Suffolk Humanists

For a good life, without religion

The week on the web

Posted by Margaret on Friday, May 19, 2006

It’s the end of the week again, so it is surely time to postpone whatever it was you were planning on doing and spend the rest of your day getting nicely relaxed for the weekend. If you’re at work we obviously don’t advise misappropriation of company resources to fuel your own amusement when you should be working, but… well, actually we do. Go on. So here’s a summary of some of the best content we’ve found on the web this week… click read more below to find out about the strange religious things people find in their food, blasphemous cartoons, and health warnings for bibles.

LaunA recent BBC headline has highlighted the recovery of a ‘Koranic’ fish in Kenya, after it was feared stolen. The fish, with markings that resemble a Koranic text, has been the talk of local mosques, and offers have come in to buy it for as much as $150. There is no mention of how bad it must be smelling by now. The best thing about this story is the mention on the same page of a tropical fish with an ‘Allah’ marking, a ‘Christ-like’ shell going on sale, a ‘Virgin Mary’ toasted cheese sandwich fetching $28,000 at auction, a message from Allah in a tomato, and a man who has found Jesus in a frying pan. It truly appears the gods are trying to communicate with us through our food. Only a month ago, I found the answer to life, the universe and everything in my bran flakes, but then the dog stuck her nose in my bowl while I wasn’t looking, and it was gone.

Cartoons have been doing a marvellous job of prodding fun at religion lately… the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed were one thing, but now mainstream family cartoons have something to say in the debate over creationism in the US, and are surely all the more effective for reaching a far wider audience with an easily accessible and humorous message. Recent episodes of the excellent Simpsons and Family Guy have both lampooned creationism – the highlights are available through the One Good Move blog.

Bible DisclaimerSir Ian McKellen courted controversy at a recent interview at the Cannes Film Festival, while promoting new thriller The Da Vinci Code. When asked by the interviewer what the stars of the movie thought about the idea of submitting to religious pressure groups and adding a disclaimer to the beginning of the movie stating that is was fiction, McKellen said:

“Well, I’ve often thought that the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying ‘This is fiction’… I mean, walking on water… it takes… mmm.. an act of faith.” (video clip)

The bible disclaimer might look like the one on the right. Mark Lawson has further attempted to simplify matters on Comment is Free.

Neveah has become one of the most popular new names for baby girls in the US, according to this article. Neveah is ‘Heaven’ backwards, which works quite well. Less successful names include ‘Legna’, ‘Dog’, ‘Leirbag’ and ‘Susej’.

Banana - extendedIn a previous roundup of the best on the web, I highlighted the banana as the atheist’s nightmare. The full-length programme that bombshell came from is The Way of The Master, with evangelists Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron. The programme claims, “Never again do you need to be intimidated by an atheist. Learn how to prove God’s existence and effectively witness to these so-called ‘intellectuals’”. Watch the programme, and see what you think.

Finally, you may have seen it before, but this video makes that case that we’re all monkeys.

Registered users of the site can now see daily ‘best of the web’ recommendations on the home page of the site – meanwhile feel free to send in your recommendations. Have a great weekend.

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