So. You know that sticker, usually seen on the back windows of pick up trucks, of the mischevious little boy peeing? You can't see his penis, but there's a perfect arch of pee that splashes off to the side. Yeah. That's the one. I always found it crude and annoying. What kind of person would want to put that on their vehicle. But I find lots of the things people put on their cars annoying. And other things funny. I saw a bumper sticker in Russian a while a go that said, roughly translated, "Well, I don't like your car either!" Which I found hysterical. Cause you know, insulting my car, but in Russian. Whatever. And I DESPISE those new ribbon bumperstickers, for every cause under the sun. The ribbons were annoying enough as little ribbons. As bumperstickers, they are just retarded. But I think it would be really cool to have the firey writing from the One Ring on the rear window of my car. Except that I drive a Crown Vic, which would look really dumb.

But anyway, back to my original weird commuting thought.

The Christians have adopted the little peeing boy. No kidding. They took him, and put him in front of a cross. Kneeling before it and in its shadow.

Now, I'm thinking, what's the point of that? I guess they coopted the obnoxious sticker and made it holy? They saved the soul of the snotty little brat? The snotty little brat is worshipping now, but will soon be back performing his same pissing deeds, but at least you can feel better about it because he's saved? What?

I dunno. I consider myself a Christian. But I have never been part of organized religion. I've read the bible on my own a couple of times. I trust in Christ to save my soul. I try to live as a good and charitable person, both in thought and in deed.

But I just don't have the group religion mindset. Maybe I never learned it. I'm sure that to some people, the coopting of the pissing boy into something of religious significance is very clever. A comment on the power of God and the poverty of our culture. Or something. But to me, it seems kind of inane and stupid. The original symbol was of such little value. Who invested it with enough thought to think of putting the kid in front of the cross. I get it intellectually. And yet, it seems hollow and petty to me.

In fact, the weird thought that I had was that faith experessed like that sort of strikes me as the fandom of Christ and God. The manip of the pissing boy is like a clever LJ icon (and I get the "icon" irony, don't doubt it). People who put God bumperstickers all over their car are the same people who read the "Left Behind" fanfic, which in a way is sort of religious porn, since these are the sinners who didn't make it to Heaven, and are paying the price here on Earth...

( Cut for the really insulting moment )

I understand the importance of prosetylization (or however you spell it) to many, many religions, but seeing the little pissing boy on a Honda Element on the Dulles Toll Road... I dunno. What is the missionary purpose of that. To make poser-Christian secular humanists like myself think deep thoughts about the importance of God in my life?

And that's it. Except don't put those damn ribbon stickers on your car, OK. I think Satan created them just to torment me.