2004-11-05 - 3:30 p.m.

This has been an especially hard week to work at this silly publishing company that employs a number of right-winger fundamentalist pro-Bush ladies. Fortunately, there hasn�t been any gloating. I�m surprised, to be honest. Some of these obnoxious women have been known to bash The Gay while mouthing off in the lobby. It�s so unacceptable, and my coworkers and I have discussed writing a formal complaint. If one of us were a lesbian, we�d have a much stronger case. Nonetheless, we do have a case.

The other day there was an absurd conversation taking place at the printer behind my cubicle�two church-going gals trying to discuss how the dinosaurs fit into Biblical history, since God made the world only 30,000-odd years ago according to their Holy Text, but dinosaurs walked the earth millions of years ago. I thought it best to stay out of that one, but I couldn�t help imagining the historical scenes they were trying to reconcile�Adam, Eve, and T-Rex. Some sort of Jurassic Eden paradise. You don�t see that combo depicted in the Biblical art genre too often.

Another tiresome thing that sometimes happens at my workplace is that I get stuck working on "religious" products. Often, these products are special ca1endar items for Christian bookstores. And (this is truly disturbing), these Christian bookstores request that all non-Christian holidays be removed from their ca1endars. In other words, no Ramadan, no Hanukkah, not even Passover makes the cut. I�m sort of confused by this, since Christianity is more than a little tied together with the whole Passover situation�Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, five days before the Passover lamb was supposed to be sacrificed, etc. etc. But aside from their faulty religious history, I just think it�s bizarre that these people can�t even handle seeing another religion�s holidays featured on their ca1endars. Are they flat-out offended that other religions exist? Are they worried their children might see the word "Sukkoth" and be lead astray? And what if someone who buys the ca1endar happens to be a teacher? Wouldn�t they need to know why some of their students aren�t showing up on the High Holy days?

It�s not really worth carrying on about. There is a terrifying amount of willful ignorance among this country�s religious right. And I know it�s all anyone is talking about these days.

But here is a little levity: Someone slipped a page ripped from a Christian home d�cor catalog in my inbox with a little "FYI" post-it. I was supposed to take note of the so-called trends in Christian wall art. Yep, I�ve got my finger on the pulse of the Spiritual Shabby Chic aesthetic! Anyway, I have a real fondness for bad catalog writing, and Christian catalogs usually feature the very worst-of-the-worst catalog copy. And this page did not disappoint! The description of one "diner-style" wall hanging said: Eternity goes retro with these framed pieces inspired by vintage diner art!"

Eternity goes retro!! Can you beat it?

OK, it's not really that funny. Just stupid. Stupid, stupid.

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