Why is 'Buddy Jesus' in Iraq? Chicago Sun Times

[IChing]

October 2, 2006
BY QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi troops backed by American military advisers arrested a suspected Shiite militiaman Saturday, but a gunbattle at his house left a woman and a girl dead, Iraqi police said.
Afterward, angry men at the scene held up a color photo of a smiling, winking Jesus giving a "thumbs up" that they said was left by troops at the raided house -- an allegation denied by U.S. and Iraqi officials.

The photo, known as the "Buddy Christ," is from the movie "Dogma," a 1999 religious satire in which "Buddy Christ" is part of a church campaign to improve Jesus' image.

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said the photo was a ''rather ridiculous attempt'' to discredit the raid. It was unclear how it ended up at the site in Baghdad's Shiite stronghold of Sadr City .>>>>>snip


http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/79604,CST-NWS-iraq02.article

[sugapablo]

1. Dude....

"That's some seriously f*cked up shi*t right there, dude!"

[Born Free]

10. this is bad...

next it will be the "Shit Demon"

[leftchick]

2. Photo of Buddy Jesus I posted yesterday

this is seriously fucked up and no I don't believe the US spokes people.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2274087



A man displays an image of the character known as Buddy Christ which local residents claim was left by the US forces after an early-morning raid by Iraqi forces and their US advisers in Baghdad's Sadr City, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2006. Buddy Christ is a religious icon created in the film titled 'Dogma' in an effort to revitalize the Catholic church. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

[saigon68]

3. Maybe Jimmy Swaggert was there?

Maybe next time the Crusaders will be met with a little ROCK AND ROLL from a few AK's

[sarcasmo]

9. My friend has one on the dash in his Saturn.

[Megahurtz]

4. OMG is that the real picture?

:puke: They are going to make us all deathly ill with their overdone Psycho-Fundamentalism.

Jesus must be ashamed.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jim Lane]

16. To be fair to the fundies, this isn't their image. It's a satire.

In the movie, George Carlin plays a smarmy modern clergyman whose sole focus is on marketing (well, and on his golf game). He proudly displays the prototype of the "Buddy Christ", although he says something like, "That's not the official name yet, it's just what we've been calling it around the office." The idea is that this whole emphasis on death, as in Jesus dying for your sins, is just too much of a downer and it's turning people off.

I don't think the fundies were real keen on the Dogma movie. At the start of the film, we learn that Jesus's closest living relative is a woman working in an abortion clinic. One of her co-workers is played by Janeane Garofalo.

[rinsd]

6. This smells like the Evil Bert phenomenon a few years back....

http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47450,00.html

[alfredo]

14. At least it wasn't Bob Dobbs

http://www.subgenius.com/

[corporatemedia]

7. The picture looks like the grilled cheese sandwich I ate yesterday!. eom

[xchrom]

8. while it might not have been a fundy --

SOMEBODY has a warped sense of humour about re: a christian nation bombing the shit out of a muslim nation.

it has all sorts of strange interpretations.

[0rganism]

11. it really seems like more of a Discordian thing

I don't think there'd be too many Discordians in Iraq, native, occupation, or otherwise...

Surreal, tho, definitely.

[xchrom]

12. lol -- indeed!

[xchrom]

13. and for those who don't know --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discordianism

Discordianism is a modern, chaos-based religion founded in either 1958 or 1959. It has been described as both an elaborate joke disguised as a religion, and as a religion disguised as an elaborate joke. Some of its followers make the claim that it is "a religion disguised as a joke disguised as a religion" (or "a joke disguised as a religion disguised as a joke disguised as..."). It has also been described as "Zen for roundeyes," and converges with some of the more absurdist interpretations of the Rinzai school.

[kineneb]

15. time to sing chorus of "Plastic Jesus"

sorry, I couldn't resist...
and Hubby has a plastic "Buddy Christ" figurine in his room, along with his RPG books and science fiction collection...


Plastic Jesus! Plastic Jesus,
Riding on the dashboard of my car
I'm afraid He'll have to go.
His magnets ruin my radio
And if I have a wreck He'll leave a scar.

Riding down a thoroughfare
With His nose up in the air,
A wreck may be ahead, but He don't mind.
Trouble coming He don't see,
He just keeps His eye on me
And any other thing that lies behind.

Plastic Jesus! Plastic Jesus,
Riding on the dashboard of my car ...
Though the sunshine on His back
Make Him peel, chip and crack,
A little patching keeps Him up to par.

When I'm in a traffic jam
He don't care if I say "damn"
I can let all my curses roll
Plastic Jesus doesn't hear
'Cause he has a plastic ear
The man who invented plastic saved my soul.

Plastic Jesus! Plastic Jesus,
Riding on the dashboard of my car ...
Once His robe was snowy white,
Now it isn't quite so bright -
Stained by the smoke of my cigar.

If I weave around at night,
And policemen think I'm tight,
They never find my bottle - though they ask.
Plastic Jesus shelters me,
For His head comes off, you see
He's hollow, and I use Him for a flask.

Plastic Jesus! Plastic Jesus,
Riding on the dashboard of my car ...
Ride with me and have a dram
Of the blood of the Lamb -
Plastic Jesus is a holy bar.


Someone over there has a warped sense of humor(?)...