Sunday 12 August 2007

Laughing at toupees

"Please don't ask me not to mock your beliefs. That's like asking me not to laugh at your toupee."
On a recent episode of ER (there I go again, quoting classic literature at you) Kerry Weaver meets her birth mother, who's a raving Christonutter, and who of course deeply disapproves of Kerry being a lezzer (though by far the most chaste lezzer ever seen on the TV). Remarkable (and obviously profoundly accurate) was this full-time washed-in-the-blood hater's whine that, having condemned her daughter's very being, and having consigned her to an eternity of damnation, she ought at least to get some respect for her faith.

It's a refrain you hear often, and I've never been able to understand: why should people's religious beliefs be treated with respect?

The answer is, they shouldn't, don't be silly. But why do people (including many on the faith-free side) think the point even has some validity?

The case is put in this video by Pat Condell, who's a comedian, it says here. I've never heard of him, but no matter. He puts the case for a free market in mockery of religion succinctly and convincingly.

(via)

PS: It's not just Christianity. He's an equal-opportunity mocker -- the best sort.