The power of comedy
03Jun. 09
The Catholic Church in Ireland has copped an absolute (and well overdue) pounding with the recent publication of the Ryan Report, and damning report on the systematic, endemic and sanctioned abuse and rape of children over a shockingly long period of time.
The Catholic church is a classic example of a monolithic institution which long ago lost any relevance it may once have offered to the world, so it’s pleasing to see findings such as those documented in the Ryan Report aired in the public forum, and hopefully the sustained flamethrower of justified public outrage will continue to diminish its influence. This has to be done, particularly for the sake of those who are too young or do not yet know enough to make up their own minds.
Enter the wisdom and wit of Dave Allen. In this short piece of stand-up he brilliantly articulates the inherent abusive nature of forcing religious dogma on children — the innocence of the young mind and how myths and metaphors become terrifying reality in childhood imaginations.
Regardless what you think of religion, From a skeptical perspective alone the idea of forcing people to believe something through fear and innocence is a truly terrible thing.
I wrote a blog piece recently on the concept of emergence in simple systems. Emergence struck me as one of those ideas which, like evolution, can be used to shed understanding across a whole range of disciplines. In the case of religion, it strikes me that emergence might offer a way of comprehending how the generally straightforward (albeit inherently contradictory) beliefs of good, decent individuals can, with enough weight of time and self-reinforcement, metamorphose into the truly destructive force we see today.
Tags: atheism, Catholic Church, child abuse, Dave Allen, Ryan Report
