Well, let’s see. First, while a mere kick in the pants is not funny, there’s a long and extremely respectable tradition of satire that happens to involve a kick in the pants. “The Virgin Mary is a slut, haha” wouldn’t be funny.
If you’re asking what the higher purpose of this post is, it’s right up at the top: If you grow up believing something, or even if the people around you seem to think it’s “normal”, then you may not notice the inherent absurdities in it. How many people hear the story of the Virgin Mary? How many see the humor in it, even after they become atheists? This is a kind of sleep, and one of the ways you wake up is by noticing that the people around you, and even yourself, are selectively overlooking flaws that would be obvious if the beliefs were only believed by one person.
“Mere messiahs” is along the same line. The point of “Mere messiahs” is not to attack Christianity, because superhero comics have the same problem. If only a single person had walked right up to you and said, “Here’s this Superman guy—I really admire him!” and no one else had ever heard of Superman before, then you might be more likely to scrutinize for flaws, and say, “Wait a minute, how does this Superman guy reveal more virtue than a police officer who isn’t bulletproof?”
You have to get used to checking all these casually, socially accepted beliefs and moralities for these hidden little gotchas. The point is to wake up and start checking social beliefs for flaws, just as if you had only heard them from one person. To this end, any bit of absurdity you can find is helpful. It gets you into the habit.
Well, let’s see. First, while a mere kick in the pants is not funny, there’s a long and extremely respectable tradition of satire that happens to involve a kick in the pants. “The Virgin Mary is a slut, haha” wouldn’t be funny.
If you’re asking what the higher purpose of this post is, it’s right up at the top: If you grow up believing something, or even if the people around you seem to think it’s “normal”, then you may not notice the inherent absurdities in it. How many people hear the story of the Virgin Mary? How many see the humor in it, even after they become atheists? This is a kind of sleep, and one of the ways you wake up is by noticing that the people around you, and even yourself, are selectively overlooking flaws that would be obvious if the beliefs were only believed by one person.
“Mere messiahs” is along the same line. The point of “Mere messiahs” is not to attack Christianity, because superhero comics have the same problem. If only a single person had walked right up to you and said, “Here’s this Superman guy—I really admire him!” and no one else had ever heard of Superman before, then you might be more likely to scrutinize for flaws, and say, “Wait a minute, how does this Superman guy reveal more virtue than a police officer who isn’t bulletproof?”
You have to get used to checking all these casually, socially accepted beliefs and moralities for these hidden little gotchas. The point is to wake up and start checking social beliefs for flaws, just as if you had only heard them from one person. To this end, any bit of absurdity you can find is helpful. It gets you into the habit.