Minus four for your knee-jerk reaction.

uh...

This is only kind of funny, but hey, did you know that putting up that fifth star doesn't actually mean you agree with everything everybody who ALSO gives it five stars says? It's true. I thought it was just a crazy urban legend, so I looked it up.

Edge?

The more exposure the average ignorant American gets to atheism, the better. Maybe someday they'll trust us more than terrorists.

There couldn't possibly be a dire social trend of the last 20 years that he is reflective of, could there?

No. The writers have gotten lazier

I love how he reads the proof and accepts it after rechecking the math.

Flanders was portrayed as a fundamentalist Christian almost from day one, and the role or fundies in our culture has changed over time. It'd be lazy NOT to write him as more extreme.

The character "God" has already appeared in previous episodes. And it wasn't just the one when Homer dreamed Him.

I liked Flanders a lot more when he was an actual character, not just a vehicle for all the jabs at fundies. This is also not very funny, which is business as usual for Simpsons now.

"X" sense when have the Simpsons ever been concerned about continuity. It was commonplace for the show to forget about past events for the sake of attempted comedy.

I wish I had a vehicle that jabbed fundies... it might be a lot faster than the rusty nail I was planning on using.

Innocent Bystander: Did you see the movie? It was a great illustration of why I think Flanders is one of the characters who HAVEN'T been ruined in the show's later years: he's a fundie, but he's also a good person and loving father deep down, and the two roles don't conflict. Even Springfielders who don't share his views seem to like him. It'd be much easier for them to write him as a sanctimonious bible-thumping asshole, but so far they've refrained from that.

Xenocide: Yeah I saw it. I agree that they made him a tad more likeable and complex in the movie. It's just funny if you see an older episode where his religousness doesn't define him. He's goofy and he's a total square but at the same time seems like a real person.

kampfy: And that's part of the reason why just about all of their comedic attempts fail now, since the contradictions can't help but remind you of their glory days. But they're still able to "woozle" and "wozzle" themselves all the way to the bank.

Holy shit, judging by the length of discussion over Flanders I can tell some people need to get outside more.

"(I'm obliged to offer you fellas a beer, but I'm so angry that it's going to be mostly head)". Actually, that line was in a later episode--season 9 or something, I think.

The creationist exhibit at the museum was pretty funny.

But even this scene isnt realy that crude nor mean...At least, not when you consider how real fundies react to anything that goes against the existance of god;

Darwin = nazi
Bananas = god
Peanutbutter = no evolution

At least they showed that flanders is smart enough to read a math proof.

2 + 2 does infact = 4

It is by mathematics alone that we are elevated above the endless fuzzy debating of the liberal arts.

I think you mean science. Science never truly proves anything, and even gravity and the existance of germs are officially "only" theories.