A-Z Challenge 20: The tenth plague

In 1933, the poet Arnulf Øverland wrote the essay “Christianity, the Tenth Plague”. The essay was first given as a speech to the Student’s Association. The full text in English can be found here.

Here are a couple of cool quotes from the essay:

About baptism:

“Baptism isn't just regular water, but it is water which is confined by the command of God and united by the word of God. What it means, no living man can comprehend, but the children are bound to understand!”

About the communion:

“Later on we eat the body of God and drinks his blood. This disgusting, cannibalistic magic is practiced till this day. But if one have the stomach to participate in this ritual, then one is saved. Then one can allow oneself almost any disgracefulness, if only one prays to God afterwards. If only one believes and is baptized.”

About sinful feelings:

“Practically all the church fathers have agreed to denote erotic emotions as sinful, beauty and grace as the devil's delusion and the woman as Satan's gateway. This aversion to women and female charm, that is so loudly expressed by the church fathers, is a homosexual characteristic. It is this, which is called moral purity.” 

Øverland gave some pretty bold statements for his time. The bishops and scholars were furious, of course.  The author was taken to court, accused of blasphemy. He was acquitted.

The decision of the court was a victory for the freedom of speech. However, there are also things to learn from the reaction of the Christians. They were offended, but only used words to express their anger. No one was killed, and Øverland didn’t have to live the rest of his life with a fatwa thrown at him.

A-Z Challenge 19: Secularism

Secularism is the principle of keeping government and legislation separate from religion. I a secular system, political decisions are more or less independent religious belief. Those who want can be free from religious rule.

Most western democracies are in practice secular. In secular systems freedom of speech, including the right to make blasphemic statements and religious freedom are important principles.

Only secular systems give religious freedom. With religious rule all religions except one (the one that rules) are repressed, more or less. That’s an interesting paradox, I think.

Charlie is back

Last week, we were shocked by the acts of terror in Paris. This week, Charlie Hebdo is back with a new issue. That’s great.  The artists and cartoonists are brave.  

I think duck liver is a hype, but I always liked the French cheese, and the French attitude to freedom of speech. Charlie Hebdo’s satire offends the Muslims. That’s fine. They just have to learn to live with it, like the Christians, Jews and Satanists have learnt.

What’s holy for you is not holy for me.  Mocking the gods and prophets can be fun, for sure. But blasphemy is more than entertainment. Blasphemy is an important part of the freedom of speech. Religion mixed with a political agenda is a bad combo, because it makes the agenda indisputable. Who are you to challenge God?

• Imagine Obama coming to The House proposing a new law received from God, and the Republicans could do nothing to stop it. 
• Imagine the Labor party coming to the Parliament with a political program given by God, and Cameron had to approve it right away. 

The French and the Americans (I think) were the first to develop a secular constitution. This is very important, splitting governing, legislative and religious power. Turkey is Muslim-secular, but develops in the wrong direction. Many Muslim countries are stuck in their political-religious swamp. The list of ridiculous laws and rules coming out of religion is endless:

• Women are not allowed to watch football games (Iran)
• Women are not allowed to drive cars (Saudi)
• Death penalty for blasphemy (Pakistan)
• Separate ski lifts for men and women (Iran)
• One-hour marriage with prostitutes (which makes prostitution compliant with the Quran; Bahrain).
• Men can’t sit next to women on airplanes (orthodox Jews)
• Women can’t become priests (Catholics)
• Priests must live in celibate (Catholics)
• Ban on condoms (Catholics)

None of these rules come from God. They were invented by powerful people as tools to control people. When rules can't be justified by rational arguments, the easiest solution is God. No wonder religious authorities  who make up such laws and rules (and their Prophets and Gods) become subject to satire and blasphemy.

The French author Michel Houellebecq once said that “among all ridiculous religions, Islam is the most stupid”. He was taken to court in Paris for this statement, but was acquitted based on freedom of speech. They are all about equally bad; I dislike religion in general. 

I have plenty of religous books in my shelf; the Bible, the Quran and the Book of Mormon, and I have read a fair part of them (but far from everything). Sharia is mostly useless as legislation for the modern world. But taking the worst of the Bible, it would make a pretty bizarre law too.

Some of the religious texts can be quite entertaining. Once we had fun drinking beer and reading load from the Quran in a pub up north. I think the pub was a safe place for our blasphemy. It's an unlikely place to meet jihadists and inquisition.

In Satan we trust >:)

(Cover page of this week's issue of Charlie Hebdo; link to WIkipedia. The text above Muhammsd's head says "Everything is forgiven".)

Forty days and forty nights

The forty last days had been great, enjoying life, together with his buddies, and with her. But now his time had come. They were just waiting for this little rain shower to pass. Maybe it was a sign. It hardly ever rained in this arid area.

When he he rolled the big rock to the side, and walked out of the dark cave, she was the first to meet him.
- When I was sitting alone, in the dark, and my only entertainment was to touch myself, I saw you soft body before me, he said.
- So good to have you back, she said.
- I will not stay long, I'm leaving again soon.
She went down on her knees, and kissed his feet, and then rose the upper part of her body. He looked down on her black hair.
- Everybody are kissing my feet, but only you gratify my entire body and soul, he said and moaned.

Last night they had a big party. All the guys were there, all the eleven who was still with him, and her, of course.
- Cheers, have some more to drink, he said. - If we run out of wine, I'll just make some more.
They all laughed at his joke. Around midnight they were all drunk.
- Time to go to bed, he said. - My mission is completed. I'm leaving early tomorrow.
They all nodded silently. She touched his shoulder and whispered in his ear:
- You have one more mission to complete tonight.
She led his hand between her legs. He rubbed her thighs, and slowly moved his hand over her soft hair. Sliding his middle finger along her cleft, he could feel that she was moist and ready, in the dry and dark desert night.

The rain was over, the sun was shining again.
- Are you ready? they said. -Let's go.
- Yes, I'm ready,
He kissed her forehead, and said:
- In my mind, I will always keep a picture of your pretty face, a picture that will never age.

The noble pornographer

Last night I was re-reading some passages from the works of an interesting author; Marquis the Sade. You know, the guy who got his name immortalized in the word sadism (or sadist).

Marquis de Sade was born in 1740 and died in 1814. He was a gifted writer, but with a somewhat twisted mind. He spent one third of his life in jail (10 years in the Bastille), due to his scandalous lifestyle, and because of the texts he wrote; a mixture of philosophy, pornography and blasphemy.

In the humoristic play Philosophy of the Bedroom, written in 1795, Madame the Saint Ange and Dolmance are introducing the young Eugenie to certain adventures. Here’s an excerpt from the dialogue:

MADAME THE SAINT ANGE: Come Eugenie, let’s not tarry. There’s the pump’s nozzle in the air; it won’t be long before we’re flooded.
EUGENIE: Oh, dearest friend, what a monstrous member! I can scarcely get my hand around it! Dear God, are they all as big as this?
DOLMANCE: Eugenie, you know that mine is inferior in size; such engines are redoubtable for a youngster; you are fully aware such as this could not without danger perforate you.
EUGENIE (already being frigged by Madame de Saint Ange): I’d brave anything to enjoy it!

The most famous work of Sade is the novel Justine, with subtitle The Misfortunes of Virtue, written in 1787. The unlucky girl Justine works as a housekeeper in a house where she is being abused. She escapes and seeks protection in a Benedictine monastery, which turns out to be a change from bad to worse. Here are excerpts from a scene where Justine is in the hands of the superior of the monastery, Dom Severino:

“And placing me upon a couch in the posture expected by his execrable projects and causing me to be held by two of his monks, the infamous man attempts to satisfy himself in that criminal and perverse fashion which makes us resemble none but the sex we do not possess while degrading the one we have … “

When reading the works of de Sade, it’s important to remember that his works were written right before the French revolution, when the lifestyle of the French upper class was at the peak of decadence. In my bookshelf, I have both the English and Winterlandic translations of Justine. One of the translations has an introduction by a wellknown anarchist and author, who writes that “de Sade was imprisoned because he wrote what the upper class did”. And the story about Justine suggests that the recent revelations of abuse in the Catholic Church may have a long history too ... >:)