Interesting Discussion on Religion on Salon Inspired by Tom the Dancing Bug

http://letters.salon.com/comics/boll/2009/09/10/boll/view/?show=all

Also interesting that Salon shut down the comments to this section shortly after it started to get interesting. Were they getting too close to the truth?

And maybe even more interesting was that they were getting to something that no Dan Brown novel could ever figure out ... how the Flying Spaghetti Monster loves us all unconditionally ... except for entitled 17 year-old-girls.

-JG

Comments

[JPC]

Oh man, that is funny stuff. It reminds me of the XKCD cartoon where the guy is up late on the computer and won't go to sleep "Someone on the internet is WRONG".

For what its worth, here are my spiritual and philosophical leanings:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism

[L Taylor]

A Christian myself, I have mixed emotions about this kind of work.

My gut reaction is to take offense. Not so much by the work itself (the last panel is humorous in fact), but by the mindset that is perpetuated by it. Our modern society is increasingly opposed to the religious, and so it seems it has become popular to take pot shots from time to time. They have become more and more like the classic golf gags in comic strips - just an easy way to get a laugh when needed. But these shots regularly end up being ignorant of the real beliefs and reasons being held. They are, for lack of a better term, strawman gags. For believers to be laughed at for something they don't actually believe in is certainly frustrating for the believers.

On the other hand, I recognize the importance of satirizing beliefs that are problematic. This is done in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, even being done by Jesus himself as he addresses false beliefs/doctrines of his opponents. Sometimes the best way to show people how silly their belief is, is by way of satire. And there certainly are theists who have a view of God so shallow as what this comic implies. This is regrettable, though I'm not sure they will take the criticism from outsiders, if they are even willing to take it at all.

Anyway, I'm not really trying to stir anything up. The chatter between skeptics and believers on the internet is rarely profitable. But I thought it might be nice to give some theistic thoughts on this kind of material. :)