Christian monotheism:
-three uber gods
-a blessed virgin mother (who physically ascended to heaven) of the sacrificed god with a special status and a cult of her own in the Catholic version
-a mother goddess of the beardy one (Gnostic version, see her on the ceiling of the cistern chapel)
-multiple immortal divine archangels
-countless angels, cherubs and assorted divinities, also immortal
Such a PANTHEON sounds curiously like POLYTHEISM to me. Of course, the Christian says it is a mystery or there is only one uber-god, Jehovah the beardy one. But that argument could equally be used to describe many other polytheistic pantheons that have head-honcho world creators as monotheistic. Hail Amun-Ra.
Reminds me of a Richard Dawkins quote: “We are all atheists in regard to 99% of the gods that have existed in history. So, why not take it that one small step further?”
Not surprising really, since all religions since the dawn of man have preached the same thing; there is a higher power which controls each aspect of your life, usually a spiteful, unobliging power. However, it’s hard to base a religous text on the phrase “life sucks” so each religion had to employ a certain amount of character development 😉
I have no problem with the idea of a deity, but I have a BIG problem with organized religion. Monotoning the “Profession of Faith” in Church always made me feel like just one of many zombies. Why not just say, “I just want to be part of this crowd and not stand out and be ridiculed or rejected, however incredulous I feel about this whole resurrection thing.”
r00db00y,
Understand what you mean there. But I would observe that spiteful (vindictive, capricious, malevolent, incoherent) higher power seems to be a charactersitic of Abrahism in particular and Indo-European religions in general, albeit not exclusively. Older “religions” (probably incorrect to label them so) such as Old-Europe goddess worship, Eastern Numenisms and Philosophies are commonly more benevolent and balanced and less inclined to political dominion. After all, Buddhism is explicitly atheist.
@Shadow of God: Click on the permalink hyperlink just below the comic, everytime there’s a fresh strip. That displays the comments and enables commenting.
TaoAndZen: Your post about christianity having all these deities is very close to the truth – the fact is that many of the stories and figures in the bible have roots in earlier Semitic polytheistic religions, which still correspond to many of the archetypes in many polytheistic religions(Satan, the Tempter/Trickster(a staple in pretty much every polytheistic religion, except in this one he’s seen as strictly evil, never a source of good), Mary, The Mother(Cybele, Gaia, etc…), Jesus The martyr on the cross(Baldr dying on Yggdrasil, the world tree, Atys being hung upon the ash tree), or the child of a virgin birth(Mithras)…. one could go on. It’s interesting to point out that the original Jews were NOT monotheistic – they simply believed that THEIR God was the highest, and that if you didn’t worship him you would be punished.
I don’t get how these atheists can still claim to be so nonconformist, when they have what amounts to conformity contests. I think the entire idea of getting offended is pointless, as is the idea of deliberately offending people (unless you do it in a way that is funny or causes them to think).
BTW 2 points:
1. I love this comic strip which is arguably not that offensive and satisfies both of the above.
2. Lets face it, some Atheists have used their belief system to rationalize horrible acts just as religious people have. Consider China’s Cultural Revolution, which now even the Chinese consider to have been a bad idea.
(Some religious people would argue that explicitly atheist dictators have done more damage than explicitly religious ones, but I think that it’s all pretty subjective, especially seeing the comparative sizes of populations involved. Also there’s borderline cases like Saddam and Hitler who mostly just used religion without really following it).
@Ben: As a lifelong atheist, I had no idea that I/we claim nonconformity. Any direct quotes or examples for it from any published atheists?
Do you have a good English dictionary? Does it have the word “system” in it? OK, good. Now, please explain (again, all a surprise to me) what components work together to furnish atheist belief.
I honestly thought all along atheism was a single position on a single claim, not an array of items working together.
As for the “atheistic” dictators, please draw the causal connection of how the atrocities were committed in the name of no-god. I would be fascinated to see a demonstration of how a lack of belief in something is the inspiration for taking any particular action.
Maybe I’ve been going about my atheism all wrong. Or maybe you are building a straw man because you have no idea WTF you are talking about?
There is coming a time when: Every knee will bow and say that Jesus Christ is Lord. It’s not not a question of “if it will happen, it’s only a question of when”.
Why is atheism so intolerant, and down right hatefu at times, of Christianity? It seems all faiths are excepted by atheists but Christianity.
Here are the names of three well known atheists: AdolpHitler, Carl Marx and Joseph Stalin, who killed tens of millions of innocent people, all in the name of Socialism, and/or Communism. I could name a lot more atheists but many viewers would not know who they are. By the way, Hitler was in to Satanism so I guess one could say Hitler was, “religious”
You see, I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist. Just to help you out a little with Christianity, (I’ll make it short and simple).
…I once knew a Christian who was nothing but a liar, but a friend of mine straightened me out on that one and said, “No, you knew a liar who said they are a Christian”… There are plenty of those kind of people out there, so try to remember this short story the next time you sum up a (phony) Christian..There is good and bad in everything.
A true Cristian does not hate and is not phobic. Christianity puts peace in the heart and sooths the soul. Christianity opens the door to an entirely new dimension (the true definition of awesome). Christianity does “not force” an individual to become Christian or else torture and kill that individual. America has no king because our founders believed Jesus was King (something our public school teacher have forgotten to teach the children), a huge factor in establishing our Constitution. If we ever forget where we came from we’ll never get where your going.
Ben, 23/11/08, you forgot Saloth Sar, one of the worst non-religious leaders ever and a fine example of Humanity.
At its worst.
It’s not that non-theist leaders are demented, psychotic, vicious nut-jobs with no regard for life and even less compassion, it is that some leaders are demented, psychotic, vicious nut-jobs with no regard for life and even less compassion. Some of those leaders just happen to do their evil in the name of country, race, ethnicity, “the people”. egalitarianism or stupidity instead of using the local deity as an excuse, that doesn’t make them exemplars of whatever cause they use, it makes them arses.
Just like the leaders who do use divine commandments as their causi belli.
Good kings don’t need wars to validate their manhoods.
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June 9, 2021
Christian monotheism:
-three uber gods
-a blessed virgin mother (who physically ascended to heaven) of the sacrificed god with a special status and a cult of her own in the Catholic version
-a mother goddess of the beardy one (Gnostic version, see her on the ceiling of the cistern chapel)
-multiple immortal divine archangels
-countless angels, cherubs and assorted divinities, also immortal
Such a PANTHEON sounds curiously like POLYTHEISM to me. Of course, the Christian says it is a mystery or there is only one uber-god, Jehovah the beardy one. But that argument could equally be used to describe many other polytheistic pantheons that have head-honcho world creators as monotheistic. Hail Amun-Ra.
They get The God Who Wasn’t There dvd, it’s a good documentary.
And how come one can only post a comment on the newest comic if you go back to the last comic and forward to this one?
hehe this was funny.
HAPPY NEW YEAR to all Jesus and mo Readers from me.
Awesome =) I’d love to post a Blasphemy Challenge video, but I don’t have a camera 🙁
ShadowofGod – click the title of the new comic (where it says “permalink”) and you can access the comments there 🙂
Happy new year of full of love,sex,and video games!
Pfft, I was denying the holy spirit before it was cool!
Reminds me of a Richard Dawkins quote: “We are all atheists in regard to 99% of the gods that have existed in history. So, why not take it that one small step further?”
TaoAndZen,
Not surprising really, since all religions since the dawn of man have preached the same thing; there is a higher power which controls each aspect of your life, usually a spiteful, unobliging power. However, it’s hard to base a religous text on the phrase “life sucks” so each religion had to employ a certain amount of character development 😉
I have no problem with the idea of a deity, but I have a BIG problem with organized religion. Monotoning the “Profession of Faith” in Church always made me feel like just one of many zombies. Why not just say, “I just want to be part of this crowd and not stand out and be ridiculed or rejected, however incredulous I feel about this whole resurrection thing.”
r00db00y,
Understand what you mean there. But I would observe that spiteful (vindictive, capricious, malevolent, incoherent) higher power seems to be a charactersitic of Abrahism in particular and Indo-European religions in general, albeit not exclusively. Older “religions” (probably incorrect to label them so) such as Old-Europe goddess worship, Eastern Numenisms and Philosophies are commonly more benevolent and balanced and less inclined to political dominion. After all, Buddhism is explicitly atheist.
@Shadow of God: Click on the permalink hyperlink just below the comic, everytime there’s a fresh strip. That displays the comments and enables commenting.
I feel sorry for Jesus.
j ‘n’ m have made it to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_and_Mo and is also listed at http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/ and Comixpedia at http://comixpedia.org/index.php/Jesus_and_Mo
“I feel sorry for Jesus.”
Don’t feel sorry, he’s in a better place now.
Jonathan Andrews?!!!
Nope, sorry, Jonathan Somethingelse.
Do they still offer this DVD? I don’t have a camera so I’d have to buy one… which probably offsets the freeness of the DVD.
But I was going to use the camera to videotape myself doing backflips to get chicks.
Once I learn how to do them.
Tyciol, the Rational Responders were the ones doing this promotion (and Penn Jillette participated, 😀 ) and they are selling the DVD for $20 here.
http://www.rationalresponders.com/the_god_who_wasnt_there
Brian Flemming’s site is selling it for $25 here.
http://www.thegodmovie.com/direct-sales.php
I bought it for $6.66 a while ago during an earlier promotion of his. It’s a great documentary.
TaoAndZen: Your post about christianity having all these deities is very close to the truth – the fact is that many of the stories and figures in the bible have roots in earlier Semitic polytheistic religions, which still correspond to many of the archetypes in many polytheistic religions(Satan, the Tempter/Trickster(a staple in pretty much every polytheistic religion, except in this one he’s seen as strictly evil, never a source of good), Mary, The Mother(Cybele, Gaia, etc…), Jesus The martyr on the cross(Baldr dying on Yggdrasil, the world tree, Atys being hung upon the ash tree), or the child of a virgin birth(Mithras)…. one could go on. It’s interesting to point out that the original Jews were NOT monotheistic – they simply believed that THEIR God was the highest, and that if you didn’t worship him you would be punished.
I don’t get how these atheists can still claim to be so nonconformist, when they have what amounts to conformity contests. I think the entire idea of getting offended is pointless, as is the idea of deliberately offending people (unless you do it in a way that is funny or causes them to think).
BTW 2 points:
1. I love this comic strip which is arguably not that offensive and satisfies both of the above.
2. Lets face it, some Atheists have used their belief system to rationalize horrible acts just as religious people have. Consider China’s Cultural Revolution, which now even the Chinese consider to have been a bad idea.
(Some religious people would argue that explicitly atheist dictators have done more damage than explicitly religious ones, but I think that it’s all pretty subjective, especially seeing the comparative sizes of populations involved. Also there’s borderline cases like Saddam and Hitler who mostly just used religion without really following it).
@Ben: As a lifelong atheist, I had no idea that I/we claim nonconformity. Any direct quotes or examples for it from any published atheists?
Do you have a good English dictionary? Does it have the word “system” in it? OK, good. Now, please explain (again, all a surprise to me) what components work together to furnish atheist belief.
I honestly thought all along atheism was a single position on a single claim, not an array of items working together.
As for the “atheistic” dictators, please draw the causal connection of how the atrocities were committed in the name of no-god. I would be fascinated to see a demonstration of how a lack of belief in something is the inspiration for taking any particular action.
Maybe I’ve been going about my atheism all wrong. Or maybe you are building a straw man because you have no idea WTF you are talking about?
There is coming a time when: Every knee will bow and say that Jesus Christ is Lord. It’s not not a question of “if it will happen, it’s only a question of when”.
Why is atheism so intolerant, and down right hatefu at times, of Christianity? It seems all faiths are excepted by atheists but Christianity.
Here are the names of three well known atheists: AdolpHitler, Carl Marx and Joseph Stalin, who killed tens of millions of innocent people, all in the name of Socialism, and/or Communism. I could name a lot more atheists but many viewers would not know who they are. By the way, Hitler was in to Satanism so I guess one could say Hitler was, “religious”
You see, I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist. Just to help you out a little with Christianity, (I’ll make it short and simple).
…I once knew a Christian who was nothing but a liar, but a friend of mine straightened me out on that one and said, “No, you knew a liar who said they are a Christian”… There are plenty of those kind of people out there, so try to remember this short story the next time you sum up a (phony) Christian..There is good and bad in everything.
A true Cristian does not hate and is not phobic. Christianity puts peace in the heart and sooths the soul. Christianity opens the door to an entirely new dimension (the true definition of awesome). Christianity does “not force” an individual to become Christian or else torture and kill that individual. America has no king because our founders believed Jesus was King (something our public school teacher have forgotten to teach the children), a huge factor in establishing our Constitution. If we ever forget where we came from we’ll never get where your going.
Ben, 23/11/08, you forgot Saloth Sar, one of the worst non-religious leaders ever and a fine example of Humanity.
At its worst.
It’s not that non-theist leaders are demented, psychotic, vicious nut-jobs with no regard for life and even less compassion, it is that some leaders are demented, psychotic, vicious nut-jobs with no regard for life and even less compassion. Some of those leaders just happen to do their evil in the name of country, race, ethnicity, “the people”. egalitarianism or stupidity instead of using the local deity as an excuse, that doesn’t make them exemplars of whatever cause they use, it makes them arses.
Just like the leaders who do use divine commandments as their causi belli.
Good kings don’t need wars to validate their manhoods.