Blasphemy of the highest order

"Every now and then we get some angry emails here at theChive for one reason or another. Sometimes we post the email exchanges and tonight we had a real live wire on our hands. I'm sure the fact that we're posting this won't help matters but this guy has it comin'..."



Apparently

This photo is seething blasphemy of the highest order

I hope it's 'cos he's all angered up and typing quickly... surely he doesn't actually think that's a photo of Jesus. Everybody knows all the photos of Christ were destroyed in WW2.

check out the response LINK

the glory hole

Papal visit

You may have heard that the Pope is coming over to Merry Olde England, we're just getting ready...

If Atheists Ruled the World

C'mon, kids! Go and get your hoods and robes!

All the cool kids

All the cool kids will be wearing these great new t-shirts!



According to the good folk at Passion for Christ a quick hand shandy is definitely a sin - and they can prove it. Possibly using an Etch-a-Sketch or some crazy shit, I don't know.

And if you need even more encouragement, check out ya girl Dameco's latest blog entry, in which she fearlessly testifies to her struggle and victory over masturbation!

It damn well better be a graphically described heavily illustrated struggle. With any luck the final victory only arrives when her friend Shanice turns up ... gotta love those goody goody chicks.

This Is Artistic Expression

"There is no pornography here, there's no sex, there are no virgins menstruating or feeling each other up."

Sweet Jesus

Jeebus is with you always... clicky

Priest off!

Jesus Is My Friend

Richard Dawkins Reads His Hate Mail

Nuns Are Hot

What does the Catholic Church really need? To fight the stereotype that nuns are old and dour.

I'd like to note that in my Google image search for this post, I saw a great many things I wish I could unsee.

My painful life

I was browsing in one of Milton Keynes bookshops this week. I know paper and card how quaint, what a Victorian affectation. I was interested in reading about contemporary political journalism and was keen to revisit those heady days of the early nineties when a page of political analysis didn't have a thread composed of dimwits hurling abuse at each other at the bottom as a matter of course.

This particular bookshop doesn't have a section devoted to journalism. Frustrating for me, but I suppose unlike their competitors with virtual miles of pristine shelving they have to make tough decisions about what exactly does get shelf space.

And so it was a mixture of surprise and contempt that I discovered two whole bookcases dedicated to... well I was so flabbergasted I had to take a picture with my somewhat poor camera phone (click it for bigness)...


Painful Lives. There is now a literary genre called Painful Lives. As a graphic designer these books offend me, it certainly won't be the first or last time that a massive bestseller's design style is aped by a load of 'me too' wanabees but it still pisses me off. White or cream background? Check. B/W or Sepia pic of mournful looking child? Check. Hideous script font? Check. Now we simply top it off with a promo line promising tales of abuse on a scale previously unimagined.

That's right the Painful Lives genre was started with tales of poverty, simple Oirish poverty, but is now stories of horrific childhood abuse.

Contemporary British culture and commentary would have you believe that there is no crime more heinous and unspeakable than abusing a child. Well I say unspeakable except for the miles of newsprint dedicated to it, the desperate hand wringing discussions; and presumably after a hard days toil a significant proportion of Britons retire to bed with a weighty volume full of the stuff. Am I the only person who finds this creepy in the extreme?

Jesus ♥s Halo

Evidently, Christianity is suffering from a bit of an image problem.

It used to be, says David Kinnaman, that Christianity was both big and beloved in the U.S. — even among its non-adherents. Back in 1996, a poll taken by Kinnaman's organization, the Barna Group, found that 83% of Americans identified themselves as Christians, and that fewer than 20% of non-Christians held an unfavorable view of Christianity. But, as Kinnaman puts it in his new book (co-authored with Gabe Lyons) UnChristian, "That was then."

Barna polls conducted between 2004 and this year, sampling 440 non-Christians (and a similar number of Christians) aged 16 to 29, found that 38% had a "bad impression" of present-day Christianity. "It's not a pretty picture" the authors write...Kinnaman claims that however defined, the number of non-Christians is growing with each succeeding generation: His study found that 23% of Americans over 61 were non-Christians; 27% among people ages 42-60; and 40% among 16-29 year olds. Younger Christians, he concludes, are therefore likely to live in an environment where two out of every five of their peers is not a Christian.

What's the solution? Let 'em play Halo in church.

Far from being defensive, church leaders who support Halo — despite its “thou shalt kill” credo — celebrate it as a modern and sometimes singularly effective tool. It is crucial, they say, to reach the elusive audience of boys and young men.

Witness the basement on a recent Sunday at the Colorado Community Church in the Englewood area of Denver, where Tim Foster, 12, and Chris Graham, 14, sat in front of three TVs, locked in violent virtual combat as they navigated on-screen characters through lethal gun bursts. Tim explained the game’s allure: “It’s just fun blowing people up.”

I'm sure Jesus would agree.

Dogma tricks

Just when the angry juice ebbs away and I start to think "shucks, maybe organised religion might not be so bad... it gives people direction and some of the architechture is nice" I get a short sharp reminder of why I get so upset.

The head of the Catholic Church in Mozambique has told the BBC he believes some European-made condoms are infected with HIV deliberately.

Maputo Archbishop Francisco Chimoio claimed some anti-retroviral drugs were also infected "in order to finish quickly the African people".

An estimated that 16.2% of Mozambique's 19m inhabitants are HIV positive. 17.5% of Mozambicans are Catholic.

"Condoms are not sure because I know that there are two countries in Europe, they are making condoms with the virus on purpose," he alleged, refusing to name the countries.

"They want to finish with the African people. This is the programme. They want to colonise until up to now. If we are not careful we will finish in one century's time."

Baby, I'm a Star

Happy Birthday, Sysm.

Y'all can find your own star here.

Modesty forbids

If you're anything like me you'll agree that the body is a vile tempting sinful thing that needs to be covered up - lest the sight of an uncovered navel tips me into the brutal violent rape spree that lingers within every god fearing man.

If it wasn't for the big fella watching over me constantly there's no tellin' what shenanigans I'd be up to, but sometimes we need a little help - which is why Wholesomewear.com is a real godsend for all the ladies out there who'd like to go swimming, but understand that it's their duty to cover up at all times.

I knew "God Hates Fags" but now "Church Hates Fags"?

From the Houston Chronicle:

A megachurch canceled a memorial service for a Navy veteran 24 hours before it was to start because the deceased was gay.

Officials at the nondenominational High Point Church knew that Cecil Howard Sinclair was gay when they offered to host his service, said his sister, Kathleen Wright. But after his obituary listed his life partner as one of his survivors, she said, it was called off.

Read the rest of the article here.

Love your brother. Just not with lube.