06 January 2007

Philosophy, Religion and a Joke...

I noted in an earlier post about the 100 Greatest Jokes site.

I had also been meaning to write something deeply philosophical here bringing together the themes of "More British people think religion does more harm than good" (from the Guardian front page before Christmas), the Pope's Christmas message about the world needing a saviour (heh, lets be delusional shall we - someone else can fix this mess we're all creating), the finality of death to an atheist (my partner's father passing away). But then, you don't visit here for that sort of stuff do you?

Anyway, instead I'll keep it to one philosophical point and juxtapose a joke from the 100 best!

Philosophical point: To the world's religious leaders (including the preachy Archbishop of Canterbury), instead of blaming the politicians for the religious problems, why not all of you set a bleeding example. Get together and show why religion is relevant and truly has a moral and relevant purpose!

And, joke number 53 from Emo Philips had me laughing and sums up the problems faced by the religious leaders in my suggestion above:

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said "Stop! Don't do it!"
"Why shouldn't I?" he said.
"Well, there's so much to live for!"
"Like what?"
"Well... are you religious?"
He said yes. I said, "Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?"
"Christian."
"Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant ?
"Protestant."
"Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"
"Baptist"
"Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"
"Baptist Church of God!"
"Me too! Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you reformed Baptist Church of God?"
"Reformed Baptist Church of God!"
"Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?"
He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!"
I said, "Die, heretic scum", and pushed him off.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

In a greater scheme of things it is always in balance, including at the national, racial, religious and profession level(s).

In order to acheive the Buddha (Avtar) mind body states, you should correct the issues in the past.

The mind (brain) is non linear.

We are generally finite beings.

Ian Hobson said...

Thanks Raj,

Perhaps if you could translate what you've said into plain speak, I might understand it better.

The question is "Did you like the joke or not?"