Saturday, August 2, 2008

Cheeks


Today's Bizarro cartoon is brought to you by Taboos and Interdictions International.

Here is another cartoon that never appeared in Bizarro. As uppity as most of us Americans were about the offense that some Muslims took to the Danish cartoon featuring Mohammed, there are similar attitudes against cartoons about Jesus in this country.

Most comics editors will allow cartoons about god, angels, Satan, Buddha, Hindu gods, etc., but Jesus is off limits. This isn't a stated policy, they just know that large numbers of their readership will go ballistic and they'll lose time dealing with their protestations, so they decline the gag and ask for a replacement.

I'm not a fan of any religion because, to put it simply, I think they make people crazy. (Believing in invisible people with magic powers isn't what you could really call "not crazy.") Many of the wars fought throughout human history would not have occurred were it not for religion, most terrorist acts are committed in the name of religion, and without religion, you'd be hard-pressed to find a volunteer for a suicide mission.

There is no answer to this, of course. You can outlaw it, but it wouldn't change the human need to see patterns and ascribe meaning. There is a part of us that is crazy and will never be anything else.

Meanwhile, how funny would it be if a boxer believed in turning the other cheek? Hahahahaha!

15 comments:

disabled account said...

i like that you said, "smite him." and i'm a fan of jesus. not the typical religions that worship him, but i do like him.

i still like the guest cartoonist, and i'm not afraid to admit it...even with all of the bullying and trolling going on around here lately.

doug nicodemus said...

heh i was not trolling. i apologized and all that. i hope dan will show us many more of his "did not runs". because i can see his regular stuff in the paper....hint hint...in fact it would be nice if everyonce in awhile he would come up with an out rageous one that APPEARED ONLY HERE...hint hint...it is the internet yah know.

Anonymous said...

One of my favorites, ever. Makes me glad I read your blog. How could anyone take offense at that? I'll bet Jesus had a sense of humor.

Unknown said...

Not all Christians are that uptight. I think it's funny and I bet God does too.

julie said...

Off topic but thought folks here might be interested:

MoveOn and Shepard Fairey are sponsoring a 2D and 3D art contest for Obama:

http://www.manifesthope.com/

Winners will be hung at the DNC convention in Denver and art will be auctioned for progressive causes.

Unknown said...

One of my favs as as well. I'm a lapsed Christian leaning more and more towards ex-Christian for the very reasons you cited; even though many in science include religion in their worldviews, I find it makes me feel 'crazy' to intentionally give up all reason at least once a week.

derekamalo said...

hey guys...its cold up here at the beach and raining like hell..but you gotta stay out up here as much as you can...just signed on and before i signed off i naturally gotta get my daily bizarro fix..i came right to the bloga nd i must say dan that religious cartoon is funny i wish i would have thought the idea up myself....by the way kind of off the topic but i lived in san diego county quite sometime...i was upset to have missed out on convention had it been a year earlier could of made it....another off the topic but remeber dans earthday event in ca in april i think dave attel was a guest or maybe show before that.....anyone watch the new gong show damn dan HE NEEDSSSSSSSSSSSS A REPLACEMENT NOT you...head down to philadelphia and see if chuck barris is still avauilable or is he still killing guys for cia

Fabian Göranson said...

I'm no fan of religions but I also don't believe in the notion that they cause wars. Yes, many wars are declared in their name but I think almost all of them really are about other things. Such as natural resources (water, oil), land, cultural differences, money - power basicly. It's hard to get soldiers to willingly throw themselves in gunfire if you tell them it will make you and your friends richer. So you blame it on their imaginary friend.

Anonymous said...

Derek - the seizure meds are not "as needed." Just FYI.

Anonymous said...

Julie -- "Winners will be hung at the DNC convention in Denver and art will be auctioned for progressive causes."

This is funny.

The winners will be hung, while their art will be auctioned off. So they are betting that the art will go up in value once the artist are dead?

Jeremy said...

As a Judeo-Christian I find this cartoon EXTREMELY funny!
ROFLMAO!!

Yeshua Loves you!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Jeremy. You are officially the first human being on the planet to describe themselves as a "Judeo-Christian."

Josh Duncan said...

I'm a Christian and a cartoonist, and I have no problem with this cartoon. I think it's hilarious. However, I think your attitude towards religion is narrow-minded. Jesus was not invisible, and what he did was not magic tricks. We date our calendars around the year of his birth. Thousands of people witnessed his ministry, his effect on society, and even his miracles. If the gospel message was just made up by the disciples, why wasn't the lie immediately repudiated? Furthermore, 11 out of 12 disciples died a martyr's death and not one renounced the gospel. I find it hard to believe that all 11 would willingly die for a lie.

B.A.D. said...

Brilliant as always. Shame about the medial reality of modern crazies.

But thanks for addressing the issue of religion in a plain, non-aggressive , point driven way. My diplomatic hat goes off to you sir.

Unknown said...

As a fundamentalist Christian I loved everything about this cartoon. Very funny and great art. What's not to like?