I see that a US study has found that atheists are more likely to have an IQ higher than that of religious believers.

Well I don’t know about that, although I am an atheist, as I have only taken an IQ test once in my life, and that was when I was conscripted at the age of eighteen, and this was to avoid spending two years wearing the hairy brown suit and big boots of an army ‘squaddie’, rather than a less itchy blue suit and comfortable shoes of an aircraftman in the Royal Air Force. I also told a number of ’porkies’ to the interviewing officer, and although I don’t recall, probably gave my religion as Church of England.

Now, on the strength of passing that test all those years ago, I can’t pretend to be smarter than all of those who believe in one deity or another, but I do have to wonder at many of the faithful’s gullibility.

If you have time, take a look at a few recent examples …

I know that ‘IQ’ stands for ‘Intelligence Quotient’, and who knows, it may be a ‘gift from God’, but if so, he also gifted many of his followers with only …

… half a brain !

Well, it’s certainly been a good few days for the ‘mumbo-jumbo’ merchants.

Last week it was the turn of the Roman Catholic Church to elect a new Pope, with all that black smoke, white smoke nonsense, and hours of pontif poncing about in Saint Peter’s Basilica. A very spectacular, and I must admit, dignified affair, apart from, that is, the odd ’groupie’ nun and hysterical religious nutter: although all those richly attired and well fed old cardinals did rather dominate the scene, and made one wonder just how much it costs to keep them in the style which they and their acolytes so obviously enjoy. 

Meanwhile, a couple of days ago, just down the road from where I live, we saw the old bearded ‘Arch-Druid’ being replaced by some new bloke as Archbishop of Canterbury and although Canterbury Cathedral is a magnificent building and the place was awash with men in fancy dresses, this local ’shindig’ was a bit of a mess and somewhat down-market compared to the recent Vatican extravaganza; and all that bongo drumming and tribal dancing could hardly be called “dignified”, although it did seem to raise a giggle or two from Charlie and ‘Cruella’: and what was all that Punjabi ‘hymn’ singing, banging on doors, and praying in French all about ? I bet poor old Thomas Becket was spinning in his nearby tomb, for this truly was …

… Mumbo-Bloody-Jumbo ’par excellence’ !

Shock ! .. Horror ! .. the whole world is shaken ! .. Well it is if you believe some of those ridiculous news reports in the media this week.

What’s happened ? … An 85 year old man has decided that it’s time to ‘put his feet up’, although in this case those feet will be clad in some snazzy red slippers, and he will be moving to a refurbished nunnery where he will be shacked-up cared for by some nuns from a ‘closed order’. I bet that some old sisters, who knew him in his younger days, are looking forward to seeing him and waggling their wimples at him once again !

The official story is that the old Vicar of Christ has a dodgy ticker and is well passed his ‘sell by date’, but my clerical contacts inside the Vatican tell me that my ’Papal’ posts .. “Oops!” … Abbot Dionysius Exiguus” … “Vatican secrets revealed !” .. and .. “Pyro-Pontiffs” .. may have helped to expose this homophobic, misogynistic, passé Pontiff as a pervert priest protector, Mafia money launderer, Hitler’s ‘love child’, a ‘convent creeper’ and …

…  close friend of Jimmy Savile !

I wonder if the Pope has been reading my recent post ? as it seems that the Pontiff has just written the third volume about the life of Jesus Christ, although how you can write three lengthy books about the life of someone who has never been proved to have existed beats me !

I was pleased to read that old Benedict believes that there were not any animals present at the birth in Bethlehem, which rather backs up my ‘evidence’ for the hotel receipt, as I doubt if the doorman at the Galilee Hilton would have let donkeys and oxen into the lobby, let alone a bunch of scruffy shepherds with sheep shit on their sandals.

Now, according to the boss of the Roman Catholic Church, we have all been eating our turkey, pulling our crackers and opening our presents (not to mention getting legless) on the wrong day, as the date of Jesus’s birth was miscalculated by some monk back in the days when the book, believed by many, to be “the word of God” was being written, re-written, made up and generally mucked about with by half the clerics and scribes in Christendom.

I have never believed that The Bible is anything like a true historical record, but something concocted from ancient myths and legends by scheming priests, to enable them to invent all the ’mumbo-jumbo’ and ‘traditions’ that would give them power over the poor bloody peasants of the day.

Now, although I have only read extracts from Herr Ratzinger’s work, he seems to be backing, to some degree, the ‘tradition’ theory, which is strange, for once you start comparing the myth with the historical records, and try and change the story, you are likely to run into all sorts of problems, which may well demonstrate the story to be … 

…   a total fabrication !