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FREETHUNK BOOK!
The Complete Edition
By Jeff Swenson
160 pages, Jam-Packed
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"JUGS, BEAVERS and EXPLODING BALLS"
by Jeff Swenson
First Cynic Comic Strip
collection now in print.
2004-2005

Buy it now for
below retail.

 THE LITTLEST ATHEIST XMAS SPECIAL
"Grounded For Christmas" strips 11-19
by Cartoonist Jeff Swenson
PREV STRIP COMPLETE LIST OF COMICS NEXT STRIP

You will play Herod

Baby Jesus Circumcised

Five year old brats

Bertrand goes Baah

God doesn't give hugs

Picture taking parents

Knocked up Mary

Aw sheep

Dad, a ghost To be continued in the The New Year...

PREV STRIP COMPLETE LIST OF COMICS NEXT STRIP

COMMENTARY: I've decided to continue with The Littlest Atheist after a mixed reaction the strip. The birthing pangs of any new feature idea can be painful. Maybe that's due to most of the humor on Freethunk leaning towards the outrageous with some language and "unsuitable content". With The Littlest Atheist I wanted to go a different direction. I wanted it to be in the tradition of an old-fashioned funny with some sentimental moments and a main character who is trying to learn what it is to be an atheist, because really he has adopted the title from his deceased father while rejecting his mother's born again experience.

So the strip may not appeal to those who need a harsher reaction to the world of religion--sometimes what I go so far as to term a black and white reaction (Religion is evil, Atheist humanism is good). It's meant to be a bit sappy and sentimental because frankly I like to return to my childhood and feel those emotions occasionally. People of religion that I have known are often good people and I would have to say in some circumstances The Littlest Atheist has a lot to learn about respect--not of religion, but of people.

Even with that said, a traditional funny format featuring an atheist kid is still on the edge, even these days when most web comics aren't afraid to launch into tirades on every subject including religious criticism. No matter if I'm talking with someone who is religious or someone who couldn't care less about religion, atheism is an anathema. It's an attitude I find odd since I've met so many who practically are atheists when it comes right down to defining their nonbelief but ultimately they cannot stomach the reputation atheists have. We still have a lot of work to do to change that mentality.

So Happy Holidays however you celebrate it or if you don't. I personally believe Christmas is about History and Mythology and yes, I still watch The Peanuts Christmas Special every year. I'm a sentimental sap and I don't care what you all think :)

SOMEONE EMAILS IN:

Hello There!

I only found your FreeThunk Web site a few days ago, after hearing about it one of the atheist-related podcasts (which I also just recently discovered).

At the bottom of today's (25-Dec) collection of strips is a blurb indicating mixed reaction to this character or strip. I say GO FOR IT!

A lot of what passes for atheist humor is merely attacking others for sport, or is unnecessarily cruel without an exchange of ideas. Watching (in a comic strip) a small child trying to deal with the absurdities of religion, from a child's perspective ("they want me to believe WHAT???") puts a different spin on the issues. Actually it is sometimes even funnier if a child can call b.s. for what it is (while surrounded by adults who don't see their own folly), versus adults being deliberately cruel and mocking of those who hold certain beliefs.

(Personally, I have no problem ridiculing foolish IDEAS and CONCEPTs, but I refuse to attack or inflict harm or humiliation on a person who happens to hold those ideas. As an act of humane compassion, I figure such a person has nothing much else going for them.)

Anyway, pardon the rant. My opinion: Keep the Littlest Atheist.
Cheers!

Ray Whiting, Dyer of Wools
Ravelry/Etsy: Knitivity
www.knitivity.com


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