works.

In closing, hello again, Rationalites. I've been MIA for a while, but no worries: I haven't gone the way of God, if you know what I mean.