Religious Overtones
Pray (vi)
To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.
-- Ambrose Bierce in The Devil’s Dictionary
*
In a dangerous world,
there will always be more people around whose prayers for their own safety have been answered than those whose prayers have not.
– Nicholas Humphrey’s Law of the Efficacy of Prayer
*
Mange-Theism
Those little bread wafers passed out in Catholic communion? Ever since 1563, the church has insisted that the consecrated bread and wine is literally the body and blood of Christ.
Scottish philosopher David Hume wrote of a Turkish prisoner being questioned after he claimed to be a Christian convert. Finally, he was asked how many gods there are. “None,” he answered. “You have told me all along that there is but one God, and yesterday I ate him.”
– recounted by Jenny Diski in the London Review of Books
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The Monk’s Tale
Ignorant Ig
noble, well maybe,
Ignatius Loyola
ignored his iguana
devouring Crayolas,
poor baby
Ignominious post-mortem:
Shards of stained windows
slit lizardly gizzard
in surgical section, behold!
potbelly of gold
at the end of the rainbow,
which Jesuits sold
for liturgic reflection
Then, ready to munch, had
a Franciscan friar for lunch
dedicated to Karen Ignagni, chief Washington lobbyist for the health industry
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Yes, in case you were wondering, that is really the name of the chief health industry lobbyist in Washington and, no, there is no relation between that fact and this incomprehensible poem.
Comment by Al — August 6, 2009 @ 6:45 pm