[chocolate easter] of protests and rank hypocrisy

Heather Yaxley's chick and egg is cool, n'est ce pas?

Liz asks what the problem is with the chocolate Jesus. Why anyone would find that offensive. He was a man and therefore he had Crown Jewels, which happened to be on display. All they've done is have a little joke - funnin', as people [speaking generally here] who can't appreciate jokes might put it.

I ask how you'd feel [again speaking generally] if your own mother were portrayed in chocolate in all her naked glory, with her gynaecological aspects clearly defined? And not just any mother - your own. Different story, isn't it?

So why is this any different? The Son of Man means a lot to a rapidly dwindling and yet devout number of people around the world and the hypocrisy of the humanists chuckling at a gross act of disrespect and telling those of us who believe that we should be more tolerant, gets up my nose. I'd really love to portray someone dear to you having sex with a dog or whatever and then I can just laugh it off and say to you, "Oh don't be so sensitive. It's just a bit of fun.'

I don't give a toss about the actual chocolate Jesus. The original is a Big Boy and can probably cope with the slight. No, it's the rank hypocrisy of those telling others not to be so sensitive that grates - the rank hypocrisy of the godless. Which leads us to the Mohammed cartoons.

Were the Mohammed cartoons sexual in nature? No, they were political. So then - portray Jesus with a Terry Gilliam visage vehemently spreading the word or in some kind of levitating, lamb-shaped Popemobile, whilst addressing the masses - something political, rather than physiological.

But that wouldn't do the trick, would it? No, the point of the exercise was to entice people to mock the man Himself, through what is already a pagan hijacking of the Easter message. Two for the price of one, so to speak. If the minds of such people were rooms in a house, then you'd see some pretty grotesque furniture inside there.

So look at my own post on Friedrich Hayek and Martin Kelly, where the illustrations relate to Martin's text. That's mocking. Yes but is it grossly offensive? Is it pornographic? That's your decision.

Having said all that, the question of the devotees of Christianity remains:

My own best friend here, [who became a Christian via a different path to me - we're both women loving, unChristian Christians, so to speak, who enjoy a drop or two], tells a story about a coffee shop in the US which was fairly dire.

There's something not quite right about the so-called 'fundamentalist' Christians which is … well … off-putting. I can't identify it fully but I'll give it a shot:

For a start, there seems to be a certain mental set in the first place - either a stern, unbending outlook or else a sort of teenage girl totality to the mindset which either goes all bad or swings round and goes all good.

Christianity is, as it's founder said, primarily for gathering lost sheep and so there's a certain gratitude for what has been done for you. If you haven't taken this step, you'll never know the euphoria of it. A huge weight is taken off your shoulders and out of your soul. It's simply so.

The trouble comes when a certain naïve bonhomie deviates into fanaticism, as on the Planet Krikkit. The blindness to other points of view negates the message itself. There's a very simple test of this. Do the actions of the protesters turn the average person towards or against becoming a Christian?

And I think that was the idea. The other side knew what would provoke the fundamentalists and show them up in a bad light, therefore furthering the work of deviating people away from the essential message of common sense in our modus operandus in life. The keepers of the gate are so fearsome, none dare enter to hear the message.

There's little doubt that a battle is being fought for hearts and minds just now and so far, the humanists seem to be in the box seat. But the game's not over till the fat lady sings, guys.

By the way, be careful this easter - it's also grand climax and sacrificial victims are being sought for a bit of good ole bloodletting. You never know - you might meet your local mayor there behind that cowl.