Begs the question, if the atheist authors read each others’ (or indeed, their own) works, does that shake their belief in themselves?
I can get behind the idea of an alternative viewpoint, like Michael Moore making a wholly left-wing film to balance out right-wing media coverage in the US, but aren’t alternative viewpoints just unshakeable sureities in a world of tenuous uncertainty?
I suppose I’m a practising (and probably preaching) atheist but the certainty thing is not the point. I am certain that I don’t believe but I will not say for certain that god does not exist, cos I don’t know. Whereas your committed believer will also demand that god’s existence is true fact.
Btw – the main problem with all the great comments from people to this exceptional site is that it is now taking me even longer to get out in the real world!
Brian, your self description sounds more like an agnostic than an atheist. I’m an agnostic simply because I cannot/do not know for certain that god(s) exist. The evidence (or lack thereof) so far indicates, to me, that there are no gods. Therefore, I say that I am an agnostic with an atheistic temperament ;-D
There are many, many big names in philosophy who have or had some “belief in a God”. This belief can be rationalized, so you can’t point belief as stupid… as for belief on a specific religion… well that’s another subject entirely.
I know I’m six years late, but the terms “agnostic” and “atheist” are not mutually exclusive. There are four combinations: Gnostic theist (believes and claims to know there is a god), agnostic theist (believes there is a god, but does not claim to know for certain), gnostic atheist (claims to know there is no god) and agnostic atheist (does not claim to know for sure, but believes there is no god). (BJ and I fall into the last category.)
You forgot the one who isn’t willing to talk about god before the term is defined. The existence question is only answerable if we know what we mean by god.
As long as the word is just thrown in a conversation there can be no real talk about it.
Topi, there’s yet another kind of being, the people who really don’t care, who just want the religious guys to stop bothering us. All of them. Forever.
I recognise that laws and regulations can often be good things, they tend to prevent strong guys from beating me up and stealing my ice cream cone but being burnt alive for washing my bum with my left hand just because some dimwit pretends his imaginary friends whispered that one into his ears just never seemed logical or reasonable.
I am probably technically an atheist but I’m more of a devoutly zealous apathetic. I don’t care whether there are gods, though I know there are not, so long as beer tastes good, bacon is on tap and my house is warm.
The rest is fripperies.
Hey-Zeus and Mo’, I’m pretty sure that few if any “atheist authors” bother to write books to convert you two, or any of your vicars-on-earth to the side of the Army of Light and Reason, we know a futile effort when we’ve banged our heads against it. We tend to do it to prevent us from losing the young and impressionable to your Legion Of Darkness and Hate by us getting to them first and best.
Protecting the young is important. It prevents them from swelling the ranks of suicide bombers which is always a good idea.
We do it for that reason and because we like to hear our own voices and to make money.
Making money is also quite important.
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
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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
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February 29, 2012
…or perhaps tautology!
Also quite circular.
Didn’t Descartes make a similar claim? And some people still take him seriously.
Whaddaya want from a dude who crawled into an oven to come up with the Discourse of the Method? An oven, I tell you! That was the tip-off for me!
Just wanted to say that I love your strips, please do not stop, they are amazing and always make me think and smile at the same time.
keep it up.
Begs the question, if the atheist authors read each others’ (or indeed, their own) works, does that shake their belief in themselves?
I can get behind the idea of an alternative viewpoint, like Michael Moore making a wholly left-wing film to balance out right-wing media coverage in the US, but aren’t alternative viewpoints just unshakeable sureities in a world of tenuous uncertainty?
I suppose I’m a practising (and probably preaching) atheist but the certainty thing is not the point. I am certain that I don’t believe but I will not say for certain that god does not exist, cos I don’t know. Whereas your committed believer will also demand that god’s existence is true fact.
Btw – the main problem with all the great comments from people to this exceptional site is that it is now taking me even longer to get out in the real world!
Brian, your self description sounds more like an agnostic than an atheist. I’m an agnostic simply because I cannot/do not know for certain that god(s) exist. The evidence (or lack thereof) so far indicates, to me, that there are no gods. Therefore, I say that I am an agnostic with an atheistic temperament ;-D
I hadn’t heard about the oven before. Charles Babbage went into a blast furnace with, if memory serves, another man and a dog.
There are many, many big names in philosophy who have or had some “belief in a God”. This belief can be rationalized, so you can’t point belief as stupid… as for belief on a specific religion… well that’s another subject entirely.
I know I’m six years late, but the terms “agnostic” and “atheist” are not mutually exclusive. There are four combinations: Gnostic theist (believes and claims to know there is a god), agnostic theist (believes there is a god, but does not claim to know for certain), gnostic atheist (claims to know there is no god) and agnostic atheist (does not claim to know for sure, but believes there is no god). (BJ and I fall into the last category.)
Krijac98:
You forgot the one who isn’t willing to talk about god before the term is defined. The existence question is only answerable if we know what we mean by god.
As long as the word is just thrown in a conversation there can be no real talk about it.
Topi, there’s yet another kind of being, the people who really don’t care, who just want the religious guys to stop bothering us. All of them. Forever.
I recognise that laws and regulations can often be good things, they tend to prevent strong guys from beating me up and stealing my ice cream cone but being burnt alive for washing my bum with my left hand just because some dimwit pretends his imaginary friends whispered that one into his ears just never seemed logical or reasonable.
I am probably technically an atheist but I’m more of a devoutly zealous apathetic. I don’t care whether there are gods, though I know there are not, so long as beer tastes good, bacon is on tap and my house is warm.
The rest is fripperies.
Hey-Zeus and Mo’, I’m pretty sure that few if any “atheist authors” bother to write books to convert you two, or any of your vicars-on-earth to the side of the Army of Light and Reason, we know a futile effort when we’ve banged our heads against it. We tend to do it to prevent us from losing the young and impressionable to your Legion Of Darkness and Hate by us getting to them first and best.
Protecting the young is important. It prevents them from swelling the ranks of suicide bombers which is always a good idea.
We do it for that reason and because we like to hear our own voices and to make money.
Making money is also quite important.