It seems to me they might have been on to something with all those book burnings in ages past… they just didn’t burn the right books… bible, koran, book of mormon…
The concept of blasphemy is a huge problem. It’s a ‘yo mama’ problem. It’s fundamentally human, but very very low on the evolutionary chart somehow. Killing someone for offending anyone — your mama, your God, whatever — is just nuts. It’s like legitimized insanity!
How do people rationalize it? Do they say, Okay, now I’m crazy, now I will kill you for saying something that offends me? I mean, wha?????
It’s like abandoning your mind and wallowing in your insanity. What might be a good idea is to kill oneself if someone offends your god. Now THAT might actually keep people from saying offensive things. Imagine that?
If you don’t see that God and Allah are depicted as relentless, hideous mass muderers, then you haven’t read either book. Obviously, these old folk tales are not meant to be taken literally! How can anyone take Revelation as literal
prophecy and then say, “God is Love”? Isn’t literalism the true blasphemy?
I can assure you it is NOT a victimless crime in this sense, tie: countless thousands have been executed in the name of True Belief. And there will be, and is now, much more blood to come.
What a fine, thoughtful strip. I wonder how many lists it (and we bloggers) are on now? It’s an honor, of course . . . .
the 1990 Cairo declaration of human rights in Islam should rings alarm bells to anyone with half a brain that Islam means business,
and ‘Poor Richard’, “blasphemy is a victimless crime” is a Dawkins quote that just means that, when you blaspheme there is no victim since because god does not exist, therefore other people choose to feel offended in gods behalf…
Tie, I am truly sorry to have skewed Dawkins without acknowledging your
own wit. I meant to praise first but wasn’t quite awake yet and too eager to get in my own two cents. I’d buy the bumper sticker (is there one?), except around here you can get a bullet through the windshield for such things. And who knows, I might be behind the wheel. Believe me, there is no confusion on your part. My own children chide me for being absent – minded.
What would we get up in the morning for without “Jesus and Mo”?
And what’s that next one of yours? “should rings alarm bells”? we talk like that around here all the times.
The whole concept of blasphemy is blasphemous. To assume anything done or said by some marginally evolved primate could ever insult an eternal, omnipotent and omniscient being is rather insulting to that eternal, omnipotent and omniscient being.
[…] imagine I’d be allowed to lift the strip in its entirety, so here are the always-astute Jesus and Mo on the case of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, the Afghan student journalist who was sentenced to death […]
Great toon! Obviously, the greater the insecurity, the more belligerent one becomes to protect that which placates his/her insecurity. It’s the very basis of fundamentalismâ€â€that includes Christian evangelicals, of course.
Darwin’s Dagger, to assume anything done or said by some marginally evolved primate could ever not insult an eternal, omnipotent and omniscient being is to misunderstand that eternal, omnipotent and omniscient being.
“There are True Believers and False Believers. Only the True Believers get to determine who is which.” Me, I think.
JohnnieCanuck, 06/02/08, what would be very, very fine would be a young fellah stumbling over this cartooon in a few centuries and exclaiming: “What the good fuck is this? Who the crud are those guys and what the snot is this ‘religion’ thing?” and never, ever finding anyone who knows.
Carolita, I think I’m in love. Can I go back in time and marry you?
Okay, I know, of the two going back in time is by far the more likely proposition.
Poor Richard and Tie, blasphemy is NOT a “victimless crime”. Blasphemy is not a crime at all no matter what the local laws may say at any particular time. I’d agree on it being victimless.
“Blasphemy is a victimless crime” – Dawkins assumed that the only person to be offended by blasphemy would be god, and also assuming there was no god would mean there was no victim.
But: it also works out assumung there is an all-knowing all-loving god. Why? Because a god who loves his creation like a father loves his kids does have the power to decide if he wants to feel offended or not. Back when my son was in elementary school, he complained about other kids offending him. I challanged him to offend me. He said some curse words and i kept smiling. Back then he was confused that those words did not hurt me at all, but he did learn from it.
Jesus & Mo (the characters) are absurd, blinkered, and oddly very sweet. J&M (the cartoon) is brilliant: sharp, delicious, irresistible. Salman Rushdie
Jesus and Mo cartoons are wonderfully funny and true. Richard Dawkins
Jesus and Mo make the world a better place, bless their little hearts. Ophelia Benson
In a world defined by outrage and offence and liberal spinelessness, Jesus and Mo is a treasure, whose value we should never fail to recognize. Read them. Laugh. And think. Kenan Malik
The brilliant, celebrated, freaking hilarious atheist comic strip ... Greta Christina
...rays of sanity in a befuddled world. Keri Hulme
The liveliest depictions of Muhammad currently available... Malise Ruthven
J & Mo is the funniest and most consistently thought-provoking cartoon strip on the Net. In a saner world, it would run in a major newspaper. Nelson Jones, Heresy Corner
Consistently amusing, frequently thought-provoking and often heart-warming. New Humanist
Jesus & Mo is one of the most wonderful things on the internet.. JT Eberhard
Wittily captures much of the absurdity of religious apologetics. Mano Singham
I love jesusandmo.net cartoons - witty and sharp! Katha Pollitt
Often hilarious, frequently wry, these cartoons do what all the best cartoons do: they tell the truth through humour. Terry Sanderson, NSS President
...a wonderfully acid British cartoonist... Nick Cohen
I love the scrappy mockery of Jesus and Mo. Freedom of speech
includes the freedom to mock any person, any thing, any activity, and
any belief -- and J&M stands up for this unflinchingly Richard Stallman
...empowering, important and deeply progressive, not to mention hilarious... Council of Ex-Muslims
July 5, 2023
It seems to me they might have been on to something with all those book burnings in ages past… they just didn’t burn the right books… bible, koran, book of mormon…
Perfect. Just perfect.
The concept of blasphemy is a huge problem. It’s a ‘yo mama’ problem. It’s fundamentally human, but very very low on the evolutionary chart somehow. Killing someone for offending anyone — your mama, your God, whatever — is just nuts. It’s like legitimized insanity!
How do people rationalize it? Do they say, Okay, now I’m crazy, now I will kill you for saying something that offends me? I mean, wha?????
It’s like abandoning your mind and wallowing in your insanity. What might be a good idea is to kill oneself if someone offends your god. Now THAT might actually keep people from saying offensive things. Imagine that?
Blasphemy is a victimless crime.
that says it all.
great strip as usual, 🙂
If you don’t see that God and Allah are depicted as relentless, hideous mass muderers, then you haven’t read either book. Obviously, these old folk tales are not meant to be taken literally! How can anyone take Revelation as literal
prophecy and then say, “God is Love”? Isn’t literalism the true blasphemy?
I can assure you it is NOT a victimless crime in this sense, tie: countless thousands have been executed in the name of True Belief. And there will be, and is now, much more blood to come.
What a fine, thoughtful strip. I wonder how many lists it (and we bloggers) are on now? It’s an honor, of course . . . .
Indeed, I feel ‘blessed’ to have found this site. It’s wonderful how religion can inspire great art like this.
Just think, thanks to digital storage, this artwwork may last longer than any cathedral. Hopefully, longer than religion itself.
the 1990 Cairo declaration of human rights in Islam should rings alarm bells to anyone with half a brain that Islam means business,
and ‘Poor Richard’, “blasphemy is a victimless crime” is a Dawkins quote that just means that, when you blaspheme there is no victim since because god does not exist, therefore other people choose to feel offended in gods behalf…
hope that clears the confusion.
and the lack of edit button is a shame
Tie, I am truly sorry to have skewed Dawkins without acknowledging your
own wit. I meant to praise first but wasn’t quite awake yet and too eager to get in my own two cents. I’d buy the bumper sticker (is there one?), except around here you can get a bullet through the windshield for such things. And who knows, I might be behind the wheel. Believe me, there is no confusion on your part. My own children chide me for being absent – minded.
What would we get up in the morning for without “Jesus and Mo”?
And what’s that next one of yours? “should rings alarm bells”? we talk like that around here all the times.
“What would we get up in the morning for without “Jesus and Moâ€Â?”
… Amen.
That and pizza… and beautiful ladies…
The whole concept of blasphemy is blasphemous. To assume anything done or said by some marginally evolved primate could ever insult an eternal, omnipotent and omniscient being is rather insulting to that eternal, omnipotent and omniscient being.
[…] imagine I’d be allowed to lift the strip in its entirety, so here are the always-astute Jesus and Mo on the case of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, the Afghan student journalist who was sentenced to death […]
Great toon! Obviously, the greater the insecurity, the more belligerent one becomes to protect that which placates his/her insecurity. It’s the very basis of fundamentalismâ€â€that includes Christian evangelicals, of course.
Hmmmmmm seems that self censorship or tact are inshort supply in these modern times, hey ho etc. Jesus and Mo rule 😛
Could we get an edit button if we ask nicely enough?
Nightentity queen of the comma’s and slacker on the space bar :S
Darwin’s Dagger, to assume anything done or said by some marginally evolved primate could ever not insult an eternal, omnipotent and omniscient being is to misunderstand that eternal, omnipotent and omniscient being.
Isn’t it kind of insulting to said being if said inferior creatures presume they understand the omnipotent being correctly?
“There are True Believers and False Believers. Only the True Believers get to determine who is which.” Me, I think.
JohnnieCanuck, 06/02/08, what would be very, very fine would be a young fellah stumbling over this cartooon in a few centuries and exclaiming: “What the good fuck is this? Who the crud are those guys and what the snot is this ‘religion’ thing?” and never, ever finding anyone who knows.
Carolita, I think I’m in love. Can I go back in time and marry you?
Okay, I know, of the two going back in time is by far the more likely proposition.
Poor Richard and Tie, blasphemy is NOT a “victimless crime”. Blasphemy is not a crime at all no matter what the local laws may say at any particular time. I’d agree on it being victimless.
“Blasphemy is a victimless crime” – Dawkins assumed that the only person to be offended by blasphemy would be god, and also assuming there was no god would mean there was no victim.
But: it also works out assumung there is an all-knowing all-loving god. Why? Because a god who loves his creation like a father loves his kids does have the power to decide if he wants to feel offended or not. Back when my son was in elementary school, he complained about other kids offending him. I challanged him to offend me. He said some curse words and i kept smiling. Back then he was confused that those words did not hurt me at all, but he did learn from it.
… so, assuming God almighty can be offended as easily as a first-grader – wouldn’t that be… blasphemy?