Today’s Jesus and Mo strip, called “death”, came with a note from the artist:
This topic is hot in the UK again, so here’s a flashback first published 16 years ago.
The stripo instantiates one of the big problems of faith: if you believe you have the absolute truth, that your truth comes with a specified moral code, and that what is at stake is eternal life or punishment, you are almost forced to proselytize.
Ooo, sublime.
One might consider how the doctrines of any of the various religious cults – including” Cults in our Midst” (M.T. Singer, 1995) – might conceal this problem of suffering and its resolution with death, rebirth, …transformation… conceal their evil doctrine with, oh, IDK, easter bunnies, beautifully symmetric art and architecture, Byzantine theoretical literature and incredibly colorful flags,…
“We must ensure that EVERYONE ELSE suffers for them, too. (However, when a priest, pastor, imam or other religious leader ” happens to be the recipient or beneficiary” of wildly lavish gifts, we must ensure that AS FEW OTHERS AS POSSIBLE have any knowledge of it.) “
Yes. Some believe that it is their duty to proselytize, and that it what their God expects of them. I have no issue with people trying to convince me of the Truth. In fact, if someone believes they have found something true about this world, I’d like to hear it. I spoke to a couple of Mormons a few months ago. They even gave me a bible; one which they took back soon afterwards, probably because they realized that I was not a likely convert. One of them thought that a leaf blown by the wind onto his lap was a message from God, telling him to stop dithering and buy the bicycle that he had been eying.
However, the fun begins when people act upon the belief that the mere existence of another religion and its adherents is wrong.
The marked words constitute a tautology. To the Faithful, any “other” religion is automatically wrong, and carries an eternal death penalty (in whatever flavour of “hereafter” is appropriate) and a secular death penalty (if they think they can get away with it) in objective reality.
Good heavens! Is that really true? 🙂
I agree with the barmaid on this one.
I genuinely have sympathy for those who believe differently from me — for example, the ones who are certain that “abortion is murder”. They are faced with an impossible dilemma: do they stand idly by and allow others to act on their own “deeply held beliefs”, or stand up for what they “know is right”? And the same goes for euthanasia (but please let’s call it “medical aid in dying”).
Caring as I do about their distress, “tolerance” isn’t enough — it becomes a moral imperative to do what I can to change their minds.
Wasn’t the crucifixion an assisted suicide … sort of?
Well for three days or so,
…well Rom it could be said, that jerk wanted to suffer and centuries later we have to pay for it!
ergo, we suffer a fairtale that excludes truth and the ensuing misery of delusional homo sapiens.
:o)
Bullseye. It’s what religion has always been about: power. Power and money. What more effective way to accumulate as much as possible of both than to control every aspect of human life, including death? Make the rules, collect the cash, block all the exits.
The most personal decision that anyone can ever make is whether to continue living and no one has the right to decide that for them. Or to pressure them to make a different decision. A dialogue with loved ones is fine, but it’s the individual’s decision and everyone else must accept it. Obviously there have to be some guardrails to protect against abuse, but the principle must be respected.
JDog and MoBaby want us to suffer for their faith? Well, they’re good at it making it happen, since religion is at the root of a large portion of the suffering that has happened throughout the course of human history.
The context of the Author’s remarks that This topic is hot in the UK again is that one of the UK’s parliaments (maybe more – I’ve not been keeping track) is debating an “assisted dying” bill. I doubt it’ll be accepted amongst the religious nut-jobs in Ulster, but in the more secular countries of the nation it might well pass – to the fury of our (smaller proportions) of religious nut-jobs.
I thought so – it’s the Southern Parliament, and since that’s rapidly descending into dame-duckery, having a debate on the subject isn’t actually going to do anything meaningful. It’ll all be kicked into the long grass.
We kill each other for all sorts of reasons wanted (by enemies) and unwanted (murder) but when it comes to helping ourselves to the option…
nashing of teeth, horror, fairytale NO NO!, disease is natural.
Mo’s last bubble is right once again.