Jesus and Mo discuss the Bristol University Christian Association. And Mo shows how religious liberals enable more pernicious doctrines.
Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ the Bristol Christians
December 5, 2012 • 7:34 am
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
My home town. I wonder how the student union would behave were I to start a non-religious association which discriminated against women.
Student Unions were pretty hot on the issue of gender (and race) discrimination even when I was a student (a long time ago!)
Apparently, religion trumps all. Still.
Excellent point. Religions get away with all sorts of things that would be uniformly decried if they were instead carried out by secular groups. Hitchens frequently pointed out that you can get away with saying or doing anything in this country (referring to the U.S.) if you just have the word “Reverend” in front of your name. It is so good to see how the Jesus ‘n’ Mo cartoonist is able to hit the nail on the head in just four panels. Bravo.
Christian Unions have run into issues with the Student unions in the past around these kind of issues. Several are run independently for that reason, I know the one at my old uni wasnt affiliated for various reasons including their novel interpretation of non discrimination.
Yeah, that’s exactly right. Racial discrimination is treated by some as kindasorta OKish if the excuse is religion…. but otherwise intolerable.
Discrimination against homosexuals by religions is thought of as controversial but – even by lots of non-religious people – treated as a reasonable thing groups can do… providing they are religious.
Discrimination against women is seen as perfectly fine by many religious and non-religious groups. It is seen as secondary to all those other types of discrimination.
I continue to fail to understand why respect is due to beliefs held other than in proportion with the rationally-analyzed empirical evidence — otherwise known as “faith.”
Perhaps a religionist could present me with a rational analysis of some empirical facts to convince me otherwise….
Cheers,
b&
+1
Every time I ask, I get some form of “god wrote it; I believe it; that ends it.” Guess I’m just a slow learner.
Somebody’s a slow learner, but I don’t think it’s you….
b&
Here’s to being a slow learner if we’re being taught stupid things.
As Sam Harris has said, what type of evidence could you present to convince a person who doesn’t have any respect for evidence?
It’s generally not hard to instill a respect for evidence in those who lack it. Two effective techniques are to suggest the person engage in an experiment to gather evidence about the universality of gravity by taking a long walk off a short pier; and by claiming the person owes you one million dollars, insisting they pay you, and refusing to present evidence.
That type of person is likely to then retreat to the Bible as evidence, but that’s okay. Simply hastily scribble a note saying that they owe you $1M, sign it, “Jesus,” and hand it over. When they object, say that Jesus directly and personally inspired you to write that note, just as he inspired those who physically wrote the Bible, and that they should consider themselves blessed to have personally witnessed the miracle of divine intervention…and where’s my money?
You’re not going to convince them on the spot, but the logic bomb you’ve just set off will have eternally corrosive effects on their faith.
Cheers,
b&
Perhaps they should run seminars on ‘How to manage slaves’ and ‘Which size stone to use for stonings?’
And, of course, none of those fine Christians have ever argued with their parents…
My neighbour genuinely owns an ass.
I’m not sure I covet it exactly, but a donkey would look pretty sweet in our garden.
The donkey would love it, but I doubt it’d take more than an hour for there to be nothing left un-eaten in your garden….
b&
Yeah, I was brought up on a farm and there were goats. I know a thing or two about destruction of every single thing.
Asses are amateurs in comparison.
I think that between us we have made sure Google thinks Jerry’s site is porn.
So sorry about that.
‘Sokay. Google already thinks this is the place for people with cat penis fetishes to come to….
b&
Put the donkey in there and he’d make an ass of you. 😉
One day we had an invasion of cows into our garden. They just…. well, they just decided to walk through the fence. Which of course they could do like the fence was paper. I’ve no idea why they suddenly took it into their heads to make a break for freedom. And they didn’t actually do anything but TRAMPLE when they did. Those same cows never broke out again, even though they knew they could. Cows are weird.
“I’ve no idea why they suddenly took it into their heads to make a break for freedom… Cows are weird.”
This evidence suggests that a genetic analysis of cow brains may be the key to eliminating religion.
Moo.
Moo, Moo-ses and Bray-sus.
Google “Cows with guns” to find the answer to your question.
A major event (among others) that precipitated my final break with Unitarian Universalism was in summer of 2001 when the annual General Assembly failed to pass by three votes a resolution condemning the Taliban for blowing up the enormous Buddhist statues in Afghanistan (this was exactly 3 months before 9/11). The winning side had all kinds of specious multicultural arguments about respecting alien cultures.
Sometimes you have to just be able to call evil evil.
But what does it matter if they do condemn it? And what if they don’t? Why should we condemn anyone? Isn’t that what courts are for?
When someone does something I find horrific, I am perfectly able to decide they are not part of my world. I won’t give them any energy at all. That’s the best I can do. And even labeling them “evil” is giving them energy.
I’m not sure apotheosis of apathy is the long term solution though.
But Apathetic Atheists would be a refreshing change to “Militant” or “New”. =D
Damned god christian muslims is what they are.
The problem I have with Jesus and Mo is that after a while I develop a kind of affection for them (in their cartoon versions, that is!)
Yes!
The guy at the back walks away at the end because the TV is showing The Silent Scream and he just remembered he voted for Obama.
Better watch you don’t get murdered for this cartoon.