In my more serious moments, I like to read about religion (and not just my own). I'm a sucker for most articles on religion, and will usually go through the comment lists unless it descends into nothing but fifty pages of "Hitler!" "Stalin!" which happens more often than you think). It gets to the point sometimes where my interest in religion overpowers my fannishness and I neglect to read my comics for several weeks in a row. It makes me wonder where I stand when it comes to this. Am I more a fan or a fanatic? While it may be more respectable in some circles to be a religious fanatic neither subject is exactly grounded in reality and both completely absorb me at times.
I never really connected the two until I read Salon's
article on the Gospel of Judas and saw
this comment:
Since there is absolutely not one shred of evidence that a God (let alone a God of the Bible) exists- this article is no more meaningful than discussing the rehabilitation of the Joker in a Batman comic.
Since my initial reaction to this was to be
outraged that he saw no point to discussing the Joker's rehabilitation, I think we can safely say I'm a fan and not a fanatic.
On top of that,there should be no doubt that the true value of the gospel of judas is as a testament to the strength of the gnostic Church, which at the time judas and the other gnostic materials were written, was very much in competition with the mainline orthodoxy. To simply disregard it due to personal atheistic beliefs is as silly as disregarding the Elder Edda as a testament to Norse culture because you don't believe thunder is caused by Thor chucking his hammer around.
ReplyDeleteOn top of that, I would totally read the Gospel of Joker.
what would that make Harley Quinn?
She'd be singing
ReplyDeleteJoker loves me,
This I know.
Even tho' my snookums
Never told me so.
Joy buzzers
and laughing fish,
all conform to
Joker's wish.
Yes, Joker loves me!
Yes, Joker loves me!
Yes, Joker loves me!
I wish he'd tell me so...
So...who usually ends up with the bigger fan base in those debates? Hitler or Stalin?
ReplyDeleteIn fairness, he did qualify that by saying, "...discussing the rehabilitation of the Joker in a Batman comic." Batman comics are no place for serious discussions about anything, they're for hitting stuff and angst.
ReplyDeleteLOL! I'm in total agreement with his point. It's all just fictional mythology when you come right down to it. The big difference, of course, is that people aren't certain of the Bible's authorship, and whether its writers were work for hire.
ReplyDelete