{"id":2438,"date":"2011-10-22T18:26:16","date_gmt":"2011-10-22T22:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=2438"},"modified":"2011-10-22T18:26:16","modified_gmt":"2011-10-22T22:26:16","slug":"cats-as-critics-of-human-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/cats-as-critics-of-human-religion.html","title":{"rendered":"Cats as Critics of Human Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Jerry Coyne loves cats, and he posted two images with cats, in different contexts, that can both be used to make interesting points.<\/p>\n

The first one he actually solicited captions for<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The two that came to mind were:<\/p>\n

An Egyptian deity ponders the proclivity of humans to make their gods in their image.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

and<\/p>\n

\u201cHumans think this guy was enlightened? But he\u2019s not even a cat<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

Click through to read some of the others that commenters came up with<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The second image is of this creationist LOLcat<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That seems to get one thing exactly right. The creationist is someone sitting with an English translation of the Bible in their hands, and based on their own judgment declares themselves able on the basis of their own understanding to dismiss not only the work of scientists, but also the work of Bible scholars who study the texts in their original languages and whose work they depend on for the very translations on the basis of which they dismiss what such scholars say when it suits them<\/a>. They are people who don\u2019t know enough about either science or the Bible to realize that just sitting and reading an English translation not only doesn\u2019t constitute scientific research, but doesn\u2019t guarantee a reliable or accurate understanding of the Bible, either.<\/p>\n

What can someone who works in one of these fields do, except try as hard as we can to disseminate reliable information, and try to cope with the frustration of dealing with arrogant know-it-alls by blogging about it, adding in cute cats to try to relieve the stress with a bit of humor?<\/p>\n

Apparently cats are also not eligible to be raptured, either<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jerry Coyne loves cats, and he posted two images with cats, in different contexts, that can both be used to make interesting points. The first one he actually solicited captions for\u2026 The two that came to mind were: An Egyptian deity ponders the proclivity of humans to make their gods in their image. and \u201cHumans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,130,42,108],"tags":[1434,1651,2272,2274,3217,4871,6681],"class_list":["post-2438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-buddhism","category-humor","category-young-earth-creationism","tag-buddha","tag-cats","tag-creationism","tag-creationists","tag-evolution-science","tag-humor","tag-lolcats"],"yoast_head":"\nCats as Critics of Human Religion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jerry Coyne loves cats, and he posted two images with cats, in different contexts, that can both be used to make interesting points. The first one he\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/cats-as-critics-of-human-religion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cats as Critics of Human Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jerry Coyne loves cats, and he posted two images with cats, in different contexts, that can both be used to make interesting points. The first one he\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/cats-as-critics-of-human-religion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-22T22:26:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/whyevolutionistrue.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/10\/310286_235817689808136_153860718003834_647157_448535377_n-1.jpg?w=320&h=234\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/cats-as-critics-of-human-religion.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/cats-as-critics-of-human-religion.html\",\"name\":\"Cats as Critics of Human Religion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-22T22:26:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-10-22T22:26:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"Jerry Coyne loves cats, and he posted two images with cats, in different contexts, that can both be used to make interesting points. The first one he\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/cats-as-critics-of-human-religion.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/cats-as-critics-of-human-religion.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/cats-as-critics-of-human-religion.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cats as Critics of Human Religion\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cats as Critics of Human Religion","description":"Jerry Coyne loves cats, and he posted two images with cats, in different contexts, that can both be used to make interesting points. The first one he","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/cats-as-critics-of-human-religion.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cats as Critics of Human Religion","og_description":"Jerry Coyne loves cats, and he posted two images with cats, in different contexts, that can both be used to make interesting points. The first one he","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/cats-as-critics-of-human-religion.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2011-10-22T22:26:16+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/whyevolutionistrue.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/10\/310286_235817689808136_153860718003834_647157_448535377_n-1.jpg?w=320&h=234"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/cats-as-critics-of-human-religion.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/cats-as-critics-of-human-religion.html","name":"Cats as Critics of Human Religion","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-10-22T22:26:16+00:00","dateModified":"2011-10-22T22:26:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"Jerry Coyne loves cats, and he posted two images with cats, in different contexts, that can both be used to make interesting points. The first one he","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/cats-as-critics-of-human-religion.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/cats-as-critics-of-human-religion.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/10\/cats-as-critics-of-human-religion.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cats as Critics of Human Religion"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}