…and this is a 
The Great Desecration
Category: Godlessness • Religion
Posted on: July 24, 2008 2:00 PM, by PZ Myers
It is finished.
I wonder how many of our Catholic friends have heard of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215? This is the event where many of their important dogmas were codified, including the ideas of Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus, that the Eucharist was the sacrament that only properly ordained priests of the Catholic church could give, and that the Jews were a pariah people, who could hold no public office, had to pay a special Jew tax for their right to exist, and were required to wear special clothing to distinguish them from Christians. The yellow badge marking the Juden was not an invention of the Nazis, but a decree by faithful Catholics in the Middle Ages. That's an interesting juxtaposition, that a symbol of Christian exceptionalism was formalized at the same time that they formally decreed the Jews to be inferior, and a target of hatred.
That combination was useful, too. Declare something cheap, disposable, and common to be imbued with magic by the words of a priest, and the trivial becomes a powerful token to inflame the mob — why, all you have to do is declare a bit of bread to be the most powerful and desirable object in the world, and even if it isn't, you can pretend that the evil other is scheming to deprive the faithful of it. Now you could invent stories of Jews and witches taking the communion host to torture, to make Jesus suffer even more, and good Catholics would of course rise in horror to defend their salvation. None of the stories were true, of course — Jews and infidels see no power at all in those little crackers, and the idea that they were obsessing over obtaining a non-sacred, powerless, pointless relic is ludicrous — but heck, it's a cheap excuse to make accusations illustrated by cheesy woodcuts of hook-nosed Jews hammering nails into communion wafers and lurid tales of blood-spurting crackers and hosts that pulsed like and beating heart, and thereby providing a pretext to encourage massacres.
The first recorded accusation was made in 1243 at Berlitz, near Berlin. As a consequence all the Jews of Berlitz were burned on the spot, which was subsequently called Judenberg. Another famous case that took place in 1290, in Paris, was commemorated in the Church of the Rue des Billettes and in a local confraternity. In 1370 in Brussels, the charge of host desecration, long celebrated in a special fest and depicted in artistic relics in the Church of St. Gudule, led to the extermination of the Jews of the city. The case of 1337, at Deggendorf, still celebrated locally as "Deggendorf Gnad", led to a series of massacres across the region. In 1510, at Knoblauch, near Berlin, 38 Jews were executed and more expelled from Brandenburg. The alleged host desecration in 1410, at Segovia, was said to have brought about an earthquake, and as a result, the local synagogue was confiscated and leading Jews were executed; the event continues to be celebrated as a local feast of Corpus Christi. Similar accusations, resulting in extensive persecution of Jews, were brought forward in 1294, at Laa, Austria; 1298, at Röttingen, near Würzburg, and at Korneuburg, near Vienna; 1299, at Ratisbon; 1306, at St. Pölten; 1325, at Cracow; 1330, at Güstrow; 1338, at Pulkau; 1388, at Prague; 1399, at Posen; 1401, at Glogau; 1420, at Ems; 1453, at Breslau; 1478, at Passau; 1492, at Sternberg, in Mecklenburg-Schwerin; 1514, at Mittelberg, in Alsace; 1558, at Sochaczew, in Poland. The last Jew burned for stealing a host died in 1631, according to Jacques Basnage, quoting from Manasseh b. Israel. Casimir IV. of Poland (1447).
That is the true power of the cracker, this silly symbol of superstition. Fortunately, Catholicism has mellowed with age — the last time a Catholic nation rose up to slaughter its non-Christian citizenry was a whole 70 years ago, after all — but the sentiment still lingers. Catholicism has been actively poisoning the minds of its practitioners with the most amazing bullshit for years, and until recently, I had no idea that a significant number of people actually believed this nonsense, or that the hatred was still simmering there, waiting for an opportunity to rise up in misplaced defense of absurdity.
All of the regular readers have seen it — thousands of mindless comments by Catholics, demanding that no harm come to a cracker. My email is melting down with swarms of insults, threats, pleas, and promises of prayers because I
Mark Sutton is representative of the majority of my email. No threats, at least, but instead he simply takes for granted an astonishing piece of insanity.
Professor Myers,
I was saddened to hear of your plans to harm our Lord Jesus Christ.
It obviously isn't the first time and it won't be the last.
I know you do not believe, but what if it truly is Jesus that you are attempting to hurt?
You are in my prayers.
You would not believe how many people are writing to me, insisting that these horrible little crackers (they look like flattened bits of styrofoam) are literally pieces of their god, and that this omnipotent being who created the universe can actually be seriously harmed by some third-rate liberal intellectual at a third-rate university (the diminution of my vast powers is also a common theme).
Jim Nicholson cranks up the crazy even more. Not many accused me of being a freemason — I've got lots that call me a Jew, which is illuminating given the history of this issue — and I cringe at the thought of a circumcised heart. But yeah, this kind of angry rant is fairly common, too.
You must be the devil himself as even he knows the power in the Holy Eucharist (don't you dare disparage the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by calling Him Who died for you a cracker!). You must be a freemason, or just a very sick man who needs healing and believe me, I will pray for your conversion. Pray you live to see that day so you can ask Him to forgive you and your uncircumcised heart. Just the mere thought of desecrating the Holy Eucharist is enough to get one into hell, but, maybe that is, for now, the horrible place you are aiming for. I dare you to read about Our Lady of Fatima and the accounts of hell as the three children saw, then, maybe you will change you sick mind. God forgive you. However, it was great that you got many people praying for your conversion since you showed the world how sick you are, and maybe God will convert your hard heart. Pity you. From a lay evangelist who prays for you and the rest of this sick world of secular humanists.
Another common theme has been the attempt to turn away the desecration of a Catholic symbol into the desecration of an Islamic symbol. Obviously, it's not desecration they find disagreeable — it's the idea that someone would offend their weird sectarian sensibilities. Here's one from Jack Isaacks that fits the mold.
Dear Professor Meyers,
If you REALLY want to do a courageous, revolutionary act, defecate publicly on a copy of the Quran.
Or do you have the cojones?
Christians won't attack you for desecrating a host, but will those wonderful cuddly peace-loving Muslims be as forbearing if you used their book for a toilet?
Well, how brave are you?
Yeah, right. Catholics won't attack me, but Muslims will. Never mind that the Catholic League demands that I be fired, thousands of Catholics write to me demanding I be kicked out of the university immediately, and that they send me death threats, both the explicit kind and the vaguely menacing kind. Let's not forget Webster Cook, who started this all by simply walking back to his seat with a cracker, and now faces censure and possible expulsion from his university. Oh, those Catholics sure are forbearing and tolerant.
And since I mentioned yesterday that I was taking my oldest son to the movies, these good Catholics have leapt to the opportunity. Since I'm not demonstrating any fear over their threats against me, well hey, let's try a new target! KJ Atkins of Bellarmine University thinks cowardly warnings against my family might be effective.
You fool, the vengeance for your sacrilege will not be . exhausted against you, but it will be carried out on your child. Wait and see.
Oh, I'm sorry, KJ. I'm only impressed by significant material concerns, and yours and other slanders against my family (I'm looking at you, Miki Tracy, the despicable person who thinks making up lies about my father might be persuasive) are not going to convince me of anything other than that religion breeds the most disgustingly vile haters in our country, and that Catholicism fits right in with the rest. I will note, however, that since Bill Donohue tried to get CAIR to join him in his crusade, I have gotten no email from outraged Muslims, over a span of time in which I've received thousands of Catholic hate mail messages.
If you want to see the deep danger of religion, you have to read this comment from Isaac.
As a Christian it is an insult for anyone to call my beliefs stupid shit. I have respected every religion and every idea for years.
Ah, what a beautiful illustration of the complete open mind — utterly undiscriminating, lacking any criteria for acceptance, simply blissfully and uncritically according every idea his full respect. Although, of course, it's also a lie: Isaac does not regard every idea as equally deserving, since he clearly considers the atheist idea that the sacraments of his faith are empty foolishness to be an outrage. Rather, what he loves is the idea that everyone else must respect his beliefs, no matter what they are, and that any disagreement is an insult. This is exactly the kind of uncritical, unskeptical, nonjudgmental idiocy all religions seek to promulgate, because they all know that if we tore off the blinders of tradition and artificiality and mindless etiquette, we'd see right through their lies. Respect every idea! Especially mine! And if you find the idea that this cracker is a god stupid, why, you must be disrespectful and no gentleman!
For even deeper inanity, let's not forget the Catholic blogs! We're talking some serious derangement there: look at Mark Shea's reaction.
I won't mince words. Myers is an evil man. And as evil men, particularly evil intellectuals, tend to be, he is also a mad man as are most of his acolytes and followers.
Myers and Co. are enmeshed in these lies because they have chosen evil. It is evil--archetypally evil--to desecrate the Eucharist. It's the sort of stuff archetypal bad guys in the movies do. It's completely unnecessary gratuitous evil.
To the Mark Shea's of the world, I would say…it's just a cracker.
I think if I were truly evil, I would have to demand that all of my acolytes be celibate, but would turn a blind eye to any sexual depravities they might commit. If I wanted to be an evil hypocrite, I'd drape myself in expensive jeweled robes and live in an ornate palace while telling all my followers that poverty is a virtue. If I wanted to commit world-class evil, I'd undermine efforts at family planning by the poor, especially if I could simultaneously enable the spread of deadly diseases. And if I wanted to be so evil that I would commit a devastating crime against the whole of the human race, twisting the minds of children into ignorance and hatred, I would be promoting the indoctrination of religion in children's upbringing, and fomenting hatred against anyone who dared speak out in defiance.
I'm sorry to say that I only aspire to be a teeny-tiny bit evil, and my target is a handful of virtually inedible crackers in my possession. It's not much, and all I can say in my defense is…it's a start. A very small start. I'm going to need lots and lots of people to rise up and follow suit, subjecting old, dishonest institutions of hardened dogma to our chief weapon of ridicule and deris…our two weapons of ridicule, derision and laughter…no, three weapons of ridicule, derision, laughter, and skeptici…oh, never mind. You know what I mean. Get to work.
OK, time for the anticlimax. I know some of you have proposed intricate plans for how to do horrible things to these crackers, but I repeat…it's just a cracker. I wasn't going to make any major investment of time, money, or effort in treating these dabs of unpleasantness as they deserve, because all they deserve is casual disposal. However, inspired by an old woodcut of Jews stabbing the host, I thought of a simple, quick thing to do: I pierced it with a rusty nail (I hope Jesus's tetanus shots are up to date). And then I simply threw it in the trash, followed by the classic, decorative items of trash cans everywhere, old coffeegrounds and a banana peel. My apologies to those who hoped for more, but the worst I can do is show my unconcerned contempt.
By the way, I didn't want to single out just the cracker, so I nailed it to a few ripped-out pages from the Qur'an and The God Delusion. They are just paper. Nothing must be held sacred. Question everything. God is not great, Jesus is not your lord, you are not disciples of any charismatic prophet. You are all human beings who must make your way through your life by thinking and learning, and you have the job of advancing humanity's knowledge by winnowing out the errors of past generations and finding deeper understanding of reality. You will not find wisdom in rituals and sacraments and dogma, which build only self-satisfied ignorance, but you can find truth by looking at your world with fresh eyes and a questioning mind.
Politics
Comments
Posted by: Maria | July 24, 2008 2:03 PM
May God have mercy on your soul.
Posted by: H.H. | July 24, 2008 2:04 PM
It is done.
Posted by: FormerMilitary | July 24, 2008 2:04 PM
Well done.
Posted by: Tucker | July 24, 2008 2:04 PM
Well this is going to be epic.
Posted by: Anthony | July 24, 2008 2:06 PM
PZ: My gin and tonic will be hoisted up in your name tonight.
Posted by: JSorrell | July 24, 2008 2:08 PM
Well, if you thought the deluge of email was bad now! :)
Thanks for pointing out that nothing should be held sacred.
Posted by: Blake Stacey | July 24, 2008 2:08 PM
Requiescat in pace, Crustum Christi.
Posted by: Brian | July 24, 2008 2:09 PM
Well said PZ. Wish I could think of something more to add.
Brian
Posted by: Deepsix | July 24, 2008 2:09 PM
Let the games begin!!
Posted by: Mike | July 24, 2008 2:09 PM
Hahah... I hope Seed's servers are ready for the influx of crazy that this post will bring.
Posted by: Mystic Olly | July 24, 2008 2:10 PM
And yet I fail to see the remains of last nights spaghetti bolognese. Do you cower in fear of His Noodley Appendage?
I think we should be told . . .
Posted by: AJ Milne | July 24, 2008 2:10 PM
Nothing must be held sacred. Question everything.
Very nice. This did not disappoint.
A response to a post in a previous thread, carried forward (since, y'know, I'm sure this'll be going on for a bit, anyway)...
I've been thinking about this for awhile now. I originally agreed with those saying that PZ is needlessly provoking the religious, but their batshit crazy responses tell me it isn't so needless.
Yep. Or sorta. I'd never have gone as far as 'needlessly provoking', but I sure did see it as pretty trivial, initially.
And I still do. But only in the one sense. More precisely, I was never much for or agin' it, initially. I mean, as I understood it, it started out as a snarky (and, in context, entirely appropriately snarky) riposte to the sheer nuttiness of what happened at UCF anyway. I don't think any of us even figure he even meant it terribly seriously, at first. I mean, seriously, why would anyone bother, either way? And I think if he'd actually done it two weeks ago, my reaction woulda been: oh, okay... an odd thing to do... and... ummm... why, seriously? I'm still trying to wrap my head 'round the fact that the folk taking Donohue's bait haven't thought about that, more. I mean honestly, do you really think Donohue even thought PZ meant it that seriously? Or that Donohue even cared if he did? His reaction was pure political opportunism. Somethin' he figured he could make some hay with.
But making that hay, it leads places, whether he and his followers like it or not. And the sheer lunacy of those objecting shifts things, oddly. I mean, you say you're going to do something that should be so trivially silly, and all of a sudden, there's this windbag demagogue getting all red-faced, going on and on about what a horror this is, working on whipping up the outrage, and oh my, but people are actually falling for it. And there are people trying to get people fired, and the trolls are winding up and sockpuppeting the hell out of this place, there's nuts making threats and getting their wife fired, and you get to thinking: well, y'know, yeah, okay, maybe you should do that cracker thing. Sure it's silly, sure it's trivial, but, strangely enough, it does prove a modestly significant point, in this now truly bizarre context. Which is that pushy, arrogant gasbags like Donohue and the loud but not terribly bright folk he's managed to mobilize do not get to call the shots--not here, not anywhere. They don't get to demand anything, let alone respect, from anyone else, not with an attitude like that. Death threats, huh? Demands folk be fired, huh? Endless attempts, in fact, to demand punishment and suffering for what in the end is mere expression of an opinion they don't happen to like--and yes, folks, not that it's even entirely relevant, but I'm pretty sure that's exactly what it is, all their mumbo jumbo and handwaving about mystical rites and transubtantiation notwithstanding. Same as it's always been, same old excuse for any extremism they might want it to justify.
And this is how they presume to command 'respect', is it? And is this to be the way of things: the gasbags who threaten most and who scream 'bigotry' loudest gets to say what is and what is acceptable mockery of their particular irrationality of choice? What next, will we begin prosecuting blasphemy in the west again, jail those who dare to fail to show proper respect for the currently dominant faith?
So, okay, if they want to be like that about it, I'm with him all the way. And the cracker's toast. Sure it might still seem sorta a silly thing to do, on the face of it. But it's a madness with a certain method after all.
(And the banana peel sure is a nice touch.)
Posted by: Kobra | July 24, 2008 2:10 PM
The secret addition was a few papers from the God Delusion?
Very appropriate! I say this without an ounce of sarcasm, by the way.
Posted by: clinteas | July 24, 2008 2:11 PM
PZ,you should eat your bananas before they turn brown.
Posted by: drake33 | July 24, 2008 2:11 PM
+1 to PZ Myers.
Posted by: Katharine | July 24, 2008 2:11 PM
Well said, PZ.
Posted by: Anne Nonymous | July 24, 2008 2:11 PM
I can't wait to hear what Richard Dawkins thinks of this. :)
Also, don't you still have a whole bunch of other crackers? What're you gonna do with them?
Posted by: Analiese | July 24, 2008 2:12 PM
Shit, pz, I hope you've got a lid on that garbage lest the cracker rise again! Great post. Ahhhhh, men....
Posted by: Alan | July 24, 2008 2:12 PM
May the Hand of God bless you as you deserve.
Posted by: Jim RL | July 24, 2008 2:13 PM
I don't think anything is done at this point. I think the shitstorm is just about to start. You should really have a composting bin for all of that organic matter. Ashes to ashes and all that.
Posted by: Deepsix | July 24, 2008 2:13 PM
Oh, and PZ, don't close this thread. Let's see just how high this sucker will go.
Posted by: Steve | July 24, 2008 2:13 PM
Nothing Sacred - reminds me of a Zen story...Bodhidharma telling the pissed off Emperor of China that "Nothing is holy"... Then there is the old:"If you meet the Buddha, Kill him" Tossing a wooden Buddha on the fire etc... all to prove that nothing should be held above "reality". Why can't we have more "religions" like that? Or better yet, none at all...
Posted by: jb | July 24, 2008 2:13 PM
You don't compost your banana peels and coffee grounds? You ARE evil.....
Posted by: Norman Doering | July 24, 2008 2:14 PM
Now we wait for the lying press release from Bill Donohue and the deranged Catholic hordes that follow.
Good work, PZ. You used it to make a good point: No cheap, little material object should be considered sacred. Adding the pages from the "God Delusion" was a good move.
Posted by: Ranson | July 24, 2008 2:14 PM
Hmm. No spurting blood? Maybe the fruit peel will lose it's browning in a spontaneous healing miracle.
Posted by: Kobra | July 24, 2008 2:14 PM
http://www.kobrascorner.com/opine/nothing-is-sacred.php
I wrote this the other day, and because of this I greatly approve of including pages of The God Delusion. I'm sure even Prof. Dawkins will approve of the gesture (especially since PZ has already read it and there's no point in keeping it intact, right?).
Posted by: Luke O'Dell | July 24, 2008 2:14 PM
The God Delusion? I was on the right lines with my Origin of Species prediction, then. Nice job, PZ.
Posted by: TripMaster Monkey | July 24, 2008 2:14 PM
Nice to see that you threw in some pages from The God Delusion. I know it's just a book, like the Qur'an, but it's still an excellent way to demonstrate that your goal is to show that nothing is, or should be, "sacred", and not simply to piss off some extremists (although I'm sure they'll find a way to get worked up just the same).
Posted by: The Science Pundit | July 24, 2008 2:15 PM
The page from The God Delusion proves to us that you are not a loyal member of the Church of Dawkinity! I immediately move for your excommunication!!!
Posted by: Deepsix | July 24, 2008 2:15 PM
Cheeses Christ, PZ, you've already bogged down the server.
Posted by: Norman Doering | July 24, 2008 2:15 PM
Now we wait for the lying press release from Bill Donohue and the deranged Catholic hordes that follow.
Good work, PZ. You used it to make a good point: No cheap, little material object should be considered sacred. Adding the pages from the "God Delusion" was a good move.
Posted by: PeteC | July 24, 2008 2:15 PM
Well done; the "it is finished" is a nice touch too.
But.. don't they have recycling in Morris? Paper and food waste in the trash? That's sacrilege here in the Bay Area...
Posted by: MartinDH | July 24, 2008 2:15 PM
Hopefully after the howls of outrage from the godbots subside we'll see no more fourteen hundred reply threads!
Anyway, well done PZ...the picture just shows it's a "fracking" nailed cracker and some paper.
oh, and Maria (#1): There are no gods to have mercy on non-existent souls. Just thought you might like to know as you seem to be stuck in la-la land.
Martin
Posted by: Rich Stage | July 24, 2008 2:16 PM
Great job, PZ. I was worried that you might get carried away, but you have done exactly what was needed to be done.
Posted by: Steve | July 24, 2008 2:16 PM
Brillant PZ. Loved every word of it. You have my support.
Posted by: SC | July 24, 2008 2:16 PM
How fitting.
Posted by: Draconiz | July 24, 2008 2:16 PM
+1 to PZ!
Posted by: MartinDH | July 24, 2008 2:16 PM
Hopefully after the howls of outrage from the godbots subside we'll see no more fourteen hundred reply threads!
Anyway, well done PZ...the picture just shows it's a "fracking" nailed cracker and some paper.
oh, and Maria (#1): There are no gods to have mercy on non-existent souls. Just thought you might like to know as you seem to be stuck in la-la land.
Martin
Posted by: TG | July 24, 2008 2:16 PM
It is easy to see the titles of the books, but where is the proof that is a consecrated host? I think it is nothing more than an attention-getting stunt for noteriety. Weak.
Posted by: Lee Brimmicombe-Wood | July 24, 2008 2:16 PM
We wait with bated breath to discover what trepid outrage the god-botherers will cast down upon you.
What a hollow god they serve! How delicious a treatment of their sacred relics!
Posted by: Potter | July 24, 2008 2:17 PM
You, sir, handled this perfectly! Bravo!!
Posted by: David Wegehaupt | July 24, 2008 2:17 PM
Well done... I'm glad this ordeal is over
*ignores the following 2000 comments about the damn cracker*
Posted by: Robin | July 24, 2008 2:18 PM
Brilliant. This is the first blog post I have literally applauded.
Posted by: freelunch | July 24, 2008 2:18 PM
I wonder whether that Louisville college ever considered calling itself Torquemada University. Bellarmine would be unknown except for his treatment of Galileo. Torquemada was famous.
Posted by: Jim RL | July 24, 2008 2:18 PM
TG, why do you doubt it is a consecrated host? Do you doubt his ability to get one? Do you doubt his willingness to desecrate one? You're grasping at straws.
Posted by: Hessenroots | July 24, 2008 2:18 PM
And it is done. Couple thousand more comments and the troll-fest will come to a close.
I'm quite sure it's unintentional but the banana peel (you know, the atheists worst nightmare!) is a wonderful bit of irony to top it off. ;P
Posted by: mk | July 24, 2008 2:18 PM
The God Delusion, too. Brilliant!
Posted by: dave | July 24, 2008 2:18 PM
Yay! Splendidly anticlimactic, nicely judged. Just a bit unsure about the rusty nail, a hint of Voodoo tetanus going on there. Could be uncomfortable for those who believe in magic....
And sad to see the desecration of books, which are all special, but fair's fair.
Posted by: Dylan Dog | July 24, 2008 2:18 PM
Great article PZ!
Posted by: AndrewG | July 24, 2008 2:19 PM
Thank you PZ for posting this, it is needed.
Faith inebriated, lunatics, ridiculed and mocked me as a teenager for daring to question God' existence. For several years they wasted my time and forced me to ingest prodigious fables of super heroes. I look forward to the response or rather the maunderings, of His Excellence, the CEO of the Roman Catholic Church when this news reaches him. His mental gymnastics is a treat and I have little doubt that he and his lieutenants will have no difficulty in further embarrassing themselves in the eyes of the civilized world.
Faithaholics have enjoyed power far too long and have abused it repeatedly yet they continue to demand respect. Fuck their feelings and fuck their intellectually lazy minds. I celebrate this occasion with all sane people around the planet. Screw all gods especially the sketsophrenic trio, Jesus, his Daddy and Casper from the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa.
Peace everyone, please. Man created God and no amount of violence will change that.
Andrew
Posted by: Anne Nonymous | July 24, 2008 2:19 PM
I wonder if PZ's gonna be woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of some Catholic digging through his trash trying to "rescue" the cracker.
Seriously, this is awesome entertainment.
Posted by: Reginald Selkirk | July 24, 2008 2:19 PM
That Darwin and his time machine; always causing trouble.Posted by: Josh West | July 24, 2008 2:19 PM
#39 It is easy to see the titles of the books, but where is the proof that is a consecrated host? I think it is nothing more than an attention-getting stunt for noteriety. Weak.
That's pretty much the point. 'Consecration' is meaningless drivel. Not sacred.
Bravo PZ, nice ending to this mess.
Posted by: freelunch | July 24, 2008 2:19 PM
I wonder whether that Louisville college ever considered calling itself Torquemada University. Bellarmine would be unknown except for his treatment of Galileo. Torquemada was famous.
Posted by: Zeno | July 24, 2008 2:20 PM
Dawkins will undoubtedly smite you in his terrible wrath!
But thank God that's over!
(I don't really mean the "thank God" part, of course. It's just an expression.)
Posted by: Matt Penfold | July 24, 2008 2:20 PM
Oh brilliant. Simply brilliant.
The God Delusional is a nice touch. The only thing I might have added is a page from Origins.
Posted by: Michelle | July 24, 2008 2:20 PM
Good going! Justice has been done. The text's a bit too long for me to read right now so I'll be sure to read it later in depth!!! I skimmed through it and saw the mighty picture.
Unfortunately I'm sad you didn't try to make a cross out of popsicle sticks. Now THAT would've been funny.
Wait uh... w...what's the brown stuff? O_o
...coffee? PHEW
Posted by: Paul W. | July 24, 2008 2:20 PM
I'm sure that will be forthcoming, just as soon as somebody provides PZ with evidence that his consecrated host was transubstantiated into the Body of the Living God.
Why does one matter without the other?
Posted by: Richard Wolford | July 24, 2008 2:20 PM
Beautiful, and point well taken. I would have longed for some pages of On the Origins of Species in there as well, but The God Delusion was likely more fitting, so again, beautiful.
Posted by: Quinn Martindale | July 24, 2008 2:20 PM
Meh...
Posted by: Greta Christina | July 24, 2008 2:20 PM
Father, into Your hands I commend my crumbs.
And I never again want to hear about sophisticated modern theology, and how nobody takes that magical- thinking stuff seriously anymore.
Posted by: E.V. | July 24, 2008 2:20 PM
Oh no, the hand-wringing has begun.
Posted by: GeoffI | July 24, 2008 2:21 PM
PZ,
I hope you saved that piece of art you have created. You could sell it on eBay and give the money to a pro-science charity.
Posted by: Brian W. | July 24, 2008 2:21 PM
ripping a few pages out of those books is ok, as long as the aren't completely ruined. I hate to see ANY book destroyed.
Posted by: Guido | July 24, 2008 2:21 PM
Great.
Excellent.
Now, all they have to do is pray. Right? The Lord listens to them
Right?
Come on, people, stop writing e-mails. Have TRUE faith.
Posted by: bad Jim | July 24, 2008 2:21 PM
Holey crackers!
Posted by: TG | July 24, 2008 2:21 PM
"TG, why do you doubt it is a consecrated host? Do you doubt his ability to get one? Do you doubt his willingness to desecrate one? You're grasping at straws."
I am a man of science. I want proof, not claims based on authority.
Posted by: SteadyEddy | July 24, 2008 2:21 PM
Excellent write-up as always PZ! There are some un-rational people who might accuse you of copying something that has already been done, but I can think of nothing more fitting than to nail that ort of stale tasteless bread to some processed wood fiber. Well done PZ!
Posted by: F. Jardim | July 24, 2008 2:21 PM
Amazing writing in your prelude to the main event. A+ as far as I am concerned.
As for the festivities themselves, I liked the casual utilitarianism of the desecration. Adding a page from The god Delusion was also thoughtful and helps showing that the truly unbiased, rational mind doesn't revere icons, even if their meaning agrees with their own conclusions. I think a page from 'Origin of the Species' would have been FAr more effective in rubbing on the faces of fundies how we do not hold Evolution or science as a religion.
Posted by: Physicalist | July 24, 2008 2:21 PM
He desecrated The God Delusion??? Forget excommunication; BURN HIM!!!!!
Posted by: Jon | July 24, 2008 2:21 PM
Nice touch there with the God Delusion. That should sufficiently perplex them.
It won't, of course.
Posted by: Rob | July 24, 2008 2:22 PM
@TG: I seem to recall others asking how to prove it's consecrated, and you refuse to say how.
PZ, I'm a little disappointed in what you did. I think you gave too much consideration. IMHO, you should've forgone the nail and just tossed it all in the garbage.
Posted by: Rich Stage | July 24, 2008 2:22 PM
Can't you hear the little jeebus cracker screaming?
That's the giveaway there, innit?
Posted by: Josh West | July 24, 2008 2:22 PM
#39 It is easy to see the titles of the books, but where is the proof that is a consecrated host? I think it is nothing more than an attention-getting stunt for noteriety. Weak.
That's pretty much the point. 'Consecration' is meaningless drivel. Not sacred.
Bravo PZ, nice ending to this mess.
Posted by: TripMaster Monkey | July 24, 2008 2:22 PM
TG sez:
It is easy to see the titles of the books, but where is the proof that is a consecrated host? I think it is nothing more than an attention-getting stunt for noteriety. Weak.
Tell you what, TG. If you can pick a consecrated host out of a lineup of unconsecrated ones, I'll concede that your question is relevant, and I'll ask PZ to provide proof of consecration. Sound fair?
Posted by: Zeno | July 24, 2008 2:22 PM
Dawkins will undoubtedly smite you in his terrible wrath!
But thank God that's over!
(I don't really mean the "thank God" part, of course. It's just an expression.)
Posted by: Quinn Martindale | July 24, 2008 2:22 PM
It's weird, but the destroying of books disturbs me regardless of their sacred status.
Posted by: Milo Johnson | July 24, 2008 2:23 PM
Now if we could just make the rest of the religious crackers in the country go away...
Posted by: Philboid | July 24, 2008 2:23 PM
PZ, you nailed it.
Posted by: BluesBassist | July 24, 2008 2:23 PM
Bravo! Not bad for a "third rate" intellectual.
Posted by: Kawa | July 24, 2008 2:23 PM
* applauds *
Posted by: Shygetz | July 24, 2008 2:23 PM
While it does kinda bother me that you destroyed two perfectly servicable books instead of giving them to people who could read them (not sacreligious, just not cool) I found the conclusion (if it truly is such) to be suitably anti-climactic, which is exactly what the disposal of a cracker should be.
Posted by: MartinDH | July 24, 2008 2:23 PM
TG #39:
Can't you see the blood and ichor oozing from the stabbed host?
Wait...
That's because there's no difference between a fracking cracker and a consecrated host. (mumble mumble Hoc est corpus christi mumble mumble [nice ass on that choirboy] mumble mumble)
Why don't you use your amazing christo-powers to discern the cracker's consecrated nature?
Martin
Posted by: John C. Randolph | July 24, 2008 2:23 PM
PZ,
This is one of the finer essays you've written. Thanks for the history lesson, and well done.
-jcr
Posted by: Slen | July 24, 2008 2:23 PM
stupid simple cracker
May is decompose like the trash it is.
Posted by: Michelle | July 24, 2008 2:23 PM
...Wait a sec guys. Where's the blood?! I thought they said there was a guy that had a flood of blood, and that jews had stains of blood coming out of there! HEY!
Could it be that it's... it's just a tasteless sheet of paper? Oh no.
Posted by: Anne Nonymous | July 24, 2008 2:24 PM
I wonder if PZ's gonna be woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of some Catholic digging through his trash trying to "rescue" the cracker.
Seriously, this is awesome entertainment.
Posted by: Jack of Knives | July 24, 2008 2:24 PM
The picture makes it a bit grittier than it should seem, but...
I liked the conclusion best. It's a good take home message.
Posted by: God | July 24, 2008 2:24 PM
God damn it, PZ. Now I have to start the universe all over again.
Posted by: Chris | July 24, 2008 2:24 PM
Nice post. I really liked your last paragraph.
Posted by: blf | July 24, 2008 2:24 PM
I suspect Teh Big Oxidized Spike is deeply offended at this disgraceful treatment of a rusty nail, and its followers will send a congregration of angry screws after you. Pay attention as to whether they are normal, Phillips, Robinson, of other types of screws, this is a matter of great division in Spikemythical, with much flaking of the rust.