Proclaiming "nothing is sacred," atheist P.Z. Myers took the Christian eucharist, pierced it with a rusty nail, and threw it into the garbage. Then he posed his action on the world wide web.
Who is Myers? He's a biology professor at the University of Minnesota and a close ally of Richard Dawkins. In fact, Dawkins has praised Myers, conducted public conversations with him, and I count several links to Myers' articles on richarddawkins.net. Dawkins also urged his fans to write in support of Myers.
Myers rose to semi-fame, or perhaps I should say notoriety, when he praised University of Central Florida student Webster Cook who stole the eucharist from a church and held it hostage. Apparently figuring that such antics were more likely to gain attention than his own relatively undistinguished scholarship, Myers decided to get into the act himself.
On his blog Pharyngula, Myers wrote "It's a Frackin' Cracker" and said that if someone would send him a eucharist he would "show you sacrelige, gladly and with much fanfare." Myers' desecration was widely viewed on the web and raised much comment, much of it infuriated--but we can assume that this was Myers' intention.
Asked whether he cared about injuring the feelings of Christians, Myers professed surprise. "I've got so many people writing me and saying that I have seriously hurt them. But what have I done? I have thrown away a cracker."
This would be like someone burning a cross and then saying, "I cannot understand why all those black people are upset? All I did was set fire to a piece of wood." If a child did it, you can possibly say he was innocent. But when a professor acts this way, isn't malevolence the obvious explanation?
The National Catholic Register caught up with Myers recently and asked him the source of his hostility toward religion. "Religion has been selling everybody a bill of goods for so many years. It's about time somebody spoke up and said it's a load of nonsense."
Asked whether Christianity deserves credit for founding the first Western hospitals, universities and even scientific breakthroughs, Myers said, "No. People made those contributions to Western civilization."
But werent' those people Christians acting on their religious convictions? "That's like saying that because for so many years people got smallpox, smallpox is to be credited for all the virtue men have done."
Here we see Myers' thought in all its glorious idiocy. No, Myers, the two are not even comparable. Smallpox has nothing to do with the building of Gothic spires and astronomical observatories and setting up institutions like Harvard and the Red Cross. Christianity was a powerful motivating force in why people did those things. You can find all this out by opening up a history book.
The problem with people like Myers and Dawkins is not that they are complete morons. It is that they are biologists who know something about one thing but pretend that they know a lot about other things. Consequently they come across sounding like morons. Have pity on them.
Reader Comments ( Page 5 of 35)
61.
You bring up a great point, Ryan.
You can max out your credit cards buying gargoyles to ward off the demons. Even though the end is near, and you won't have to worry about those pesky credit card statements, shop wisely.
http://www.nextag.com/gargoyle/search-html
ex-christian at 4:39PM on Sep 10th 2008
62. 58. JG,
"Personally, I don't know why this professor felt the need to make such a pubic display"
A "pubic display"? That's desecration, all right!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Freudian slip! I guess it would have to be a magic donut in that case! I've had magic brownies but never a magic cracker. Magic brownies would really get more people into church on Sunday.
John Galt
John Galt at 4:41PM on Sep 10th 2008
63. Oh and all those catholic women out there taking any form of birth control need to ask forgiveness every Sunday before mass so they can receive the eucharist. And all you catholic guys who masturbate - okay women too (EOO) they need to ask forgiveness and do penance - a few Hail Mary's I'm sure will do the trick and maybe an Our Father thrown in for good measure - I'm sure the deities just love being prayed too because a human was masturbating and that's just sooo wrong. Even though those same deities supposedly created the horny little fuckers in his/her image in the first place.
Eat this body and drink this blood of christ. Those words are actually spoken during the mass and it makes me wonder if there really were vampires on earth.
TJ at 4:44PM on Sep 10th 2008
64. For all you Christians with Fatwa envy, Myers also did the same the thing to a copy of the Quaran. Funnily enough, the only death threats he's recieved have been from Catholics.
So if you don't know what you're talking about, stfu.
rg at 4:45PM on Sep 10th 2008
65. JG,
We can't just go pranking and interrupting religious ceremonies that we don't respect, any more than cultists can go around protesting at funerals of people they don't respect.
TJ,
It's spelled "altar," not "alter."
Mokele Mbembe at 4:48PM on Sep 10th 2008
66. I wonder how many of you looked at the link for his new book at the top of the article in summation it reads:
".. Atheists who attack Christianity's historical excesses are, says DSouza, misreading and misinterpreting history for their own ends, and he claims that it is atheistic regimes that have been responsible for the terror and mass murders throughout history. In DSouzas eyes, the atheistic stance is tired and worn, and, in his view, it is Christianity that offers a viable hope for the future."
Now I don't know about you but when I last checked journalists were supposed to present an impartial representation of the events as opposed to adding insults and name calling, sounds like he has an agenda. He is an embarrassment to his profession.
daf at 4:55PM on Sep 10th 2008
67. If you support Obama, please drive with your headlights off at night.
Thank you for your participation in this patriotic endeavor!
How very christian of you to wish those who don't agree with you to die. Thanks for the re-inforcement of my hatred for your hypocritic religion.
Yeah, wise people love the thought of the death of thier intellectual opponents, and it's really funny.
ex-christian at 4:57PM on Sep 10th 2008
68. One of the most dangerous aspects of religion is the tendency of believers to feel as though they've been harmed or attacked whenever someone criticizes or makes fun of one of their symbols. Remember how a cartoon making fun of Muhammed in Denmark led to Danish embassies in Syria and Lebanon being attacked and set on fire? All Myers has done is expose the irrationality and hysteria of people who think they've been hurt just by someone throwing away a cracker.
Jonathan Kurdell at 5:00PM on Sep 10th 2008
69. If those wafers were truly empowered by Jesus they'd have his face miraculously appearing on them just as it did on that grilled cheese sandwich.
Robert Jase at 5:00PM on Sep 10th 2008
70. D'Souza writes "Christianity was a powerful motivating force in why people did those things. You can find all this out by opening up a history book." Yes so was the Holocaust (and consequently World War II) , the Crusades, The Thirty Years War, The Dark Ages, The Witch Hunts (not just in Salem). I could go on but my hands are cramping. But I am glad that religion is a positive force for good.
daf at 5:04PM on Sep 10th 2008
71. Christians are the largest and most powerful culture group in the US. Get over the persecution complex already.
Are things right now so great that the only thing you can find to get indignant over is the desecration of a snack food?
Darth Wader at 5:08PM on Sep 10th 2008
72. We seem to be having a problem with the terminology of our yummy baked goods. How on earth could we agree on a president if we can't even decide if it's a cracker, a wafer, a cookie, a chewy brownie.......or......could I throw in that it may be a bisquit??? I really like Lorna Doone's for their buttery goodness, but once in a while you just can't do better than a Double Stuff. My real point is, if anyone who believes in the Carb myth of Christ's body gets distraught because someone else just sees a Ritz - get over yourself. You can bless the pretzel all you want and keep it sacred, that's your right. But if others don't, oh well.
Pass the dip.
Jude at 5:10PM on Sep 10th 2008
73. "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen."
So... if you have a 'vision' of Mary praying for you.. it might be the 'final countdown' for you!
What would YOU do if you thought that you had less than 60 minutes to live?
Eat magic crackers?
Listen to 'If I could turn back time.' by Cher?
How about say Hail Marys, really meaning it THIS time?
Go to church and pray?
Go to the hospital and have the doctors take a look?
I know, gnash your teeth, rip your clothes and cover yourself in ashes?
Sing "100 bottles of beer on the wall!"?
not-pboyfloyd at 5:10PM on Sep 10th 2008
74. It's a FRICKIN' cracker you fool!
Adam at 5:13PM on Sep 10th 2008
75. Isn't the Eucharist just a "Trust me!" joke.
"Open your mouth and close your eyes!"
Not likely, right?
I'm thinking that if I had an hour to live, having a few rums and greasing the 'stick' of bottle-rockets, placing them (CAREFULLY) into the bum and lighting them a la "Jackass!" would be fun!
Shooting rockets out of your bum up to 'Heaven' screaming, "Fuck you God!" would be hilarious!
not-pboyfloyd at 5:19PM on Sep 10th 2008