Bart Sibrel Finds God... no... really!!

[JayUtah]

I'm not normally the type of person who promotes violence, but I've made an exception for this...

The problem with this clip is that it doesn't show the full extent of Sibrel's harassment. Sibrel tried to file charges against Aldrin, but when the L.A. prosecutor saw the full tape from Sibrel's camera, he basically laughed Sibrel out of his office. Turns out it was actually Sibrel who had committed both assault and battery on Aldrin by poking him with a Bible and by physically placing himself between Aldrin and Aldrin's clearly intended path of retreat.

Groklaw or one of the other public document sites had Sibrel's statement to the prosecutor, and I regret I didn't download it then when I had the chance. Basically Sibrel's plan was to have previously set up a bogus interview for Aldrin to discuss the Apollo 11 mission, then show up in his true identity and accuse Aldrin of taking the honorarium for the interview under false pretenses (i.e., because he hadn't "really" gone to the Moon), challenge Aldrin to swear on the Bible that he had gone, and get his reaction on camera.

Aldrin recognized Sibrel, naturally, broke off the interview and left the hotel with Sibrel in hot pursuit. Sibrel headed him off before he could get to his car, whereupon Aldrin retreated back into the hotel. Hotel personnel tried to separate Sibrel and Aldrin, to allow Aldrin to escape, but were unable. Aldrin then went back outside where Sibrel cornered him and poked him with the Bible, calling Aldrin a "thief and a liar."

Sibrel has always been religious. The whole swearing on the Bible thing is a fairly outward manifestation of it, but his religious conviction goes deeper. At one point he was affiliated with the ICC, the Nashville Church. The ICC has a reputation for coercive recruitment practices, so make of that what you will. Naturally it doesn't really affect the factual or logical correctness of any of his claims, but it does explain some of his behavior.

 

[LaurelHS]

Also, Sibrel has harassed Apollo astronauts on several occasions. This was just the most notorious incident.

 

[Jim_MDP]

The problem with this clip is that it doesn't show the full extent of Sibrel's harassment. ...

Perfectly correct for folk unaware of the incident or hoaxers who believe Sibrel was right to confront Buzz.

I am not one of those people... I prefer to see the punch.

 

[Pooneil]

Sibrel has always been religious.

So has Aldrin. He took some time to hold a private communion on the moon, with sacraments provided by his priest. IFAIK, as an astronaut, Aldrin never kept his faith a secret but rightly shielded his spiritual beliefs from public view. I suspect the Bible prodding assault by Sibrel added greatly to the general offensiveness of his bashing Aldrin's Apollo record.

 

[JayUtah]

Perfectly correct for folk unaware of the incident or hoaxers who believe Sibrel was right to confront Buzz.

I am not one of those people... I prefer to see the punch.

Maybe I'm overprotective on behalf impressionable people who might wonder why an astronaut would ever punch someone. We do hold them to higher standards. Personally if Sibrel wants to physically confront an Air Force colonel with combat fighter-pilot experience and nards-of-steel test-pilot credentials, I think he deserves what he gets.

Ed Mitchell literally kicked Sibrel in the kiester while ejecting him from his house, but it wasn't caught on tape.

 

[JayUtah]

So has Aldrin. He took some time to hold a private communion on the moon, with sacraments provided by his priest.

Indeed. In fact, if you are privileged to have any private moments with Aldrin where he feels comfortable talking about it, one of the things he mentions is the odd diminished-gravity dynamics of how the wine flowed so far up the side of the little cup as he was pouring. He said Armstrong noticed what he was doing, looked at him, but went about his business and didn't say anything to him about it.

Aldrin wasn't the only religious astronaut. Jim Irwin, who went to high school just a short walk from where I live, (ironically the same high school where High School Musical was filmed) even start the High Flight ministry in order to devote full time to his religiously-motivated activity. Jim Lovell was Episcopalian (cf. Apollo 8). Ed Mitchell is religious in his own way, at least to the point of admitting being led in his life partially by supernatural beliefs.

IFAIK, as an astronaut, Aldrin never kept his faith a secret but rightly shielded his spiritual beliefs from public view.

I'll wager this had much to do with the atheists' backlash against Lovell and crew reading from the Bible on Apollo 8. A big deal was made of it, so whether by NASA PAO edict or by simple common sense, I think they agreed to leave religion out of the public aspects of the space program.

Personally I think there aren't any atheists in a spacecraft, but that's because I know how they're built and how close to the edge of mortality they ride.

I suspect the Bible prodding assault by Sibrel added greatly to the general offensiveness of his bashing Aldrin's Apollo record.

Probably, although I note that some astronauts actually did take Sibrel's challenge and swear on the Bible they'd been to the Moon. Knowing Sibrel's double-bind m.o., it probably didn't matter to him whether they agreed or refused; he'd just accuse them of swearing to a lie on the Bible. Oath-taking on the Bible is still a "thing" in other contexts, though, so I don't dare second-guess this one.

 

[Jrrarglblarg]

That, plus he didn't talk about the ones who played along with his little game, thus lying by omission.

And he's a jerk just generally. I owe this entire on-line persona to having encountered his "top 20" list while looking for something intelligent.

 

[Rincewind]

That, plus he didn't talk about the ones who played along with his little game, thus lying by omission.

And he's a jerk just generally. I owe this entire on-line persona to having encountered his "top 20" list while looking for something intelligent.

Kudos for taking one for the team....

 

[Jrrarglblarg]

Kudos for taking one for the team....

It was my first contact with the moon hoax. I was offended and debunked the list off the top of my head in an email to him. His response was rude. Eventually I found the Apollohoax forum and my exploration of the internet has been downhill from there.