He Smote Them Hip & Thigh

Hey ho.
I'm obviously feeling blasphemous at the moment as my last two audio/visual treats have been decidedly ungodly. The DVD, 90s Comedian by Stewart Lee and the book, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

The Stewart Lee show was filmed in a little theatre in Cardiff. It's a very funny show, with lots of things to make you laugh and wince all the way through, but it's basically a long, slow build-up to the last story, a wonderfully convoluted, hilariously silly tale starring a certain Mr. Christ. You could almost accuse it of existing just to get back at the hideous, right-wing Christians that campaigned against his 'Jerry Springer The Opera' if he hadn't used his glorious moral at the end of the parable to explain and entertain.

Richard Dawkins's book is a scientific thesis for the probable non-existence of God, and a hypothesis on why religions still exist and continue to flourish when the evidence conflicts with belief. I've read a lot of religious literature in my time, more of the Bible than most active Christians it seems, so it was nice to see the other side. It was rather refreshing to read the words of a man who doesn't tiptoe around religion as a subject and doesn't believe it should be accorded the respect it's been given in today's western society by believers and non-believers alike.

I'm not sure if we'll see his attitude adopted by the wider population in the foreseeable future, maybe if we lived in a completely rational world, but we have no idea what a world without a history of religion would be like. I'm sure we'd be killing each other anyway, over skin colour, land, resources, dress sense. The tide seems to be gushing in the opposite direction, with the recent Anti Religious Hatred Bill that the comedians were all up in arms about (watch out Stewart Lee). Why can we not have a bit of freedom of speech and an Anti Human Hatred Bill and leave it at that?

It all reminds me of the recent Big Brother racism row. If Shilpa Shetty had been white and had the same grace, stiff upper lip and composure she has now, she would still have been bullied, as the coven of witches would still have felt threatened, but it wouldn't be racism. I'm sure they could have thought of plenty of nasty little names to call her, but they wouldn't have been racist. Now I know why the double standard exists, it's in our history and our present. Racism is still a huge problem in our country, taking the piss out of someone with glasses or ginger hair is obviously less of a problem.

What was my point?

Oh yes, it's going to take a long time, if ever, for bigotry in all its forms to die out. Kill the Pig! (oops, see, I've done it again)


Currently listening: Gulag Orkestar by Beirut