"I think you should defend to the death their right to march, and then go down and meet them with baseball bats. "
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Interviewing Another Psycho
Click on this image to blow it up (and make it legible). I did this cartoon after two women I work with interviewed a particularly spooky guy. Once again I borrowed David Rees's cartoon (which he borrowed from clipart). /jack
---o0o---
Friday, January 07, 2005
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Foot Washing Baptists & The Catholic Devils
My friend, Doc, (http://drstephencw.blogspot.com/) today details his involvement in the Rama cult (he didn't jump the rails, but his former guru, Rama, did). [1] He also wrote a couple other interesting pieces on Rama earlier in the week. Rama sounds a little like Marjo Gortner, Jimmy Swaggart, or any other charlatan with a good rap. He was prodigiously good at extracting cash from the flock. Interestingly, he hooked in a lot of software developers just at the moment when many software businesses were cranking up their acts and starting to make boatloads of money.
Thinking about cults reminded me of my Baptist roots. We were American Baptists. I'm not sure about the other Protestant sects, but our church had definite opinions on the other churches. The Jewish faith was well-regarded, since it was the cornerstone of the Protestant religions. I didn't hear much about the Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Churches of Christ, Grace Fellowship, Reformed Protestant, United Brethren, First Christian Church, Church of the Nazarene, Pentecostal, or even the Menonite, Quaker, Episcopal, Amish, Shaker, or Evangelical Covenant churches.
The Catholic Church was regularly and savagely excoriated. I remember preachers railing against "The Cult of Mary." "THEY FORSAKE OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST FOR HIS VIRGIN MOTHER AND CONDEMN THEMSELVES TO PERISH IN THE FIRES OF THE GREAT DECEIVER!" In our church, the crucifix was empty, but in the Catholic Church, Jesus eternally suffered, nailed to the cross. "THEY CELEBRATE THE AGONY AND MURDER OF OUR LORD IN THEIR STATIONS OF THE CROSS!! THIS CHURCH CELEBRATES THE RESURRECTION OF THE CHRIST TO HEAVEN."
"THEY DO NOT EVEN READ THE BIBLE! THEY IGNORE THE GOOD BOOK! THE NEW TESTAMENT OF CHRIST OUR LORD IS IGNORED!" Confession was an excuse to sin even more--a free pass to perdition! Our ministers ranted against The Priests, The Nuns, The Brothers, The Bishops, and Cardinals. Most of all, they railed about the devil incarnate: His Holiness, The Pope, in his gilded palace, The Vatican.
The Reverend bemoaned "THE ABOMINATION OF THE EUCHARIST," the foul and damning Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation and its perversion of what was clearly intended by Our Lord to be symbolic.
"THE CATHOLICS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE OUTRAGES OF THE SAINT BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY MASSACRE IN WHICH FIFTY THOUSAND OF GOD'S PRECIOUS CHILDREN WERE MURDERED! THE CATHOLICS RAN THE INQUISITION!"
There were, of course, also degrees of weirdness within our own denomination. The Southern Baptists with their prohibitions against makeup and dancing among other things, were considered a hopeless bunch of joyless prunes (even in our church, that went so far as to use Welch's Grape Juice for communion). Looked even further down upon were the Immersion Baptists--who took you to the river for baptisms, even in January. We did that only in the summer, but it was more ceremonial that doctrinaire. Still further down the line were the Foot Washing Baptists. At last you come to the Snake Handling Baptists, who were so out there that they did indeed feel like a cult. There is probably another splinter sect of Baptists somewhere, performing even wackier acts in the name of religion.
When does a cult become mainstream? When does a cult jump on the rail and become a church, or religion? I'm not really sure. Clearly, the Church of Latter Day Saints has transcended cult status and gone on to become the fastest growing church in the world (I think Orthodox Judaism is the second fastest growing).
[1] check out the links in the articles there--one to Wired and one to a whole (free) book on the Project Gutenberg site).
/jack
---o0o---
Thinking about cults reminded me of my Baptist roots. We were American Baptists. I'm not sure about the other Protestant sects, but our church had definite opinions on the other churches. The Jewish faith was well-regarded, since it was the cornerstone of the Protestant religions. I didn't hear much about the Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Churches of Christ, Grace Fellowship, Reformed Protestant, United Brethren, First Christian Church, Church of the Nazarene, Pentecostal, or even the Menonite, Quaker, Episcopal, Amish, Shaker, or Evangelical Covenant churches.
The Catholic Church was regularly and savagely excoriated. I remember preachers railing against "The Cult of Mary." "THEY FORSAKE OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST FOR HIS VIRGIN MOTHER AND CONDEMN THEMSELVES TO PERISH IN THE FIRES OF THE GREAT DECEIVER!" In our church, the crucifix was empty, but in the Catholic Church, Jesus eternally suffered, nailed to the cross. "THEY CELEBRATE THE AGONY AND MURDER OF OUR LORD IN THEIR STATIONS OF THE CROSS!! THIS CHURCH CELEBRATES THE RESURRECTION OF THE CHRIST TO HEAVEN."
"THEY DO NOT EVEN READ THE BIBLE! THEY IGNORE THE GOOD BOOK! THE NEW TESTAMENT OF CHRIST OUR LORD IS IGNORED!" Confession was an excuse to sin even more--a free pass to perdition! Our ministers ranted against The Priests, The Nuns, The Brothers, The Bishops, and Cardinals. Most of all, they railed about the devil incarnate: His Holiness, The Pope, in his gilded palace, The Vatican.
The Reverend bemoaned "THE ABOMINATION OF THE EUCHARIST," the foul and damning Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation and its perversion of what was clearly intended by Our Lord to be symbolic.
"THE CATHOLICS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE OUTRAGES OF THE SAINT BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY MASSACRE IN WHICH FIFTY THOUSAND OF GOD'S PRECIOUS CHILDREN WERE MURDERED! THE CATHOLICS RAN THE INQUISITION!"
There were, of course, also degrees of weirdness within our own denomination. The Southern Baptists with their prohibitions against makeup and dancing among other things, were considered a hopeless bunch of joyless prunes (even in our church, that went so far as to use Welch's Grape Juice for communion). Looked even further down upon were the Immersion Baptists--who took you to the river for baptisms, even in January. We did that only in the summer, but it was more ceremonial that doctrinaire. Still further down the line were the Foot Washing Baptists. At last you come to the Snake Handling Baptists, who were so out there that they did indeed feel like a cult. There is probably another splinter sect of Baptists somewhere, performing even wackier acts in the name of religion.
When does a cult become mainstream? When does a cult jump on the rail and become a church, or religion? I'm not really sure. Clearly, the Church of Latter Day Saints has transcended cult status and gone on to become the fastest growing church in the world (I think Orthodox Judaism is the second fastest growing).
[1] check out the links in the articles there--one to Wired and one to a whole (free) book on the Project Gutenberg site).
/jack
---o0o---
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Get Your Bankruptcy On!
Click the picture to enlarge. I stole the cartoon templates from David Rees of "Get Your War On" fame (who found them in clip art). This cartoon was inspired by the news today that another parish has gone bankrupt, and is selling off most of its churches. /jack
---o0o---
Hear, hear!
I am not a pessimist; to perceive evil where it exists is, in my opinion, a form of optimism.
- Roberto Rossellini
- Roberto Rossellini
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Revisionist Pronunciation
Since the tsunami tragedy last week, I keep hearing people bobble the name of the Phuket province in Thailand. Some people ("talk radio for men!" and twelve year olds) seem to enjoy the pronunciation that sounds like "F*** it". I have heard several other pronunciations as well. In fact, two lexicons I looked at give "pOO'kit" as the correct way to say it. . .which is how I've heard it on the national news. Local radio, of course, is all over the map on this one.
This made me think. When you order the Hanoi Beef Noodle Soup (Pho) at a Vietnamese restaurant, most Americans pronounce it "Foe," whereas the actual pronunication is "fuh," a word many people are not comfortable with.
Uranus is now, often, pronounced "yoo'-run-uhs" instead of the former "yoo-ray'-nuhs" with both the pronunciation and accented syllable changed to sound less like the exhaust chute of the human body.
In 1999 there was a huge flap over an aide to Washington Mayor Williams who resigned after using the word "niggardly" (a word meaning "stingy") in a speech. This one, too, was political correctness run amok. The aide was (rightly) reinstated after all the pushback and noise subsided.
What's next? Are there other words that have been popularly corrected in the last few years? /jack
---o0o---
This made me think. When you order the Hanoi Beef Noodle Soup (Pho) at a Vietnamese restaurant, most Americans pronounce it "Foe," whereas the actual pronunication is "fuh," a word many people are not comfortable with.
Uranus is now, often, pronounced "yoo'-run-uhs" instead of the former "yoo-ray'-nuhs" with both the pronunciation and accented syllable changed to sound less like the exhaust chute of the human body.
In 1999 there was a huge flap over an aide to Washington Mayor Williams who resigned after using the word "niggardly" (a word meaning "stingy") in a speech. This one, too, was political correctness run amok. The aide was (rightly) reinstated after all the pushback and noise subsided.
What's next? Are there other words that have been popularly corrected in the last few years? /jack
---o0o---
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Chou En Lai, Transformed
This is a painting I did over the top of a surplus silk portrait of Chou En Lai that I picked up for $20 at Archie McPhee's. I added acrylic paint, canvas swaths, india ink, taxidermist eyes, gloss medium, a blown up digital mouth printed on paper and glued to the portrait. On the jacket, which you can't see here, I added brass buttons (also more, communist surplus...they are from pre-breakup USSR military uniforms). I have another one on the same material of Karl Marx. Both these paintings are in my office at work. /jack
---o0o---
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Happy New Year II ?
How many millions of celebrants
Awake in the New Year
In alcohol post-partum agony,
Seeing square out of one eye
And round out of the other?
Awake in the New Year
In alcohol post-partum agony,
Seeing square out of one eye
And round out of the other?
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