The 'Funny (ha, ha)' side of religion

Yeah you're right there, it was a talking snake... but throughout my formation as a good Catholic it was, if not stated, at least strongly implied, that the snake was either the Devil or an agent of same.





and yes, once upon a time I really, really wanted to be a good Catholic - and my mother wanted me to be an altar boy and graduate to be a priest

But no matter how hard I tried to be good, and despite going to mass with my parents every week, and even praying, I felt nothing. Nothing at all was happening. Then I read science books which explained how life evolved, and that threw the old Genesis story out of the window. Religion felt all made up. I was eight. I was now an atheist but I didn't know what it was.
I could tell no-one.

The only time I ever heard the word "atheist" in my childhood was in relation to the former owner of the laundrette in Crumlin. He was a troubled man (didn't fit into the Catholic sexual orthodoxy, perhaps?) who flung himself off the top of the Ballymun flats. I asked innocently, was that a sin, would he go to heaven etc. and my devout mam was probably troubled by that question, I was told that he didn't believe in god (I remember that bit, and asking what an atheist was) and that that meant it probably wasn't a sin? (not too sure about that bit, maybe she said he'd be forgiven or some shyte)

But despite the splattery outcome in his case, the idea that you could exist and not believe in god planted a seed

Well the serpent got a right telling off - crawling on his belly and eating dust for the rest of his life and all that (but wasn't that what he was doing anyway?) - and of course Eve and her successors were condemned to have a hard time birthing large brained babies, but... wasn't that what they were going to have to do anyway?

So what was in it for the serpent? and weren't we told that satan could influence people (and, presumably, creatures) just as god could?

Of course the idea of the continued existence of a personification of evil, despite a supposedly all-powerful god, kinda raises questions your local priest will hand-wave away or seek to rapidly change the subject

Woot, 20000th post :cool:

They've done it again...

Experts call for regulation after latest botched art restoration in Spain

Conservation experts in Spain have called for a tightening of the laws covering restoration work after a copy of a famous painting by the baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo became the latest in a long line of artworks to suffer a damaging and disfiguring repair.

A private art collector in Valencia was reportedly charged €1,200 by a furniture restorer to have the picture of the Immaculate Conception cleaned. However, the job did not go as planned and the face of the Virgin Mary was left unrecognisable despite two attempts to restore it to its original state.

The case has inevitably resulted in comparisons with the infamous “Monkey Christ” incident eight years ago, when a devout parishioner’s attempt to restore a painting of the scourged Christ on the wall of a church on the outskirts of the north-eastern Spanish town of Borja made headlines around the world.




(Now of course destruction of priceless artwork isn't funny, but this thread seemed the best fit...)

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Next week - collector pays sculptor $1500 to repair Chippendale cabinet....I mean what could possibly go wrong....

reminds me of the chandelier episode of only fools and horses.

I only believe 12.5% of the Bible. That makes me an eighth-theist



Stolen from @dadsaysjokes

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