I see that PZ Myers has gone ahead with his promised desecration of a cracker (communion wafer) and note that he also included some pages from the Qur’an, The God Delusion, as well as a banana skin and some used coffee grounds. I also note that, as is to be expected, the comments on his post are stacking up and include the usual mix of support and vitriol.
Why do I bother mentioning this? Well, because the actions of all those involved underlines the absurdity of belief and the intolerance that religion foments. Some Catholics were up in arms about the desecration of what can only be described as an amalgam of wheat flower, water, yeast and salt – i.e. bread! That’s right! Dress it up any way you want, utter whatever words you wish over it and it is still bread! Others were agitating to see the trappings of other religions desecrated in place of the wafer. Threats were being made against PZ Myers and his family. Commentators (with and without faith) on various blogs and have been trading insults and generally abusing one and other. And now the deed is done, I’m sure many adherents of various faiths will be gloating over how PZ Myers is sure to suffer eternal damnation for this latest sin.
I hope that one day the inhabitants of this rock will be more tolerant of one another rather than indulging in such bitter rancour and hysteria. I’d like to live to see such a day but know that I won’t. It will take far too long to change our minds and we’ll go on indoctrinating our children, filling their heads with mumbo-jumbo such as Transubstantiation and telling them that they’ll go to hell if they don’t go to church, or break arbitrary commandments, or believe one set of fanciful nonsense over another, or whatever other crap is the fervour of the weak!!
Is it any wonder that we grow up to be so irrational and blinkered?
Do I approve of what PZ Myers has done in following through on his promise? Absolutely! And even more so because he drove his rusty nail through the Qur’an and The God Delusion as well as that communion wafer. Nothing should be held as so sacred that it is immune to question! PZ Myers has successfully demonstrated as much.
Well done, I say!







0 Responses to “The Big Nail”