Sunday, April 03, 2005

Christian death rituals creep me out

I'm sure the Pope was a nice guy if you knew him personally, but seeing his dead body lying there like that, on a pile of pillows, like he's fake 'asleep' really gives me the creeping willies.
Television images gave the public its first view of the pope since his death: lying in the Vatican's frescoed Apostolic Palace, dressed in crimson vestments and a white bishop's miter, his head resting on a stack of gold pillows. A Swiss Guard stood on either side as diplomats, politicians and clergy paid their respects at his feet.
To paraphrase Bjork, human behavior is weird. Why do we do this strange corpse-worshipping? Do you think (to anthropomorphize for a moment) animals watch us do these weird things and wonder what the hell we're up to?

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