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August 24th, 2012
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What they're saying...
Jesus & Mo (the characters) are absurd, blinkered, and oddly very sweet. J&M (the cartoon) is brilliant: sharp, delicious, irresistible.
Salman Rushdie
Jesus and Mo cartoons are wonderfully funny and true.
Richard Dawkins
Jesus and Mo make the world a better place, bless their little hearts.
Ophelia Benson
In a world defined by outrage and offence and liberal spinelessness, Jesus and Mo is a treasure, whose value we should never fail to recognize. Read them. Laugh. And think.
Kenan Malik
...a philosophical confrère.
Jerry Coyne
The brilliant, celebrated, freaking hilarious atheist comic strip ...
Greta Christina
...rays of sanity in a befuddled world.
Keri Hulme
The liveliest depictions of Muhammad currently available...
Malise Ruthven
J & Mo is the funniest and most consistently thought-provoking cartoon strip on the Net. In a saner world, it would run in a major newspaper.
Nelson Jones, Heresy Corner
Consistently amusing, frequently thought-provoking and often heart-warming.
New Humanist
Jesus & Mo is one of the most wonderful things on the internet..
JT Eberhard
Wittily captures much of the absurdity of religious apologetics.
Mano Singham
...wonderfully brilliant and witty.
Miranda Celeste Hale
Too good for words.
Maryam Namazie
The Eric and Ernie of monotheism.
Tom Holland
The most impious double act since Sodom and Gomorrah.
Andrew Copson, Chief Executive, BHA
I love jesusandmo.net cartoons - witty and sharp!
Katha Pollitt
Often hilarious, frequently wry, these cartoons do what all the best cartoons do: they tell the truth through humour.
Terry Sanderson, NSS President
...a wonderfully acid British cartoonist...
Nick Cohen
I love the scrappy mockery of Jesus and Mo. Freedom of speech includes the freedom to mock any person, any thing, any activity, and any belief -- and J&M stands up for this unflinchingly
Richard Stallman
...empowering, important and deeply progressive, not to mention hilarious...
Council of Ex-Muslims
Jesus & Mo is my go to example of how to do tasteful, beautiful religious satire.
Eiynah, Polite Conversations
...humor is humor and this cartoonist doesn't have it. Karl Giberson
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Aaaawww….
I found Jesus!…
Wait for it…
He was behind the sofa all the time!
I don’t get it.
Alluding to:
1- Jesus’ sojourn in the wilderness
2- The Second Coming
3- Loss of faith in Christian dogma. hence Jesus’ increasing absence from consciousness
Not sure about the implied significance of the empty seat in the car and the empty bed space – are we to assume a close (physical/mental) relationship.
An interesting ‘take’ – I look forward to more comments.
Dan says: I don’t get it.
You have to read the previous one. (http://www.jesusandmo.net/2012/08/22/case/)
If you don’t get it after that, bear in mind that all gods are imaginary beings and, therefore, do not and never have existed. It is possible that there was a human being call Jesus who, like in “The Life of Brian”, was one of a load of various “prophets”. In my opinion, the myths and fables in the Bible are probably loosely based on many of different preachers, merged into one for convenience, and then, magically, turned into the Son of God. The point of the cartoon is that believers can only imagine such figures as existing and, as soon as they see sense, the figures disappear.
check the previous story. Mo MADE Jesus disappear by NOT believing in him. HOW COULD HE!?
I’m worried – have we all been imagining 50% of the cartoon? If Jesus never really existed, are we all looking at http://www.mo.net?
He disappeared in Oolon Collophid’s puff of logic.
It’s like Garfield minus Garfield:
http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/
@meh – I think it’s more like Jesus and Mo minus Jesus and Mo:
http://www.jesusandmo.net/2009/01/12/jesus-and-mo-minus-jesus-and-mo/
Only without the minus Mo aspect.
Did anyone else notice the stearing wheel on the wrong side of the car ? Now that’s faith ! ;>)
The steering wheel’s on the correct side of the car. It’s British.
Perhaps he recognises his life has no purpose without a ‘christ’ to come into conflict with. That given a common enemy, uniting his followers is a walk in the park.
Think gw 2004.
Very much like Sir Terry Pratchett’s book, ‘Small Gods’ . . . the more believers, the more powerful the god. No believers, no power . . .
After years of being an invisible friend for christians, he’s just fulfilling prophecy. Now they’ll be saying “there’s nothing here for you to see, move along.
RE: Reg “He was behind the sofa all the time.”, may be a reference to Dilbert where the Dinos were behind the sofa all the time.
Hey MO…..In America, Jesus is in prison. Inmate find him there all the time
Like you, I actually hear this exchange all the time: “There is no god”/ rebuttal: “That’s a matter of faith.” But it was topped by a radio evangelist who said, “The existence of god is something each individual has to decide for himself.”
See what you started, Martin Luther? Holy new wave!
Like in various old books it says
The old guys wandered around for 40 days
After straying all over creation
They get back on their medication
And come up with an explanation to amaze.
Don’t be silly. He stepped out for a beer. Ask the barmaid.
@E.A. Blair — if we’re using the Book of Adams to support theories, then I would prefer to think that He disappeared amidst Eccentrica Gallumbits excessive mammaries.
@Nassar Ben Houdja: Not that you’re don’t make any good points, but could you actually learn how to write poems? The meter is messed up every single time and it always bugs me. XD
And yes, I’m aware of the mistake in my own post…
Aw…That’s what I said on the last one! Poor Mo, what’s he gone and done.
Jesus is back. Shame on you.
Has Mo blown his chance to unite his religion with Jesus’? I quite like the sound of ‘Chrislam’.
Ha ha ha… “Please come back” That was deep on many levels – the imaginary friend Jesus that I have in my hearth 24/7 suddenly dissapearing & please come back my sweet sweet enemy which actually gives meaning to my life & a well known gay-old-couple hisrorie gone sour &/or a mix of this. As a former religious wacko I believe that if one religion concured the world – this religion will loose its fundation. Its as in politics – you got to have strong enemies to struck down on. Anyway – loved this one.
It seems very wintry out of the window, and there is the ubiquitous plastic bag caught in the branches! Couldn’t J and M have worked some permanent summer and no refuse blowing about magic?
Mohamed was real. Jesus is a myth.
So’s magic; Author, however, is real and can arrange things however he thinks fit.
Aha!
All this time there has been a tacit imbalance between Jesus & Mo. What with one being merely a body double and not even a proper prophet, let alone a son of a god. Now we realise the real advantage was his; he could just carry right on whether people cared or not.
Sublime, Author, truly sublime, and I especially enjoyed the anticipation of the second part – although I’ll bet your in a quandary as to how to bring Jesus back (without a second coming, that is).
The mischief in me wonders if this strip took longer to write because Author had to erase Jesus from the three locations?
And then I get to thinking about their favourite haunt and wonder how Barmaid would respond to this particular turn of events.
Now that would take some time to write!
I’d love to see it.
Can you extend the arc please?
Crikey! And then there is Moses! What can of worms has been opened here?
I can’t recall if Moses actually believes in Jesus. Or to put that another way, in the realm of Jesusandmo is Moses a Jew or a Christian (and if the latter, surely he must be both).
@fenchurch, @E.A. Blair WRT the Book of Adams, I’ve always preferred to think of religion as something of an SEP field. It is Somebody Else’s Problem and therefore irrelevant and invisible to me because, quite frankly, it is all so utterly implausible.
But then things like [insert personal top ten abuses, atrocities and absurdities here] happen and I remember how real a problem religion remains for almost all of us.
Thanks for explaining folks. I’m still not sure it’s a joke rather than a drawn-out punchline.
In part bothers me that a generally anti-religious strip may be lending weight to the placebo argument for god. The one that says the truth of religion is irrelevant so long as it enriches peoples lives.
However it also bothers me because I have no urge to laugh at the end of it.
Dan, would I be right in thinking that you’re a former – or even current – believer? If so, it’s understandable that you would have no urge to laugh at Mo’s predicament – namely the loss of an imaginary friend who had played such a large part in his life – and especially so if the wound is still raw.
And you know, the truth of religion is irrelevant as long it isn’t used to beat somebody else around the head with.
@AoS: Can I quote you on that? ^_^
FreeFox, I’ve a feeling I’ll regret this, but feel free. I’ve no problem with people believing whatever they choose; it’s only when they use their belief to interfere in the lives of others that it becomes a problem. The trouble is, most religions fall into the ‘interfering’ category so it comes with the territory.
I’ve just heard of the death of one of my great heroes, and I now know where Jesus has gone. He’s off to get Neil Armstrong’s autograph. And of course Neil can enlighten him about the moon.
Sing along if you know the tune (think Peter Sarstedt).
Oh where have you gone to dear Jesus
Poor Mo’s gone out of his head.
He’s driven all over to find you
And he wants you beside him in bed
Yes he does
Yes he does
Yes he does
As I can’t see any of you commentators either I believe that you do not exist. Nor do I.
Who said that?…….. Hello?…..Anybody there?
AofS. Usually I agree with you completely, but I just can’t buy that “the truth of religion is irrelevant”. Truth matters. People who believe total bullshit…..shouldn’t. It gets in the way of dealing with reality. Whatever that is. Oh shit, I think this is just one of those occasions when I wanted to say something, just to keep my oar in. This strip made me feel sad and I can’t quite figure out why. I guess it was that Jesus seemed so real, and so important to Mo, or Mo’s body double. So here I am feeling sad because a character that Author imagined is missing a character that the imaginary character imagined. Time to get a grip. But I do want to express my admiration for Author setting this all up. I wonder whether he imagined my reaction.
What I got from it was that Mo was representing those sometimes rather vocal atheists who regret their loss of faith, and/or see faith as a good thing independently of the truth of it.
The sort of atheist that I find rather annoying when they write their dumbass articles in the press.
David B
@AoS & DH: I have to agree with Darwin here. As Max Planck (I think) put it: “There are things one can agree on… and impotant things.”
FreeFox, I really hope that ‘impotant’ was a typo.
DH, of course truth matters, but if somebody feels the need of a little extra ‘something’, be it a god, a ‘lucky’ talisman, or even just a favourite childhood teddy bear, to see them through then I don’t see the problem as long as it’s a personal thing. That’s not to say I agree with them. It’s only when they try to impose their belief on others, or use it to deny reality, that it becomes a problem. And let’s be honest here, I’m not the only hard-nosed atheist who can accept that, if http://www.darwinharmless.com/thoughts_and_comments/?cat=14 is aything to go by.
Now, back to FreeFox and your agreement with DH’s statement; aren’t you being a little bit naughty here? You’ve spent the last couple of years telling us that the truth of your particular beliefs is not important.
In the next J&M, (with the same strip, but with no Mo in the last panel.)
Panel 1: “I can’t believe I did that to Jesus.”
Panel 2: “Is it my fault ? Am I wrong ?”
Panel 3: “I don’t believe I am.”
Panel 4:
Ta da ! The end. Like Rosencrantz and Guildernstern in Tom Stoppard’s absurdist play. 🙂
…. to be continued! …
This is so sad, we all need an imaginary frie… cough cough… a Jesus by our side.
Hey, Il duo put up their video of “Hallelujah” (It wasn’t up on their site when I posted the review that AofS linked to above.) If you didn’t click through from my site, you can go there directly. http://www.ilduo.com/
They sing a filk of a song I detested, and I love it. Made me laugh. Hope it does the same for you.
FreeFox “I have to agree with Darwin here.” Shock. Total shock. And disbelief. This has to be a first.
@Paperweight:
Ros: We should do something constructive.
Guil. What did you have in mind? A short, blunt human pyramid?
@everyone who thinks JC may be gone for good:
it’s always worth actually reading the email notification from Auther, PBUH, which this week reads;
‘OK, last one in this story arc. Normal service will be new be resumed.’
Hotrats, we always knew Jesus’ absence was only ever going to be temporary; now that blasted God-child has learnt the trick of resurrection there’s no getting rid of the little fella!
@AoS:
I don’t think so. Strictly a one-shot deal. It only lasted a few hours, and he has been just as absent as the unressurected dead ever since. Brief remission from deathlike coma is not in itself evidence of sanctity; like ‘Virgin Birth’, setting aside its implausibility, even if it were factually true, it has lost the power to command our awe.
As Christopher Hitchens said of the story of Abraham and Isaac, “A bush? That’s it? A burning bush? It must be the voice of God, because a bush caught fire? The Lord of Hosts, omniscient and omnipotent, communicates by setting fire to shrubbery?’
Hotrats, I have a copy of Keller’s The Bible as History somewhere – probably in the loft as I can’t find it on my shelves so the details are sketchy – in which he posits an explaination of the burning bush story. There is, or was, a particular type of plant growing in that part of the world which has either a very oily sap or emits a flammable gas similar to marsh-gasses that cause the fabled ‘Jack-‘o-Lantern phenomenon, and which is prone to ignition in high temeratures. Put a couple of barely literate nomads in a place with flora they’ve never been before, then have a piece of said flora suddenly ignite, give the travellers story a centure or two for the Chinese Whispers effect to work its magic and, hey presto, God speaks through magic tree.
Dammit! “..never seen before”.
@AoS Dictamnus is the plant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictamnus
@Author – love the strips, thanks.