Comments

  1. flame821 says

    Isn’t there something a little more important they could be doing. You know like tending to the ill, feeding the hungry, giving shelter and aid to the poor.

    The sort of things that filthy hippy they worship was supposed to have done and admonished his followers to do as well?

    * And I thought that Belgium had a sense of humour. sheesh*

  2. Mindbleach says

    Okay, apparently Pharyngula uses real HTML instead of square-bracket BBcode. Live and learn. What I meant to say was:

    Is Yahweh wearing an I (heart) NY t-shirt?

  3. Ashley Moore says

    His first miracle was making more wine at a wedding.
    Don’t tell me JC didn’t like to party.

  4. says

    Damn! More evidence that once-saved-always-saved Protestants must be right! If Jesus can go out on the town and carouse with devil-babes, then he must take seriously that notion that it doesn’t matter what you do after you’ve been redeemed.

    Still, it does seem to have ticked off Dad a bit. Just a bit.

  5. iGollum says

    Hah, as a belgian atheist I’m delighted to see the stuffy old bores stampede around in a self-righteous huff… it makes them look even more petty and out-of-date to the general population, who tend to be very laid-back with respect to this kind of thing.

  6. sailor says

    Careful lest you get tasered and shackled in irons! Some states still have blasphemy laws, though they would not make it past the supreme court (well who knows that with the jokers they have there now? But in 1952 it didn’t).
    In the UK they can send you jail and fine you for blasphemy – the last time someone got fined was 1977. As for the Muslim countries in some of them you can be executed for arranging your vegetables inappropriately according the to the popular press. And we all know the poular press are terrified of printing a cartoon that targets muslims, as it usually ends up with rageboy and his cronies kicking up a fracas and few people dying in the streets amid the rage, thoutgh it has to be said they are usually Muslims who die.

  7. Brian says

    This is silly. Everyone knows that Jesus was a slightly-built, thirtysomething caucasian who was always impeccably groomed and attired in the whitest robes. He was also never seen without that high-pro glow about his noggin. How do we know this? Because Jesus, our lord and savior, sat down and posed for all those pictures you see in the church fellowship rooms! He was a very patient guy. This commercial is clearly not based on reality, and should therefore be opposed by the church, our stalwart defenders of reality.

  8. Dylan Stafne says

    Yeah, how dare they show Jesus having fun? It’s much better to represent Christ as boring.

  9. says

    Come on, that guy ain’t a hippie. He’s an insult to hippies. For Christ’s sake (quite literally) the guy gets in a freaking limo. No self respecting hippie would go anywhere near a limo. And what’s more he picks up totally conformist women! No hair ever graced those girls armpits! As a self-identified hippie I am deeply offened by the coverage of this story portraying this god fellow as a hippie. It goes against everything hippies stand for. I demand an apology, and would take the lot of you to court if I thought that the legal system wasn’t a tool of the man. Don’t make me put out this joint and come over there. You’re damn lucky I believe in peace, love and nonviolence, that’s all I can say.

    peace out.

  10. Bond, James Bond says

    No matter what Jesus did/does it seems people would/will find fault in Him

    Matt 2
    18 “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’

    19 “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”

  11. CortxVortx says

    Screw the bishops.

    Besides, there’s no record of what Jesus was doing between 13 and 33 (or, well, at all, really). He might have pulled a Siddhartha at 30.

    — CV

  12. Uber says

    More evidence that once-saved-always-saved Protestants must be right!

    I think in this line of theological thinking they are exactly correct from an internally consistent standpoint. Contrasted with the apple before the horse approach of the RCC where you apparently never know. God is saving you not the other way around.

    he must take seriously that notion that it doesn’t matter what you do after you’ve been redeemed.

    Silly. Not what it is about and certainly no worse than saying a few hail marys to a dude in a closet after whatever thing you did that day and felt was wrong.

    Comment #9 was great.

  13. Physicalist says

    I think the god Sr. t-shirt reads “NY Dad.” I’m sure it has deep theological significance, but I can’t quite put my finger on precisely what it is . . .

  14. Bjorn, James Bjorn says

    There is something so not serious about hippies, and I think Jesus was very serious. Not that I mind hippies… There’s no doubt in me, however that he was a genuine atheist.

  15. SteveC says

    “high-pro glow”? (posted by Brian)

    Wow. There’s a phrase I haven’t heard in awhile. Dogfood, wasn’t it? Golden retrievers? And possibly referenced on an Anthrax album… art of white noise?

  16. says

    Lets face it, the image we have of Jesus is a false one. He was Jewish after all and born in an area of the world that would make him a Semite.

    That being said, he was 33 years old when he was crucified. Yet no mention is made of a girlfriend, wife or what have you. Plus he hung out with twelve other guys. Hmmmm.

  17. says

    Seems to me to be entirely consistent with Luke 7:34, allegedly out of His own mouth:

    “The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!”

  18. Owlmirror says

    Yet no mention is made of a girlfriend, wife or what have you.

    What, you haven’t read the work of that renowned curator theologian historian hack, Dan Brown? Or seen the movie?

  19. says

    The whingeing reported in the news article begs for a few comments:

    “The Belgian Church is used to retaining a sense of humour on religious subjects,” [Father Eric] de Beukelaer said.

    A funny advert is a “religious subject”?

    “In the name of freedom of expression, it avoids attacking cartoonists, but advertising is different,” he added.

    Now with added snide remark about some of the fundie believers in one of your competitors.

    “An advert for cheese or pate featuring gourmet priests or nuns is one thing, but to turn Jesus into a walking billboard, that crosses the line,” he said, stressing that along with tolerance must be respect for the sensitivities of believers.

    In a country renowned for fine beer, cheese, and food from various religious orders, it be stupid to complain about adverts “featuring gourmet priests or nuns”. And I have yet to see any sensitivity to the belief that you peddle a harmful superstition.

  20. the great and powerful oz says

    Physicalist wrote:
    I think the god Sr. t-shirt reads “NY Dad.”
    I thought the T-shirt read “No. 1 Dad”

    But I could be mistaken.

  21. 386sx says

    “To see Jesus depicted as a good-for-nothing, backwards adolescent, that crosses the limits of respectability,” he added.

    How come they don’t have a problem with Jesus throwing people in hell for eternity. That kind of crosses the line too, don’t it? I mean what if they found some guy on the street who liked throwing people in hell for their own good.

    Wouldn’t they ask him, “Hey, what ‘good’ does it do to throw people in hell. That doesn’t sound like it would do them any good at all!” Why of course they would.

  22. raj says

    Actually, the ad should have shown Jesus picking up scantilly clad young men, not women. Just how many women did he have at his “last supper”?

    Computer says none

  23. 386sx says

    I still don’t get that. They complain about an ad campaign, but they don’t complain about Jesus throwing people in hell? Why the hell not? Religion is so damn stupid. I swear.

  24. Brandon P. says

    “Lets face it, the image we have of Jesus is a false one. He was Jewish after all and born in an area of the world that would make him a Semite.”

    “Semite” is a linguistic, not a “racial” term, but I see your point. He would have looked like a typical tan-skinned Southwest Asian (sort of like Arabians or Mesopotamians) instead of the honey-haired European envisioned in the West. The medieval Europeans who first created the image of Jesus we are familiar with today might have had an excuse for most probably have never been to Asia, but nowadays the so-called “white Jesus” (as well as the “black Jesus” seen in some predominantly African-American churches) is just annoying.

  25. Tom Hall says

    So the catholic church wanted to make its point without resorting to legal measures…this implies that they have the law on their side which is nonsense and its also an underhand threat. On par for the roman catholics I`d say. No doubt they would prefer for their savour to be represented by someone in jackboots and a grounding in facism.

  26. bernarda says

    A picture of the entirely hypothetical “real” Jesus.

    http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/1282186.html

    Of course in all likelihood, there never was a historical Jesus, but just a hodge-podge mixture of various holy-rollers at the time. But any of them would have looked like the picture.

    Too bad we don’t have a picture of Apollonius of Tyana, probably the real model for Jesus. From answers.com

    “In Rome Apollonius raised from death or apparent death (his biographer does not seem to know which) a young lady of a consular family who had been betrothed and was mourned by the entire city. Yet another story relates how Apollonius saved a friend of his, Menippus of Corinth, from marrying a vampire. The youth neglected all the earlier warnings of his counselor, and the preparations for the wedding proceeded. Just as the ceremony was about to begin, Apollonius appeared and caused the wedding feast, the guests, and all the evidences of wealth– which were but illusion–to vanish; then he wrung from the bride the confession that she was a vampire. Many other similar tales are told of the philosopher’s clairvoyant and magical powers.

    His death is wrapped in mystery, although he is said to have lived to be nearly one hundred years of age. His disciples were quick to say that he had not died at all, but had been caught up to heaven. When he had vanished from the Earth, the inhabitants of his native Tyana built a temple in his honor, and statues were raised to him in various other temples.”

    That would make a pretty good Stephen King story.

  27. says

    Tom @33,

    So the catholic church wanted to make its point without resorting to legal measures…this implies that they have the law on their side which is nonsense and its also an underhand threat.

    It might not be nonsense that they have the law on their side. I don’t know much about Belgian law. But it’s not uncommon here on the continent for there to be laws on the books against “inciting religious hatred” and the like. The laws are there to protect minorities and public order, but it’s not unknown for an established majority religion like the RCC to use these laws to bully critics.

    They don’t often win (in most circumstances, the courts will find that the defendant’s free speech rights outweigh the church’s right not to have its feelings hurt). When Madonna toured Germany a year or two ago, she announced that the stage show would include her (presumably simulated) crucifixion. The RC church went batshit and threatened to file a criminal complaint against her. The state prosecutor’s office, however, took the somewhat unusual step of annoucing publicly that, in its opinion, any such charges would be ungrounded and could not succeed in obtainng a conviction. Even so, the possibility that a large, powerful and very rich organisation may be able to persuade a prosecutor to bring charges can certainly have what in the American constitutional parlance is known as a “chilling effect”.

    À propos, when I was in Spain this summer, I picked up this t-shirt, from the wonderful design firm Kukuxumusu (Basque for “a flea’s kiss”). Haven’t been arrested yet, but I’ll keep you posted.

  28. firemancarl says

    Well, at least this jebus likes to party and isn’t running around telling people they’re all gonna die.

  29. Laser Potato says

    Not only that, he was a dirty ARAB hippie.
    Mention that to a wingnut and watch thier brains short-circut.

  30. carovee says

    I’d like to second what Robin said. This isn’t Jesus as hippie. This is Jesus as annoying, misogynist frat boy. I’m more offended as a woman than as a Catholic.

  31. dwarf zebu says

    Screw the bishops.
    Besides, there’s no record of what Jesus was doing between 13 and 33 (or, well, at all, really). He might have pulled a Siddhartha at 30.
    — CV

    My pet theory is that Dad home schooled JC till he was old enough to get into divinity school (the real thing, not those poser schools where the priests go!) where JC majored in philosophy and joined a frat.

    Dad wasn’t too pleased when Sonny Boy came back with a playboy attitude and philosophy degree, so the Plan was set back a few years while JC went back to school, knuckled down and got a MoM (Master of Miracles) degree.

  32. Vic says

    “high-pro glow”? (posted by Brian)

    Wow. There’s a phrase I haven’t heard in awhile. Dogfood, wasn’t it? Golden retrievers? And possibly referenced on an Anthrax album… art of white noise?

    Yes on both. Hy-Pro was a dog food, and their commercials advertised the “Hy-Pro Glow” (makes their coats shiny). Then, on the “Sound of White Noise” album Anthrax did a song called “Hy-Pro Glow”, about hypocrites. (They always had a thing for sneaking pop-culture or otherwise humorous references into their lyrics and song titles.)

  33. Tom Hall says

    Mrs Tilton, #37……..If you ever are arrested, feel free to call and I will get a rescue party organised to break you out of goal.

  34. Vjatcheslav says

    As far as I could tel, this ad has only been shown in the Francophone part of Belgium, and the bishop of Namur (monseigneur Leonard) is one of the more reactionary priests in Belgium. But, lo and rejoice, there are almost no new priests.

  35. Stephen says

    That being said, he was 33 years old when he was crucified.

    Approximately, according to Luke. For some reason everyone forgets John, who implies that Jesus was in his forties (8:57).

  36. JimC says

    I’m more offended as a woman than as a Catholic.

    If you are both than nothing this ad said could possibly offend you, the RCC has already mashed you with enough cognitive dissonance to last awhile.

  37. says

    I got a giggle out of this quote from the bishops:

    “To see Jesus depicted as a good-for-nothing, backwards adolescent, that crosses the limits of respectability,” he added.

    It’s funny because in the Bible, it kind of hints that an awful lot of people thought Jesus was a good-for-nothing, backwards young man.

  38. says

    Approximately, according to Luke. For some reason everyone forgets John, who implies that Jesus was in his forties (8:57).

    There are no inconsistencies in the Bible! There are no inconsistencies in the Bible! There are no inconsistencies in the Bi–screech! ding! pffft! bang! tsssssssssssssst.

    STOP 0xC000021A STATUS_SYSTEM_PROCESS_TERMINATED

  39. jimmiraybob says

    I would have to think that with showers being far and few between in days of yore, that the idea of Jesus picking up the hot babes is mere testament to the power of miracles…and with a pot belly to boot. Of course I’m never sure how all this mystifyin’ stuff really works.