“But surely there was an historical Jesus,
Who walked on the earth, and who died on a cross—
He might have been God, or he might be a prophet,
Whoever he was… what a horrible loss!” [Read more…]

Is beer in a chalice
Some blasphemous malice?
Is it funny as hell, or not very?
Is bobblehead Jesus
Intended to please us?
We’re fighting to close down “Ale Mary’s”!

Is the “heavenly ale”
That they claim is for sale
An affront to the mother of god?
Are the pictures of nuns
Merely harmless, and fun
Or is evil behind the façade?

If a Monstrance, as kitsch,
Makes your frontal lobe twitch,
As the sacred becomes the profane,
Raise your voice and be heard—
It’s obscene! It’s absurd!
And the protest itself? It’s insane!

All the sordid details, after the jump: [Read more…]

A strange synchronicity today–Our new colleague here at Freethought Blogs, Taslima Nasreen, writes this:

My mother used to wear a burqa with a net over her face. It reminded me of the meat safes in my grandmother’s house. Meat safe’s net was made of metal, my mother’s net was made of linen. But the objective was the same: keeping the meat safe.

There it is, in a nutshell. The whole piece is brilliant, but that initial, pithy observation is the unvarnished, powerful truth. Gotta keep the lady parts under wrap, for the sake of all that is holy.

Now, the strange synchronicity. Today’s “Non Sequitur” (by Wiley) has discovered the source of all the problems of the world. (I’d tell you here, but, you know, spoilers.)

And of course, the editorial in today’s local paper tells us that the message of Jesus is important today, even for atheists. I’m beginning to wonder if, just maybe, the root of all evil isn’t women’s anatomy, but Man’s ignorance (sexist language intended), institutionalized in convenient religious form.