From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Sat Jun 29 2002 - 17:16:51 MDT
CurtAdams@aol.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 6/27/02 15:14:58, mlorrey@datamann.com writes:
>
> >Dream on. Ask those 14% how many times they've gasped "oh god" in
> >coitus. There are no atheists while they are holing foxes (or foxes
> >getting holed).
>
> This is a common statement, but it's not true. WWI soldiers were a
> notoriously irreligious lot. 4 years of senseless, brutal, random
> carnage apparently did a lot to disabuse people of notions about
> supervising entities.
Which wasn't what I said. Try reading it again, Curt. It was a quadruple
double entendre.
>
> The "oh god" business is interesting. I actually never said that
> during sex, but I do use religious terms when cursing. I still haven't
> the slightest belief. Those kinds of interjections are apparently
> divorced from their meaning. I do think that the tendency to use
> religious words under such circumstances reflect some built-in
> biology, as with similar uses of bodily function terms. If we
> understood the wiring we might better understand how people
> fall so easily for such nonsense.
I saw a rather hilarious movie recently, "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?"
where the main character near the end is facing a lynching at the hands
of his former prison warden (after being pardoned by the governor) and
despite maintaining a steadfast and consistently rational, but humor
laden, anti-faith attitude throughout the movie, drops to his knees in
prayer as his death is at hand. I highly recommend this movie to those
looking for an Appalachian interpretation of how Monty Python might
interpret "The Oddessey". Featured is lots of good traditional bluegrass
music.
Anyhoo, I think that most people facing death do suddenly get religion.
When I was a hospital volunteer in high school, I saw this phenomenon
quite often in the emergency room and elsewhere with patients. This is
not to say that all would, but I think that the overwhelming majority
would.
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