Honored Infidel, In the near future we plan to expand our faith-based initiative, Holy Terror Sandblasting and Demolition Corp. New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani finds much merit in our proposal for a workfare program in which homeless people (men only, naturellement!) would be trained in medieval theology, art criticism and the use of explosives. Please send dollars and the floor plan of the Brooklyn Museum. Or else. Thanks, The Taliban
Dear Professor DiIulio, With medical costs going through the roof, you'd think there'd be a better way. And now, with the Lord's help, there is! Our idea is to buy up struggling inner-city hospitals and turn them into profit centers--no doctors, no nurses, no fancy-shmancy machines and best of all, no messy malpractice suits. Just the blessed healing power of prayer, provided 24 hours a day at bedside by recovering drug addicts as part of their therapy. It's total win-win--the government saves, the patient is saved--if not in this world, the next. And that's the world that counts, right? Rev. Tommy Johnson Pentecostal Holiness Church, Memphis, TN
Dear Director, People say communism is just another religion, and they're right! We have everything the other faiths have--an all-encompassing worldview, sacred texts, meetings (and how!), schisms, excommunications and declining numbers and influence. We'd like to reverse that last item with funding for our workfare proposal: First, we provide welfare mothers a crash course in job readiness, parenting skills and the works of Karl Marx. Then, we get them jobs in daycare centers, where they pass their new "faith" on to the next generation, hopefully in time for the stock market crash. Don't count us out--a god that failed is still a god. Call us, The Communist Party, USA
Dear Brother in Christ, Did you know the Chicago Archdiocese has an exorcist on staff? Our faith-based initiative, The Exercist™, would get this superbly trained but underutilized man out of the apse and into the community, where he'd help the so-called mentally ill get their sillies out with a carefully graduated low-impact aerobic workout that goes beyond head swiveling and projectile vomiting to get at the real nitty-gritty of diabolical possession! Then, everyone cools down with a sharing session, novena and group hug: because admitting you're possessed by the Devil is half the cure! Hope to hear from you soon, Msgr. George O'Reilly Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago
Dear Prof. DiIulio, For ten years we've been trying to get our own public school district so our kids wouldn't have to go to school with goyim. The courts keep turning us down. Then we wanted buses with only male drivers and sex-segregated seating, and the self-hating Jewish liberals said no to that too. So we would like to become a Faith-Based Initiative with ourselves as clients. Our project is, we stay in our own town and only talk to each other. Because that's what G-d wants. Eventually we hope to get NEA funding as a conceptual art project ("The Choice: Chosen People Choose Themselves"), but a starter grant from your office would really put us on track. Let us know, Rabbi Shlomo Greenblatt, Kiryas Joel, NY
Dear Mortal, Ever wonder what's really behind that weird weather of recent years ? Hint: It's a long time between burnt offerings. How about paying some deadbeat dads to slaughter a herd of oxen and throw those fabulous thighbones on the barbie? Everybody benefits: They learn the meat business, you get fruitful harvests, favorable winds and calm winedark seas, and we get a decent meal. Reply soonest--the wife is pushing me to zap you with a thunderbolt. Zeus
Jack, Death Row Dad is a moving story of one father's embrace of capital punishment--despite his own imminent execution! While his ACLU lawyer tries frantically to turn up new evidence even as his own marriage unravels, and beautiful crusading nun Helen Prejean pleads with the governor for a stay, Leroy, who is in fact innocent, wants only that his son renounce his homosexual lifestyle and accept Christ as his personal savior. Soon the whole prison--even the crusty warden and a pair of racist guards--is praying for Leroy to get his wish. Jack, I promise you, when Leroy looks up from the gurney just before the lethal injection, sees his son standing there with his new girlfriend, and rejects the last-minute stay of execution ("I reckon the Lord is waitin' for my sorry self"), the audience won't know whether to cheer or go down on its knees. Morgan's people think yes for the lead, Julia's very interested in doing the nun. A major studio is ready to greenlight the minute your office comes through with co-financing. Talk to you after the prayer meeting, Howie
Hey, How about a grant where I become a lay minister and practice laying on of hands? There's a whole heck of a lot of lonely women out there with big spiritual needs. I mean, really big. Just kidding, Bill Clinton
Katha PollittHonored Infidel, In the near future we plan to expand our faith-based initiative, Holy Terror Sandblasting and Demolition Corp. New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani finds much merit in our proposal for a workfare program in which homeless people (men only, naturellement!) would be trained in medieval theology, art criticism and the use of explosives. Please send dollars and the floor plan of the Brooklyn Museum. Or else. Thanks, The Taliban
Dear Professor DiIulio, With medical costs going through the roof, you’d think there’d be a better way. And now, with the Lord’s help, there is! Our idea is to buy up struggling inner-city hospitals and turn them into profit centers–no doctors, no nurses, no fancy-shmancy machines and best of all, no messy malpractice suits. Just the blessed healing power of prayer, provided 24 hours a day at bedside by recovering drug addicts as part of their therapy. It’s total win-win–the government saves, the patient is saved–if not in this world, the next. And that’s the world that counts, right? Rev. Tommy Johnson Pentecostal Holiness Church, Memphis, TN
Dear Director, People say communism is just another religion, and they’re right! We have everything the other faiths have–an all-encompassing worldview, sacred texts, meetings (and how!), schisms, excommunications and declining numbers and influence. We’d like to reverse that last item with funding for our workfare proposal: First, we provide welfare mothers a crash course in job readiness, parenting skills and the works of Karl Marx. Then, we get them jobs in daycare centers, where they pass their new “faith” on to the next generation, hopefully in time for the stock market crash. Don’t count us out–a god that failed is still a god. Call us, The Communist Party, USA
Dear Brother in Christ, Did you know the Chicago Archdiocese has an exorcist on staff? Our faith-based initiative, The Exercist™, would get this superbly trained but underutilized man out of the apse and into the community, where he’d help the so-called mentally ill get their sillies out with a carefully graduated low-impact aerobic workout that goes beyond head swiveling and projectile vomiting to get at the real nitty-gritty of diabolical possession! Then, everyone cools down with a sharing session, novena and group hug: because admitting you’re possessed by the Devil is half the cure! Hope to hear from you soon, Msgr. George O’Reilly Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago
Dear Prof. DiIulio, For ten years we’ve been trying to get our own public school district so our kids wouldn’t have to go to school with goyim. The courts keep turning us down. Then we wanted buses with only male drivers and sex-segregated seating, and the self-hating Jewish liberals said no to that too. So we would like to become a Faith-Based Initiative with ourselves as clients. Our project is, we stay in our own town and only talk to each other. Because that’s what G-d wants. Eventually we hope to get NEA funding as a conceptual art project (“The Choice: Chosen People Choose Themselves”), but a starter grant from your office would really put us on track. Let us know, Rabbi Shlomo Greenblatt, Kiryas Joel, NY
Dear Mortal, Ever wonder what’s really behind that weird weather of recent years ? Hint: It’s a long time between burnt offerings. How about paying some deadbeat dads to slaughter a herd of oxen and throw those fabulous thighbones on the barbie? Everybody benefits: They learn the meat business, you get fruitful harvests, favorable winds and calm winedark seas, and we get a decent meal. Reply soonest–the wife is pushing me to zap you with a thunderbolt. Zeus
Jack, Death Row Dad is a moving story of one father’s embrace of capital punishment–despite his own imminent execution! While his ACLU lawyer tries frantically to turn up new evidence even as his own marriage unravels, and beautiful crusading nun Helen Prejean pleads with the governor for a stay, Leroy, who is in fact innocent, wants only that his son renounce his homosexual lifestyle and accept Christ as his personal savior. Soon the whole prison–even the crusty warden and a pair of racist guards–is praying for Leroy to get his wish. Jack, I promise you, when Leroy looks up from the gurney just before the lethal injection, sees his son standing there with his new girlfriend, and rejects the last-minute stay of execution (“I reckon the Lord is waitin’ for my sorry self”), the audience won’t know whether to cheer or go down on its knees. Morgan’s people think yes for the lead, Julia’s very interested in doing the nun. A major studio is ready to greenlight the minute your office comes through with co-financing. Talk to you after the prayer meeting, Howie
Hey, How about a grant where I become a lay minister and practice laying on of hands? There’s a whole heck of a lot of lonely women out there with big spiritual needs. I mean, really big. Just kidding, Bill Clinton
Katha PollittTwitterKatha Pollitt is a columnist for The Nation.