George Carlin, May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008

This is a tragedy. One of the few people to consistently tell the truth, tell it clearly, bluntly and entertainingly, is gone. I hope there will be a nationally-televised service for him, as there has been for lesser pooh-bahs in recent years, months and weeks.

"Ten signs you're an unquestioning Christian"

Without making a values judgment on the topic -- I continue to hold membership in a Protestant Christian denomination, and matriculated from an institution sponsored by that denomination -- I found this bit of email circulation a clever and intriguing read. It came to me under the subject line, "Ten signs you're an unquestioning Christian," and I offer it to others in the same condition I found it:

10
You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but you feel outraged when someone denies the existence of your god.

9
You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from lesser life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that your first ancestors were created from dirt.

8
You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Trinity god.

7
You are angered by the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies in Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" -- including women, children and their animals.

6
You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with woman, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who was killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5
You are willing to spend you life looking for loopholes in he scientifically-established age of the Earth (4.55 billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by pre-historic tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that the Earth is a couple of generations old.

4
You believe that the entire population of the planet, with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects -- will spend eternity in an infinite hell of suffering. Yet you considered your religion to be the most "tolerant" and "loving."

3
While modern science, history, geology, biology and physics are insufficient to convince you of facts that are contrary to your beliefs, you find a single person rolling on the floor and "speaking in tongues" to be clear and complete evidence to support those beliefs.

2
You define 0.01 percent as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers, even as evidence that "prayer works." And you believe that the remaining 99.9 percent failure rate of prayer is simply "the will of God."

1
You may know demonstrably less than non-believers and skeptics about the content of the Bible, about Christianity and about the history of your church and denomination, but you call yourself a Christian.

Catholic guilt, and Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah

There was a brilliant documentary on Sundance tonight called "Deliver Us From Evil" about the efforts of sex abuse survivors to get a little justice from the Catholic Church. You can guess their measure of success, given that Dubya in 2005 gave Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the longtime bulldog and clerical police chief of the Vatican, complete immunity from prosecution for sex abuse crimes he covered up from the mid-1970s through 2005. Joey Ratz now goes by the name Pope Benedict XVI.

Wasn't it Al Pacino, playing Satan in "The Devil's Advocate," who gave us the line, "I have so many names"?

The doc features some of the most amazing interview ever filmed, in my opinion, of a criminal perpetrator admitting and discussing his crimes with clear relish. In one of them, former Father Oliver O'Grady, now ensconced in Ireland, in the very shadow of the seminary he attended, plans a "reunion" with his victims, now all grown up. He imagines it will be a pleasant time, probably won't open or close with a prayer, but at least they can begin to heal, he says. And he winks at the camera. He winks.

If the documentary itself isn't powerful enough by itself -- and it is -- the producers include a poignant cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" by Joseph Arthur over the end credits. It reminded me how beautiful a song this is.

At YouTube, there are a number of videos of the song, but various covers by John Cale, the late Rufus Wainwright, K.D. Lang, Allison Crowe and Leonard Cohen himself include/exclude various lyrics. Apparently, the original has 15 verses, but I haven't seen or heard all of them. Here's what I've found:

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time you let me know
What's real and going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there's a God above
And all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It's not a cry you can hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah

By the way, if you love Leonard Cohen, check out this clip of his "Everybody Knows." I was first introduced to it through Concrete Blonde's powerful cover in the film "Pump Up The Volume" but nothing beats the original. (Though Peter Gabriel comes closest to gilding the lily with "Suzanne.")