This week’s Jesus and Mo strip, called “grant”, comes with a co-writer. As the site says,
Thanks to this weeks co-writer Carmine Sabia, via The Freethinker.
The article, by Barry Duke on Patheos, discusses the ridiculousness of Trump appointing Pence as the head of the coronavirus response team. There’s even a picture of the virus task force praying together! We don’t need prayer; we need science! Here’s the photo, which distresses me but doesn’t surprise me:
And the boys weigh in (this is a particularly good strip). After all, one godly intervention is just as delusional as another!
“distresses me but doesn’t surprise me”
I have to admit that this photo distressed me as well, but also shocked me. Can this really be the U.S. in 2020? A room full of morons leading the task force, ffs. I have lost all hope.
Who is the bloke leaning on the fire place holding his nose???
He could be the only one stifling a chuckle. I bet if Pence picked up on the streak of subversion he’d fire the guy. It is said that religious ritual and adornments are basically signaling in-group status. In this case, hard to fake.
Don’t know who the bloke is, but I think that hand-over-the-nose business is a prayer gesture. I have a faint memory of seeing that face-covering gesture among people praying in a non-church venue.
Amirite? Anybody else recognize this? Or am I full of it?
Nasal prayer is especially effective but only a small minority have the skill to do it right.
🙂
From the shaved head, it looks like it could be Pence’s chief-of-staff, Marc Short.
Maybe he’s clearing his ears so he can hear better (or stifling a sneeze because he’s already been infected by the virus).
8% of the Iranian parliament have the virus!
It’s God, returned to earth in human form and wishing he had better followers.
That’s very good!
Of course, Trump is simply trying to lump Pence with the blame for all the ensuing mismanagement. O Lord, may those who mismanage this crisis be the first and last to contract this virus…
I like the headline on Jesus’ newspaper.
“Or at least…”
Indeed – perhaps prayer ( a.k.a. supernatural wish-making and conversation ) presents a vicious cycle of more prayer – especially when the wish-maker is lost, and doesn’t know what they are doing.
That is rubbish praying anyway – doing the protestant slouch!
A wish list to Santa has more of a chance of being fulfilled.
Good one! I especially like the “Daily Validator” that Jesus is reading.
You can tell it’s some serious praying when even they guy out in the hall is praying.
I wonder if they are praying for the whole world or if it’s only for Merica.
In the picture, it looks like a post-meal siesta in the Dirty House. It does not look like people trying to find a solution to an important health problem.
Btw, I am suprised to see a woman at this meeting. Trump’s governement really does a lot for gender parity.
I can’t identify most of the prayer group but I think I see Anthony Fauci there. I have no idea whether or not he’s a theist but even if he is, I doubt that he thinks meetings about viruses and such should begin with a prayer since we’re not a theocracy.
It saddens me that in order to do his job he must abase himself by putting up with the destructive shenanigans of Trump and Pence, even to the point that he had to parrot that BS about not being muzzled and having his statements and proposals put to the Trump litmus test and politicized before speaking or acting.
Fauci addresses these concerns in this Politico article published yesterday https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/03/anthony-fauci-trump-coronavirus-crisis-118961.
As for the guy holding his nose, when the photo’s enlarged, looks to me like he just smelled a big ole fart.
” . . . looks to me like he just smelled a big ole fart.”
Oh, was Trump in the room? (Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I will now retributively smite myself with cords.)
If the Covid-19 peters out in the summer (not impossible) these praying virus task forcers, may claim victory.
If it does not peter out (a good possibility), I guess they are toast.
If it does peter out but reappears by October, they are toast too, I’d think.
Still, I hope it will peter out.
tens or hundreds of thousands of deaths are not worth it.
Prayer task forcers cannot lose (in their own minds and of those who think like them). They will claim all things as Gaad’s will, and cherry pick success.
Bring in the faith healers fast! We’ve got an epidemic on our hands.
I just read that Iran cancelled Friday prayers.
“Punish them is some way”
Yeah by giving all the unbelievables a good dose of it!
Whatever happened to the separation of church and state?
Liberty and freedom complained.
^^^facetious – I use it to illustrate the weaseling – as contrasted with reasoning – of a certain political strain.
15 tax-supported attendees x $100/hr each, spending their time praying…sigh…
Pence had an AIDS epidemic on his hands when, as governor of IN, decided that since inter-venous heroin injections were immoral, stopped (Obama’s?) needle exchange program. We’re fucked if we keep fatheists in charge of our lives.
This seems an odd thing to get worked up over. This, other than wasting time, doesn’t cost anything. Why not get more worked up about things that actually cause harm? Like the World Health Organisation being in China’s pocket? There’s plenty of evidence of China buying off WHO officials with travel and lavish praise over the last 5 years. WHO also approved Traditional Chinese Medicine as a viable alternative to “Western” medicine a few years ago, and it certainly looks like WHO tried to help China save face when this disaster started.
What, precisely, is meant by “worked up”?
Religion thrives on the question of “what’s the harm?”. The question functions as a form of silencing criticism. Asking what the harm of a little of anything is means it is already known there is harm from that thing. Asbestos, lead, mercury, and so on. Religious wish thinking is alive and manipulating its victims at the absolute highest level of any government.
Is that what is meant by “worked up” – taking something seriously?… sounds like a Jesus N’ Mo cartoon…. “worked up”..
I thought my point was clear. In this instance, China’s need to be seen as prestigious in their traditions of consuming tiger penis and rhinoceros horn led to them corrupting an organisation that is supposed to be apolitical. Their hold over that organisation may have fucked us all. That seems several orders of magnitude more dangerous in terms of magical thinking than spending 5 minutes praying.
That all makes sense. That’s worth discussing.
However- it functions as a distraction- another technique of religion. Similar to what-a-bout-ery. And how much time is spent /sunk on this is not the question here. Plenty of things only take place in a small period of time, and can be harmful or not, and the inverse can be true. The conditions matter. Thus, the little nothings (… I think I just made a double entendre?!) in the White House have not escaped Jesus N’ ‘ Mo’s sharp perception of the wriggling beast which is religion. And it has no place there.
… just an aside – upon reflection, the last line I wrote popped in my head because of those signs – hate has no home here. This shows the power of signs.
To borrow from Sam Harris: imagine if they had all been talking into hair dryers.