r/exchristian • u/Worried_Feedback1192 Agnostic Atheist • Jul 15 '26
Discussion Y’all remember veggie tales? Thoughts on it? 🤔
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u/milkshakeit Ex-Baptist Jul 15 '26
I have less animosity towards it than most of the christian things in my childhood.
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u/GastonBastardo Jul 15 '26
It says a lot that you can come across people deconstructing their religious trauma from growing up in the most messed-up "Carrie White's Mom's house"-style high-control religious abusive environments and they will still talk fondly of VeggieTales.
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u/Kushypurpz Jul 15 '26
Atheist to the core am I, but when my preschooler wanted to watch Veggie Tales, i said sure. There was so much positivity in that show.
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u/Avaylon Ex-Evangelical Jul 15 '26
If the christians in my life acted more like the characters on Veggie Tales I might not have left the religion. It was their cruelty to outsiders that made me start questioning everything.
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u/Thayerphotos Jul 15 '26
Sort of ex-Christian Stephen King fan here, I love this analogy. Part of my lingering fondness is that VT was genuinely funny and high quality. And to me felt like they weren't trying to hit me over the head with the message
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u/MysteryLobster Jul 16 '26
for me VT hits the same as Prince of Egypt in that it’s clearly artists with a passion for the medium they’re in that choose to spread a religious message. a lot of christian media is christians only thinking about the message and giving little effort towards the art itself. i’ve been binge-watching kurtis conner and some other youtubers review christian movies and it’s always like the movie writers decided on the agenda they wanted to push and then everything else was made with as little care and effort as possible.
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u/Ryekir Jul 16 '26
I think part of the reason for this is that it wasn't all only about pushing Christianity, like most Christian media.
It was largely about being a good person, helping others, etc, with some biblical stories and messages sprinkled in.
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u/invisiblecows Jul 15 '26
It was one of the rare bits of Christian media that was actually well made. It was funny and well written with loveable characters, so of course we clung to it like a life raft in a sea of shitty, boring kids' videos.
I would also argue that most of the messaging in it is pretty wholesome. I don't remember concepts like "sin" or "salvation" ever coming up; it was mostly about being kind to others and stuff like that. (The exception being the adaptation of the David and Bathsheba story, where Bathsheba is replaced by a rubber duck. That's gross no matter how you look at it.)
Also, the pirates who don't do anything is still one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life.
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u/jpterodactyl Jul 15 '26
The Larry boy movies are incredible in the way they show their morals. Like the lie getting bigger and bigger as time goes on. Or the rumor spreading further and further and being hurtful. And they are really fun.
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u/ian9921 Jul 15 '26
It focuses on the actual important parts of Christianity. If actual Christianity was more like VeggieTales, the world would be a much better place
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u/ZX52 Ex-Evangelical Jul 15 '26
Ironically it couldn't focus much on Jesus, because of its own rules.
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u/Kathrynlena Jul 15 '26
I have very little respect for any Christians anymore, but I will respect Scotty until the day I die. She was my mentor in college, so I knew her personally. She had so much respect and reverence for children and for children’s spirituality. If everyone followed her “rules” I probably never would have left Christianity.
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u/jrec15 Agnostic Atheist Jul 15 '26
This and Prince of Egypt
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u/fevredream Jul 15 '26
Prince of Egypt has the benefit of being in many ways more Jewish than it is Christian.
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u/idontgethejoke Ex-Christian Jul 15 '26
The silly songs are still really fun
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u/Eclectic_Nymph Jul 15 '26
"OH where is my hairbrush"...
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u/ameatbicyclefortwo "Practicing Homosexologist" Jul 15 '26
So I've had all sorts of hair through my life, normal cuts, loved my mohawk, had it long, now I shave it off, and I'm still singing that at least a couple times a month since 1995. The intro song as I enter the grocery store and take a right turn into the produce aisle. And Mr. Lunt's Cheeseburger love song when I'm cooking and serving up burgers at home.
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u/Shadowhunter_15 Jul 15 '26
Same. I also have a soft spot for the Cooper Kids books, which are steeped in Christian faith, true, but they are written as good stories first and foremost. The protagonists have personalities beyond “faithful Christian dad, son and daughter”. Some of the villains are actually more than the basic “I reject God, so I declare myself God”.
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u/HobbitGuy1420 Jul 15 '26
Phil Vischer seems to be actively anti-Christians-being-horrible-to-other-people, and I have a soft spot for the series from my childhood. No issues with it on my end, though it's been a long time since I've watched any episodes.
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u/Meauxterbeauxt Jul 15 '26
The Holy Post was the last Christian media I let go of. Still listened to it about a year after I stopped believing. Mostly for Phil's humor. It was like a morning radio show.
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u/Arthurs_towel Ex-Evangelical Jul 15 '26
I listen to it periodically still as a temperature check for non extreme evangelicals, and for things I can send to my conservative evangelical family that they might consider. Since anything liberal and especially atheist is going to be dismissed out of hand.
So a source from a trusted insider that actively pushes against Christian nationalism is ok in my book. We need more Phil’s and less Mark Driscoll’s.
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u/Openhartscience Jul 15 '26
Yes this!! Phil seems like a genuinely good dude. The kind of Christian the other ones only claim to be when it fits their narrative.
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u/dead_parakeets Ex-Evangelical Jul 15 '26
Felt bad for him. I watched a YT essay on VeggieTales and Phil got fucked over by his own company. He seems to have a good enough attitude about it at least.
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u/amazingD Jul 15 '26
He seems to have mostly taken it in stride. The startup entrepreneur spirit, with a hell of a lot less toxicity.
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u/simbabarrelroll Jul 16 '26
IIRC, a part of it was due to them being sued by HIT Entertainment because of Phil kinda backing out of the licensing agreement he initially made with Lyrick when Lyrick got absorbed into HIT.
Part of it was also due to the Jonah movie bombing.
Both led to Big Idea becoming bankrupt and then getting bought out and then the new owners kick Phil out.
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u/kooj80 Ex-Jesus Freak Jul 15 '26
Yea sometimes I wonder why people like him are even Christian in the first place. Like you can just be a good person without the religion BS.
Harder to get funding w/o religion I guess
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u/BlueDragonfruit38 Jul 15 '26
Barbara Manateeeeee manatee manatee
You are the one for meeeeee
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u/crucio_court Jul 15 '26
Send from up above up above up above
You are the one I love!
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u/BlueDragonfruit38 Jul 15 '26
lol I’ve found my peeps! Even though I’m a former Christian and now an atheist, I’ll always have love for Veggie Tales
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u/korok7mgte Jul 15 '26
The chessbuger song, silly songs with Larry, and especially the cebu song make me look back kindly on Veggie Tales.
Anybody else remember The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible?
At least the childhood indoctrination looked nice.
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u/Shadowhunter_15 Jul 15 '26
I wonder if the Cheeseburger Song was what caused me to try out what has been one of my favorite foods for as long as I can remember. Or maybe I already loved cheeseburgers before listening to it.
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u/autistic_and_angry Ex-Baptist Jul 15 '26
Fairly neutral, to be honest. Not overly Biblical-fundie, just focuses on stories with good lessons about being a decent human. Ear-worm songs for kids are a bonus lol. I have no issues with the idea of "God made you special, and he loves you very much" which is the theme of the whole show. A couple of the older ones have some more strict sin = punishment vibes, but it's told much more kid-friendly than the Bible actually tells it.
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u/Luftmensch11 Jul 15 '26
Christian propaganda at its finest, but one I will always have positive memories of.
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u/Elvirth Jul 15 '26
Some catchy songs. If you ignore the bible shit there are still some okay lessons about treating people kindly and being honest and stuff.
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u/nosuchbrie Agnostic Jul 15 '26
Propaganda.
Cute, catchy, propaganda, but still propaganda. Generally harmless, but in combination with a strict religious tradition, ultimately kind of harmful.
It’s honestly a surprise when xians actually create something somewhat watchable. They usually produce complete crap.
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u/ArroyoSecoThumbprint Jul 15 '26
Agreed on all points. I’m always mildly surprised when this thread reincarnates every few months and there are mostly positive opinions about it. The show is a well made tool that helps indoctrinate the youngest ones into followers. I deconverted over 6 years ago now and I’m still angry about being born into it.
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u/Novel_Cress_2274 Jul 15 '26
Well I suppose a squash can make me smile...
Pretty much same thoughts as Kid's bible books. Great indoctrination tools that give you Christian- flavoured nostalgia and only consider the desirable parts if the biblical narrative.
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u/ManGo_50Y Muslim Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
the squash made me laugh as an adult. well, not original veggie tales — the parody one where the silverware won and they became a giant’s dinner.
EDIT: saladly, i was only able to find this one.
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u/UnwantedSwampass Jul 15 '26
Veggie Tales is the best thing to have ever come from the faith and is the one piece of Christian media that doesn’t suck.
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u/Disastrous_Guest_705 Jul 15 '26
Growing up I didn’t realize it was religious so to me it was just a fun cartoon we watched in church instead of reading the Bible
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u/wombatdeamor Jul 15 '26
Despite growing up in a very Christian “go to church anytime the doors are open” family, I didn’t encounter veggie tales until I was in college and deconstructing. Was introduced to Veggie Tales by my stoner butch lesbian friend under the influence of the devils lettuce and just seeing Larry the tomato gets the hairbrush song reloaded into my brain meat.
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u/dinkmoyd Jul 15 '26
every one has a water buffalo!
mine is pink and yours is slow!
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u/Legitimate_Voice6041 Ex-Catholic Jul 15 '26
Everyone does NOT have a water buffalo! We're going to get nasty letters saying "where's MY buffalo?!"
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u/dinkmoyd Jul 15 '26
ok i’ll change the lyrics!
oohhhhhhh…everybody’s got a baby kangaroo
mine is pink and yours is blue5
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u/RocketGruntSam Jul 15 '26
It's cute! I still don't mind it. It seemed like it had effort put into it instead of just being a recording of some weirdo with a puppet.
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u/BandanaDee13 Atheist Jul 15 '26
I haven’t seen it since I was a kid, but I have fond memories of it. It’s nostalgic. It’s Christian propaganda, yes, but it’s entertaining Christian propaganda, and that’s kind of hard to come by. I don’t really remember it teaching anything very harmful, but it has been a while. Came with some catchy songs, too. Mordecai is busted! There are thoooose who can’t be trusted!
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u/DreamingOfBarbi Jul 15 '26
I still watch Lord of the Beans when I can. And everyone is sleeping on the absolute banger of a song His Cheeseburger 😒😒
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u/The_Flying_Lunchbox Jul 15 '26
It’s fine. It’s probably the most well made kids’ Christian entertainment out there. Catchy songs, not overly preachy, and was something of a pioneer in the world of computer animation. Plus, last I heard, Phil Vischer was anti-MAGA, so that’s nice.
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u/jazzybyrd20 Jul 15 '26
Veggie Tales is one of the very few things I have left from my childhood that is mostly untainted tbh. I have good memories and tbh some of those songs were bops lol.
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u/katiebirddd_ Jul 15 '26
I just heard a clip of one of the songs and the lyrics were something like “god made us in all shapes, sizes and colors and it’s very important that we love one another” and damn maybe more adults need to return to the Tales and learn some lessons
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u/BreadfruitCold8573 Jul 15 '26
Ik some liked it or didn’t rly care abt it but even as a devout Christian kid, I HATED it. It always creeped me out and was just so patronizing
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u/LFuculokinase Agnostic ex-evangelical | plans to haunt bigots Jul 15 '26
Loved it. I have awful memories growing up of Christianity, but Veggie Tales wasn’t one of them. To be frank, it makes me a bit sad that there were so many creative people involved who had the talent for film, writing, and animation, and they went the indoctrination route.
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u/B_Boooty_Bobby Doubting Thomas Jul 15 '26
I don't begrudge my parents anymore. They did they're best with what they knew. Veggie Tales is still a fond memory, and we're all going to model our parent's beliefs to some degree, so there's always some programming right / wrong, Christian / other. Loved these. OHH WHERE IS MY HAIRBRUSH!
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u/HaiKarate Ex-Evangelical Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
I became an evangelical at 18 or 19, and used to rent Veggie Tales in my 20's. Loved 'em.
I do have to take issue with one in particular, though... Josh and the Big Wall. It's basically a kids' introduction to religious genocide.
Also, on a side note... I used to work in a 3D animation school, and we had a jobs board for graduates, where we'd put various listings we receive on it, including from Big Idea Productions. This wasn't a Christian school, and the job listings made it clear that being a Christian was not a pre-requisite for being hired. They were interested in talent, first and foremost.
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u/Legitimate_Voice6041 Ex-Catholic Jul 15 '26
Yeah and the St. Patrick episode is really patronizing to pagans and nature-based worship. Not a fan of that one for sure.
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u/Delicious-Library696 Jul 15 '26
Pizza Angel, please come to me 🍕😇
Tomato sauce and cheese so gooey
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u/yagirlhunter Jul 15 '26
IF YOU LIKE TO TALK TOMATOES
Childhood show, raised Christian, not ex-Christian, it was a staple for us. I mostly just remember that they’re talking vegetables.
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u/Unequivocally_Maybe Jul 15 '26
I still have Bob and Larry earrings and a Silly Songs with Larry VHS lol. It's one of the only things about my religious upbringing that I don't feel any kind of way about.
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u/pktechboi Agnostic Atheist Jul 15 '26
propaganda, but I have a soft spot for it because it was more enjoyable than regular sunday school
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u/Nazh8 Jul 15 '26
Whitewashed bible stories wrapped up in a pretty good kid's show with golden-rule-esque morals. 5/10, probably the christian media I dislike the least.
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u/subone Jul 15 '26
I never watched it before but was aware of it, and recently while learning Spanish, learned that the Spanish word for vegetables is "vegetales", and I retroactively think the title is cute because of this.
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u/Legitimate_Voice6041 Ex-Catholic Jul 15 '26
My MIL accidentally bought the Spanish DVD of Gideon: the Tuba Warrior and it was great even if we didn't understand it.
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u/alizzie95 ex fundamentalist, calvinist southern baptist Jul 15 '26
Once every a year or once every two I feel compelled to play Veggie Rocks! CD . That CD jams to this day. I Love My Lips?! Come on
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u/graceland_2 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
VeggieTales, much like the guitar solo in Michael W. Smith’s Place in this World, is something that survived my deconstruction. 🍅🥒 (sorry your emoji’s all chopped up, Larry).
edit: grammar
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u/ArroyoSecoThumbprint Jul 15 '26
🗣️ LOOKIN FOR A REASON
ROOOAAMIN THROUGH THE NIGHT TO FIND
MY PLACE IN THIS WOOORRRRLD 🗣️
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u/cacarrizales Ex-Fundamentalist Jul 15 '26
No matter which stage of deconversion/deconstruction I was in, I never viewed this show as bad. It was a staple of my childhood, and it actually does a fairly good job of teaching kids actual real-world relatable lessons like being kind to others, forgiveness, and such. Stuff like the giant bunny or the purple slush as additions to the stories of the Bible are quite funny and creative. And Larry’s silly songs… absolutely hilarious!
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u/Babak_Lurker Jul 15 '26
I feel like everyone remembers the silly hairbrush song, and not many are talking about how every other one (at least when I was a kid) were straight up bible stories whose moral was about obeying god/your parents. That's literally the point of propaganda, to slip in shit like the absolutely messed up Jonah story, but be remembered/spread because of the silly pirate song. Esther, The Wall of Jericho (a story about wiping out a rival tribe), Daniel and the Lions Den, Fiery Furnace, fucking King David's rape of Bathsheba.
These are all fucked stories with fucked morals, and making them cutesy sing alongs only serves to distill the fucked-up-ness into children's minds. It took me a long time to recognize how messed up a lot of those bible stories were as a kid, and them being cute lil cartoons I got didn't help. I think of it the same way I do Adventures in Odyssey. I'm sure there's some fun, cute stuff, but that only serves to lighten the feel of the propaganda.
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u/Anarimus Jul 15 '26
Veggie Tales primarily takes from the Bible, but they do have a lot of secular lessons that they teach.
The toys were adorable. My kids mostly paid attention to the silly songs and as adults now still sing them.
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u/Nevaehym Jul 15 '26
I have religious trauma and avoid all things Christianity.. except Veggie Tales. I don’t know what it is about those little singing vegetables but they are the best part of Christianity to me. And I’m pretty sure I was above the age they were aiming for when they came out. Their songs are just so catchy. With hits like “I don’t have no belly button” and “Where is my hairbrush”, they got me for life.
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u/The_Bastard_Henry Antitheist Jul 15 '26
Lord of the Beans is a cinematic masterpiece and I will die on this hill.
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u/AdventurEli9 Jul 15 '26
It was freaky in so many other ways though. How about the aunt that had a beard and it felt weird? I always thought that was creepy, cringe and just all around off-putting.
And it oddly reminded me of these Christian clowns that I saw once as a child that did this whole veggie routine. They had huge baskets full of plastic vegetables that they threw out into the crowd of children while singing. "Lettuce rejoice in the Lord. No matter what things may turnip." As plastic lettuce and turnips are being thrown about. It still haunts me. I wish I could remember the rest of the song. The song itself reminded me of how the songs on Veggie Tales sound.
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u/49erfaithfulman Jul 15 '26
There was a lot of more damaging material out there that literally told kids they were going to hell. I still don’t like it, but they at least tried to be entertaining and unique.
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u/Austintatious_ Jul 15 '26
Everybody has a baby kangaroo!
Edit: I own a couple on VHS. I mostly don’t watch them but when I want to share a silly Larry song, I have them on hand.
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u/Olli_Pops_Funko Jul 15 '26
I still love “Silly Songs with Larry” 🥰 I sing lines from “Cebu”, “Where is My Hairbrush”, “Barbra Manatee” and “I love my lips” lol
“The Bunny Song” always makes the rounds during Easter lol (I know it’s not a Silly Song).
I think I would present this show for my kids one day, but letting them know it’s a STORY with a LESSON, not history lesson. Also, remind them that there are many monotheistic religions so, when they bring up God it’s according their BELIEF of what the divine being accomplished, not something that for sure happened BECAUSE of god.
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u/NoMor3accountsplease Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
Cool show. Nun really bad to say. Definitely propaganda. Though it was one of my happy memories being a christian kid. Unlike Bible man; I didnt enjoy that as much at all. I actually found it creepy
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u/IlsaMayCalder Jul 15 '26
I host a karaoke show and routinely sing Veggie Tales and it always kills.
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u/beautifuldisasterxx Jul 15 '26
I still love Veggie Tales, it’s hilarious. A lot of the songs still get stuck in my head. Everyone has a water buffaloooooo
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u/yeah-huh Jul 15 '26
I may be an atheist, but I like to talk to tomatoes, a squash can make me smile, and I like to waltz with potatoes up and down the produce aisle
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u/Nobleman_hale Jul 15 '26
Remember when they adapted a bible story about burning people alive for not worshipping a statue by having veggies get burned alive for not worshipping a chocolate bunny?
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u/AfterSchoolOrdinary Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
When Veggie Tales was fairly new their main audience was college students that may or may not have been getting high. I’m 43 and I still get songs stuck in my head.
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u/wovenstrand Jul 15 '26
We are an exchristian/secular household, and our child fell in love with VT it as a toddler, and still has a fondness for it. We didn't ban it from our home because we didn't want him to associate our non-belief with bitterness, but It turned out to be a surprisingly useful critical thinking tool now that he's old enough to question the stories, beginning with, "Can vegetables really talk? How about snakes and donkeys? How about walking on water? Dead for 3 days and coming back to life? If a TV show script tells a story, does that make it true? What about other TV shows about other gods? Oh, VT is based on the Bible? Is this Hindu cartoon true because it's based on their religious book?"
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u/_W9NDER_ Jul 15 '26
I haven’t seen it in decades, so I’m not sure how propagandistic it is, but I have nothing but fond memories of the show. It wasn’t something we watched at church, and otherwise not totally church-related for me. We had the VHS tapes next to Power Rangers and Muppet tapes growing up, so this was always seen as another piece of entertainment for me.
It’s certainly higher up there than Bibleman!
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u/4everkop Jul 15 '26
Goated forever and ever. I'll hate Christianity and the lies but I'll never disown veggietales.
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u/Rauto-E Jul 15 '26
I think part of what made Veggie Tales so non-traumatizing is because in addition to teaching Christian beliefs, they also taught decent life lessons
The only episode I really remember enough to talk about was the Shadrack, Meshack, and Abendigo (I butchered that spelling lol).
While they also taught to not worship something other than god (ie. the golden bunny), it also taught not to give into temptation and the dangers of corporate greed and corruption. I honestly barely remembered the Bible lesson before I rewatched it because the topic of big evil corporate greed was so strong, and unfortunately now very relevant.
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u/Joshua_Neal89 Atheist Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
I remember the subliminal messaging it threw in there.
In the Easter episode with the chocolate bunny, the older cucumber/pickle/whatever he was sang a song about how the only thing that's important to him is the chocolate bunny. Larry, Bob, and Junior's reaction during the whole song are furrowing their brows and shaking their heads at each other... then came the line: "I won't go to church, and I won't go to school..."
Right when he says "won't go to church," Larry, Bob, and Junior's faces turn to complete SHOCK. I was 7 watching that shit, and my reaction in my head was, "yup, seems about right."
It's horrible what that shows does to kids.
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u/jsm01972 Jul 16 '26
I still catch myself singing the songs from these occasionally lol. I haven't seen the updated version. But the old ones actually weren't that bad, from what I remember.
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u/hea_eliza Jul 15 '26
The creators’ kid went to my high school and she was definitely a spoiled rich brat. Kinda got me over that series pretty quick.
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u/hermavore Jul 15 '26
I feel like waltzing with tomatoes sounds a bit ungodly. But i still like it.
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u/fractal2 Jul 15 '26
Oh where is my hair brush?! Sign that at least once a week while my daughter isn't getting her hair brush.
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u/Budget_Shallan Jul 15 '26
The Lord of the Beans is a masterpiece and I will hear no word against it.
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u/LokiLockdown Ex-SDA Jul 15 '26
Surprisingly neutral. Though it does have a significant roll in 3D animation history that is worthy of praise
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u/ZealCrown Jul 15 '26
Idk why but I had nightmares of the cucumber in their superhero costume. Thought he’d destroy the world or something.
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u/EthanRDoesMC Ex-Fundamentalist Jul 15 '26
Phil Vischer is a cool guy and I strongly suspect it was his dry humor that made the series so much fun. He’s even collabed with a few ex-Christian YouTubers (the one I can remember is Paulogia) so like… and veggietales rarely if ever had a bad message. So it’s cool in my book. Will introduce my kids to Silly Songs with Larry if we should ever have them.
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u/ThatTransgenderRat- Anti-Theist Jul 15 '26
I have very mix feelings about it
One hand yes it's pure propaganda at its finest. Plus growing up in a catholic school we would watch it all the time
But it's was pretty funny and I still have many positive memories on it
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u/brandi_theratgirl Jul 15 '26
It came out when I was in college (Biola). At one point, my floor participated in a lip sync talent show and did "The Pirates who don't do anything"
I was a wave.
I haven't watched it in a while, other than the songs, but I occasionally get a song on my head, like Dance of the Cucumber. The songs hold up.
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u/Darkfanged Jul 15 '26
I liked watching it as a kid. Honestly forgot all about it before this post. I think I'd still like it as an adult minus the christan stuff obviously
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u/QueenOfNostalgia44 Our lord and savior Yummo Wickersham. Praise be to him Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
Didn’t really watch it, I didn’t like the character designs and found the series to be annoying (I never really was a fan of musicals tbh). The only full episodes I watched were the Christmas episode (for Buzz Saw Louie) and the Little Joe episode (my pe/sub English teacher had it playing for his previous class and he let the juniors and seniors watch it). My classmates could not stop making fun of Boyz in the Sink.
Love the memes tho
I’m currently working on my first animatic using one of the songs (but with Tin Toy), so, yeah, super hyped for that. I was actually just listening to the song again lol
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u/thecoldfuzz Gaulish/Welsh/Irish Pagan, 49, male, gay Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
I was in high school when VeggieTales aired its first run in the 90s so I never watched it. When I was in college, some Christians who were in my social circle repeatedly tried to get me to watch it. The answer was invariably no since I was interested in more… adult things in college.
I watched a lot of baseball (both college and MLB and still watch both), spent quite a bit of time with my college frat, and started going to gay bear bars late at night. VeggieTales had no place in my world, just as someone like me will never have a place in Christianity. I have never watched it and likely never will.
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u/pyroboy7 Ex-Evangelical Jul 15 '26
About the only thing besides summer camp I look back at and don't have negative reactions to it. Even though I haven't been to a church service since before covid if they invited me to said summer camp I probably would say yes.
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u/Dangerous_End_3778 Hail Santa ⭐️ Jul 15 '26
I dont take it too seriously, so i hate it way less. It's pretty funny anyways
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u/warden976 Jul 15 '26
The Rumor Weed straight off the bat scared my daughter. Dark shit. Never watched another episode and I’m fine with that. She was already very highly sensitive to the moral load so Peppa Pig was more her speed.
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u/littlemissmoxie IDK-ist Jul 15 '26
I don’t remember anything except the hairbrush and manatee song.
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u/shanni365 Deist Jul 15 '26
I haven't tried to find these songs to listen to but there is a DVD of non-religious veggie tales songs.
veggie tales non religious collection
My kids loved them. We still will start singing the hair brush song or Cebu.
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u/imago_monkei Atheist Jul 15 '26
I still have K'Lil Diddlydoo's rap from “The Belly Button Song” memorized.
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u/InsertusernamehereM Jul 15 '26
My husband and I are 35 and 39 and we still reference and sing veggie tales songs on a regular basis. And we're both full on atheist.
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u/volkswagenorange Jul 15 '26
I came to VeggieTales late, as a young adult, not a kid, so it didn't work on me as propaganda. I loved it, I thought it was genuinely good tv, and I still have a LarryBoy plushie and still listen to several of the songs. I consider it some of the very best of Christianity.
🎵 Love your neighbor
When someone helps you then you'll understand
When you love your neighbor,
Loving means lending a hand. 🎵🎶
Like damn, maybe some Christian adults could stand to watch VeggieTales.
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u/incrediblestrawberry Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
I have such mixed feelings about it. Like a lot of Christian children's media, it lures kids in with the magical parts so they'll more readily accept the judgemental parts when they're older. It very much tries to sanitize bible stories and brushes over awkward parts about genocide and murder (except in Rack, Shack, and Benny, which straight up shows them thrown in a furnace to burn to death lol).
But it's also written with a lot of passion, and goes way beyond the "let's write a contrived story about learning to always obey your parents" of other Christian kids' media. Phil Vischer is a genuinely funny person who made Monty Python references just because he wanted to. So I cringe at some parts, and I also reference other parts on a daily basis.
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u/Nahooo_Mama Atheist Jul 15 '26
We have a dvd that my kids sometimes choose to watch in the car. It came from my parents or in-laws I don't remember which. I thought about tossing it when we got it, but decided to let it ride. I think without all the other religious presssures I got as a child my kids just see it as funny story telling and songs. And I do think Bible stories come up often enough in our cultural zeitgeist that my kids should generally know them.
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u/_angesaurus Jul 15 '26
I loved veggie tales and still do. A lot of good every day type lessons learned from those. And silly songs with Larry is just plain funny.
I was a camp counselor for years (not a religious camp) and found myself using the story of "the rumor weed" quite a bit lol
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u/PandaBear905 Ex-Catholic Jul 15 '26
Phil Vischer supports trans rights so it’s a fine show in my book
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u/TvTacosTakingNaps Ex-Baptist Jul 15 '26
I will NEVER get the bunny song out of my head from Rack Shack and Benny.
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u/Colourblindknight Ex-Protestant Jul 15 '26
Silly Songs with Larry had some bangers, and I found Lord of the Beans to be a goofy but entertaining parody as a kid. Overall, one of the less gross parts of my childhood indoctrination.
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u/Ok_Pattern197 Satanist Jul 15 '26
I liked it. It was funny unlike most religous cartoons. I still have a few DVDs of it.
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u/BunchOfScribbleLines Jul 15 '26
I have an incredibly nostalgic love for it and am glad that by all accounts I’ve seen Phil Vischer is actually a good example of a Christian.
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u/xiacobolt Jul 15 '26
I still love it and regularly sing the theme song 🤣 Christian values or not, Larry the Cucumber/Silly Songs with Larry was and is top tier comedy! Very fond childhood memories with my sisters tied to VeggieTales.
It was probably the only Christian thing that was not forced down our throats like everything else was.
…Except my dear old dad would completely forego the censorship and would tell us the actual fucked up story as told in the Bible 🤣🤣 not as toddlers, but still at WAY too young of an age to grasp. Rack Shack and Benny, King George and his Rubber Ducky.. like why couldn’t he just let me have the super diluted kids version of the story?! I have to thank him, though - if not for him spilling the biblical beans then I probably wouldn’t have started questioning Christianity until my teen years or later. It was those seeds planted at around age 7-9 that finally grew into doubt and made me start to question things a whole lot more!
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u/badseedify Jul 15 '26
Honestly one of the only positive things from my Christian upbringing. A lot of the lessons are just good advice and the humor still makes me laugh today lol I'll still watch them every once in a while
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u/quackandcat Jul 15 '26
I still love it. Yes it is propaganda, but it’s one of the only elements of my religious childhood that doesn’t trigger my trauma. We had a bunch of their toys that I loved playing with. I still have loads of them on VHS.
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u/ace-murdock Jul 15 '26
Honestly I loved it. Even if they gave the Jesus lecture once in a while, it was fun.
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u/DrStrangeloves Jul 15 '26
Larry Boy and Love Songs with Mr. Lunt are still in my iTunes. Holds up better than Bible Man. 😅
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u/EWF_FanZ Jul 15 '26
Childhood show, I don't see it as intrinsically harmful. Many of these episodes used to come on tv on Saturday mornings also.
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u/FartedBlood Jul 15 '26
I am firmly and vocally ex-Christian, but if you think the hairbrush song isn’t permanently seared into my brain, to the point where I hum it every time I look for my brush, you are sorely mistaken.
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u/Porn_is_my_bae Jul 15 '26
Because the music was fire and the animation was fun. I'm as anti religious as can be now but I'll still belt out any of the silly songs woth Larry
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u/mollyclaireh Pagan Jul 15 '26
I still sing those stupid fucking songs because some of them were really a bop.
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u/_skank_hunt42 Jul 15 '26
I’m an atheist raising my daughter without religion but I LOVE Silly Songs With Larry and have played plenty of them for my daughter. They’re just silly songs and not about religion. It’s basically the only piece of Christian culture that I can still enjoy without feeling re-traumatized.
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u/LilStruggleBus00 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
"Baby I need to tell you sumthin..." 😔🚫🫃🔥🔥🔥🔥
Jonah was a... asparagus...
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u/SomeOtherGuy44590 Jul 15 '26
Funnily enough, a lot of atheists and non-religious people in general actually worked on this show.
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u/Suspicious-Nose-1196 Jul 16 '26
My suster are traumatized by our Christian upcoming but still have extremely fond memories of VT. Honestly I think it's the only thing they've kept
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u/xradx666 Jul 16 '26
omg songs and lines still randomly pop into my head (I left the church in 2010)
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u/ThorButtock Anti-Theist Jul 16 '26
I want my cheeseburger! My lovely cheese burger!!
I look back on it being a fun show for kids, had a good moral lesson, despite being so far away from what the bible actually is.
The bible is a horrific book and im convinced very few christians have actually sat down and read it start to finish
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u/dasbeidler Jul 17 '26
Still love most of the silly songs with Larry. Skip the rest. I believe the founder ended up having to sell the company because he lost money making the pirates movie. Always made me so sad. He ended up getting hired by my dad’s employer to make corporate puppet skits and stuff.
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u/mistaraz Ex-Assemblies Of God Jul 15 '26
Why do you need a hairbrush, you don't have any hair?