Comments

  9. says

    That picture is an affront to clowns

    Is there anything so loathsome that we can compare the Catholic Church to it and not have someone try to defend it from the implication?

  11. fireweaver says

    ruteekatreya says: “Is there anything so loathsome that we can compare the Catholic Church to it and not have someone try to defend it from the implication?”

    Answer: Rick Santorum.

  12. robro says

    Is there anything so loathsome that we can compare the Catholic Church to it and not have someone try to defend it from the implication?

    The other churches?

  15. anteprepro says

    I recognize the guy on the left, he’s P.Z. Myers, but who is the other guy?

    Don’t know your left from your right yet, eh? That’s okay, Moshe, we don’t expect religious apologists and/or their fanchildren to be better educated than first graders. Anyway, that is clearly P.Z. Myers on the right, holding a science textbook. He is obviously one of the Popes of Atheism, after all. The man on the left, I’m not sure, but I’m guessing it’s a Hovind. Could be Billy Lane Craig or Kenneth Hambone though. Clowns all look the same to me.

  16. doktorzoom says

    This is like one of those old Marvel Team-Up comics: “When Clown Meets Assclown!”

  19. Louis says

    Read the article, it’s the holotype for whiny self-entitlement. Apparently bishops (in the UK) don’t all have direct access to power and sometimes someone says something nasty about them.* Pity the poor bishops.

    I mean, it’s not like they use that access to power to advance a specific series of doctrinal views, or claim to have superior access to absolute moral perfection, or believe the universe revolves slowly about their mitres. Nope, nothing like that.

    Not to mention the continued and vocal support for treating those gay folks as if they were a different species and providing a nice gilded, baroque, stained glass ceiling for the lady folk.

    Nahhhh, nothing to criticise there is there?

    Louis

    *Although, whatever else has been said, the death threats and racist abuse John Sentamu got/gets is inexcusable. I mean, take the piss out of the guy for being a funny hat wearing driveller, but leave the racism and death threats out of it.

  21. Sastra says

    That picture was horribly misleading. I looked at it and thought oh how nice — and ended up hiring the clown in the tall white hat for my five year old’s birthday party.

    Worst.birthday.party.ever.

  22. cag says

    Condom hats are obviously designed to keep rational thoughts from infecting the syphilitic minds of the clergy.

    The clowns are there to lend legitimacy to the paedo.

    Is there anything so loathsome that we can compare the Catholic Church to it and not have someone try to defend it from the implication?

    I was going to suggest the ebola virus but had to withdraw the comparison. Ebola has killed far fewer than the church.

  26. anteprepro says

    I just realized this isn’t proper illustration of the religious arena: Needs less hobo clowns and more juggalos. Also could use a Pennywise and a Joker or two.

  27. littlejohn says

    The Catholics have taken us on in poll-crashing. We still have a lead, but they’re catching up and leaving asinine comments.
    Should the Catholic Church be allowed to refuse government health care that provides birth control, sterilization, yada yada yade?
    http://www.news-sentinel.com/section/OPINION
    Please do your part. The question is badly worded, but the correct answer is “No.”

  28. Gregory Greenwood says

    Here we see a professional fool in a ridiculous get-up…

    and the chap in face paint standing next to him.

  29. 'Tis Himself, OM says

    mosheaverick #14

    Rabbi M. Averick, welcome to this humble blog. Tell us, have you got the stick out of your ass yet?

  30. Dick the Damned says

    cag @ # 22, you say, “Condom hats are obviously designed to keep rational thoughts from infecting the syphilitic minds of the clergy”.

    Actually, they’re carp hats. There’s evidence that the bishop’s mitre, despite what wikipedia says, is derived from the uniform worn by ancient Mesopotamian priests, whose people venerated the carp that lived in the Tigris & Euphrates. The sacerdotal gear was intended to resemble the holy fish.

    Well, it’s no more stupid than successor religions.

  31. anteprepro says

    Rabbi M. Averick, welcome to this humble blog. Tell us, have you got the stick out of your ass yet?

    Hah. About as likely as his finding the passage in the OT that explicitly forbids pedophilia .

  33. anubisprime says

    One of these sits on the end of your bed in a Stevie King extravaganza and is completely fictional…the other sits on the end of your bed and is not!

  34. says

    At first I thought it might be the Insane Clown Posse, but then I realized that most of ’em weren’t that scary looking…except for the one in the pointy hat.

  35. alektorophile says

    Growing up, I always had a healthy dislike of clowns. Knowing this, one year friends gave me a clown piñata for my birthday and I really, really, really enjoyed smashing it to bits.

    Now I know what my next piñata should look like…

  37. CompulsoryAccount7746 says

    @Harry Tuttle#24:

    Oh, no, no! They’re doing it clown-style!

    Here’s the original MST3K context for that quote.
    Video: YouTube – The Day The Earth Froze, Favorite Moments

  38. Crudely Wrott says

    Q. What is the proper place of religion in modern society?

    A. Out behind the barn where we used to smoke corn silk.

    You know what else is funny? It took me a minute to separate the pope from the other clowns. After staring at the picture for a while he just sort of emerged from the beautifully chaotic background of clowns who know that they are clowns.

    Hmm. Now I understand the difference between a pope and a clown.

    Thanks for the photo, PZ. I’m just a tad smarter now.

  39. mrjonno says

    The proper role of religion is quite simple is should have the same legal status as a hobby like stamp collecting.

    As in you are quite welcome to follow it but don’t expect any legal advantages from doing so nor to expect any disadvantages as long as you don’t start practising it while you at work.

    Also don’t expect to be able to run a stamp collecting school for children but if they want to have extra lessons afterwards thats fine

  41. scrawnykayaker says

    Speaking of religious clowns: the WA state House just passed gay marriage, as expected. Listened to the last hour of the “debate” on the capitol’s live stream, with the impending losers about evenly split in their bleating between “Jeebus didn’t give us the authority to redefine marriage” and “Won’t somebody think of the florists?”

  43. gmoney says

    We must have had different questions in my family, because this pic does not answer our age old puzzler: Does the Pope shit in the woods?

  44. =8)-DX says

    #11 Now now, there are people who ENJOY removing the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex with their tongue! I think you do an injustice to all the poop-eaters out there by comparing them to the Catholic Church!

  45. chrisv says

    As it is said…a picture is worth a million words. I hope there are no ten year old clowns in the crowd.

  48. mikee says

    Is this an advertisement for a new Stephen King horror? The clown of the right gives me the creeps.

  50. anteprepro says

    We must have had different questions in my family, because this pic does not answer our age old puzzler: Does the Pope shit in the woods?

    Poorly phrased question. It should be “on”, not “in”. And it should be “the Woods”. And the answer “yes, as well as on an untold number of other families”. I’m pretty sure that it’s not supposed to be literal, but at this point you can’t really put anything past the Pope.

  51. Ichthyic says


    What is the proper place of religion in modern society?

    I think I still prefer my vision of it:

    polar bear in a snowstorm.

  52. stubby says

    I’ll take uniformed people most likely to molest children, for a thousand, Alex.

    *Pew pedoo pedoodoo*

    Yay daily double!

  54. birgerjohansson says

    Cag at 47 had a link to some nice manure tanks. Incidentally I really liked the freestall barns that let the cows move freely.
    http://www.pippingconcrete.com/freestallbarns.htm
    And their poop lands away from where the cows stand and walk.

    Now, if humans only invested as much care into what ideologies/religions to believe in…
    .
    Personally I am not opposed to the right kind of clowns. Have you forgotten the last Batman film?

  56. says

    I love this picture, because it answers the question perfectly.

    But, PZ, its really not appropriate for a Bishop to attend a Republican Caucus… Oh, wait.. sorry, my mistake!