Paul Zachary "PZ" Myers--humanist, evolutionary biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota (Morris)--is known for being an outspoken, straight-shooting, bull-chip calling kinda of guy (I've met him, heard him speak and he is).

Below is Myers' unforgiving take on the LDS church's practice of necro-dunking the Earth's dead, with the hope of eventually submerging the planet in the wacky, watery world of Morbidism:

"Five months before the [2008 presidential] election, and 13 years after her death, the Mormon Church posthumously baptized Barack Obama's mother into their church. This is a common practice. It's harmless and stupid, but it does highlight the fact that the church is a collection of ghouls. They're also chronic liars about it all.

"Mormon Church spokeswoman Kim Farah said that 'the offering of baptism to our deceased ancestors is a sacred practice to us and it is counter to Church policy for a Church member to submit names for baptism for persons to whom they are not related. The Church is looking into the circumstances of how this happened and does not yet have all the facts. However, this is a serious matter and we are treating it as such.'

"She's lying. The church is slack about who submits the names — they maintain vast genealogical records, records that are continually growing as they scavenge the world for more information, and they rather freely toss the names into the baptismal font.

"They only regard it as a serious matter because they've been caught at it. It's one good sign: they have a little bit of shame left. But, you know, it's kind of like visiting the graveyard and discovering that a ghoul has dug up your grandma; maybe he looks a bit abashed and quickly hides a gnawed-upon femur behind his back, but that wins him no sympathy and you still have to choke back your disgust and revulsion, and resist the urge to kick him until he is bruised and bloody."

(PZ Myers, "Mormon Ghoulishness Exposed," 6 May 2009, at: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/05/mormon_ghoulishness_exposed.php



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2012 05:52PM by steve benson.

I must have a warped sense of humor, but I found that article to be funny. It's serious sociology, and I thank you for presenting it, Steve. But I'm cracking up imagining a bunch of officious idiots chanting the names of deceased people in a swirl of chlorinated bathwater.

The REAL humor, which is an eternal champagne bubble in my chest, is when the church humorlessly released a Press Release that no remains had been violated in the Mormon Church process of baptism for the dead.

Oh, the deliciousness of karma. That, plus the sad loss of Andrew Breitbart have given me great peace over the administration of justice in our lifetimes.


Anagrammy

PS. Although I don't believe in the death sentence for the ancient practice of dickheadary.