2009-10-16
Explanation
This comic cleverly flips the "teach the controversy" argument often used by religious groups against evolution. A young person holding a Holy Bible tells a priest, "Father, this book is full of gaps. For one thing, if God is all good and all powerful, why is there suffering?" This is the classic "problem of evil" in theology. The priest responds, "Human understanding on that point is imperfect." The young person then suggests, "Right. So shouldn't we teach the controversy? For example, the scientific view."
The young person holds up a note card with the scientific view summarized bluntly: "Nature doesn't care about humans. Humans are dicks to each other. Q.E.D. Suffering." The priest objects -- not to the content itself, but says, "This is because of my sermon on teaching theodicy in biology class." The young person confirms, "Yup." The priest then asks, "Okay, fair. But why'd you have to bring it up in the middle of church?" The final panel shows the young person presenting the same card to the church congregation. The comic satirizes the "teach the controversy" movement by turning it around: if religious ideas should be taught in science class, then scientific ideas should equally be taught in church, and the scientific explanation for suffering is far simpler and more uncomfortable for the religious side.
The votey panel lists "Historical Solutions to the 'Problem of Evil': Satan, Free Will, Privatio Boni, We're All Dicks." This adds an academic touch to the joke, listing real theological responses to the problem of evil alongside the comic's irreverent summary, as though "we're all dicks" were a legitimate philosophical position.