Christ gets crucified, once again

Oh, the irony.

After close to 2,000 years (give or take, no one really knows) of trying to cram Christianity down the throats of millions around the world imbued with common sense, the hordes of faithful have now spoken:

Comedy Central should just leave religion alone.

That was the general public reaction (y’know, the ol’ comment thang) to word that the network — famous for wussing out and censoring images of Mohamed — is considering a cartoon in which a resurrected Jesus Christ is portrayed as a slacker youth in New York, who doesn’t get along with his perpetually distracted father, who in turn is addicted to video games.

I kid you not. Sounds pretty damn funny to me!

In fact, I’m wondering if Trey Parker and Matt Stone are kicking themselves. They’ve been using JC as a character for years, and a spinoff was just sitting there, begging to be done.

Anyway, the general reactions ranged from hurt to bemused to disgusted. But that’s religion for you. The fact that multiple sects of evangelical Christianity spend much of their time trying to convert people doesn’t strike any of these people as ironic.

Selling religion is fine, you see, because — delusional and irrational or not — lots of people have it. Deriding it, on the other hand.

Well hell, that could lead to dancing.

Issues like this make me wish the average American knew more about the founding fathers, more specifically Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson loathed organizaed religion — he even rewrote the lessons of the New Testament into a reinterpreted Bible, taking out all of the mysticism and magical silliness.’

He would’ve loved the idea of a show that could make fun of religion. When asked about his support for Deism and Unitarianism — constructs allowing the practice of spiritual communalism without subscribing to a religious ethos — he remarked, “Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.”

The modern translation of that is “any God who could’ve created as screwed up and complex a race as man would have appreciated it if we wondered if he was even there sometimes.”

But that would be rational. Whining about Comedy Central, for some, is just comforting.

South Park creators hate virgins, paradise

Of all the dumb moves guaranteed to provoke dumb responses, inciting nut-job Muslims to attack the creators of South Park has to rank right up there.

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To the idiot running Revolutionmuslim.com: these are Americans you’re talking about. In the Middle East, perhaps theocratic dipwads can use the threat of violence to scare people into believing/behaving. But over here, it just makes them violent right back.

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In fact, over there it just makes them violent right back, too. The difference is that, thanks to a myriad of concurrent freedoms, people in the U.S. have the right to bear arms. So, look for a nutty Christian to go after a nutty Muslim if the threat ever turns into reality. In fact, I’d say the dude who wrote the post, Abu Talhah al Amrikee, might wanna up his home insurance, because the nuts on the Christian side are just as nutty as he is.

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What these sheep took offense to was a broad parody during South Park’s weekend episode in which major religious “prophets” are lampooned, including Mohammed (peace be upon everyone and all that.) Noting that using his image has led to murders in the past from said orthodox nutjobs, creators Trey Parker (left) and Matt Stone had Mohammed dress up in a mascot-style bear outfit.

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Look, we know you believe in raptures and virgins and one-world caliphates that prepare everyone for some mystical, magical paradise beyond the stars….but you’re a bunch of fruitcakes. There’s no proof other than blind faith behind any of the major religions, and you can deny that until you’re blue in the face, while rational people look on and wonder why anyone would want to become blue in the face.

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The vast majority of South Park’s targets deserve it (including Richard Dawkins, whose sociological ideas we often agree with, but who has the graceful approach of a lame rhinocerous in a glass-blowing factory). Few deserve is at much as Mormons and the Scientologists, because they proselytize more than most. But pretty much all religions get the same treatment, including atheists (really? Creation from nothingness? Physical impossibility. Something had to come first, so call it ‘God’ whether you anthropomorphize the image or not, and get over yourselves.)

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So rather than waste precious air pointing out once again the foibles of orthodox religion, I’ll leave the last few words on this to the unusually astute commentators who posted after a CNN story on the issue:

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From poster Neil: you watch media in the US and in other countries which allow freedom of expression, you will see numerous examples of comments and cartoons (including South Park) wherein the author treats Jesus in a way that the most devout christains would find offensive. That is exactly what was contemplated by the First Amendment to the US Constitutition, which Revolutionmuslim. com seeks the protection of when spewing its hate and thinly-veiled threats but abhors when someone says something that offends.

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From poster Evan:
This was a joke on extremists who use anything as a reason for violence. “You made fun of me, therefore I’ll kill you.” This is not a rational thought process and needs to stop. And I see these same people are asking about how we would feel if they made fun of Jesus. You obviously have not seen the show. They do make fun of Jesus, and every single group you can imagine. That is their point, and you missed it entirely.

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From DaveC:
Mohamed was as insane as was Jesus. Dudes, there is NO GOD. Grow up; this is the year 2010 and it’s time to stop believing there is a magic man in the sky who reads your minds 24/7 and will give you goodies after you die. You have one life to live and it’s on the earth and it’s now. Now run along and live a true life and not the fairy tale of the Bible, or Qu’ran, or The Book of Mormon.

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And the last word, from Bruce Roll:

Personal beliefs are not public facts. All followers of every religion should spend less time memorizing their respective sacred texts and more time studying their religion’s actual history. A religious devotion is no basis for murdering and/or maiming fellow human beings.
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I have had enough of devout extremists threatening everyone’s safety, because a non-believer had the audacity to question their religious beliefs. To me, the three most repulsive words in the English language are Evangelical, Orthodox, and Fundamentalist.

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The United States of America is a democratic republic, not a theocracy. We should stand by our constitutional freedoms and not bow to the will of ignorant religious zealots