Comic strip insulting, poorly based

Editor:

I was offended by cartoonist Josh Proctor's comic strip today ("Big Bag O' Happy", Monday). The strip showed the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church responding to the question, "Pope, do you really talk to God?", with the answer, "Yes, dear child, I do, but only when I am whacked out of my head on communion wine."

In Christian beliefs the body and blood of Jesus Christ are represented by bread and wine. The Catholic Church, going a step further, teaches that Jesus Christ is actually present within the bread and wine following its consecration by a priest during the Mass. Thus, the consecrated bread and wine are treated, especially by priests, with the utmost reverence. To suggest that the Pope (or any other member of the Catholic Church) only "talks to God" when they are "whacked out of... [their] head on communion wine" is a serious insult to the Catholic faith.

Josh Proctor, of course, has his constitutional right to free speech. His medium, however, is a comic strip in a university paper which is read by people of many different faiths, ethnic groups, etc. So, he should take the time to understand the issue which he intends to ridicule before he draws a cartoon strip. I have seen many jokes directed at various religions, and they were successful because they were done in good taste. I hope that, from now on, Mr. Proctor will focus his efforts on good humor which, if it happens to target a religion again, is tempered with the proper respect.

I challenge Josh Proctor to write a letter to apologize and explain his motivation for this strip.

I also challenge the editorial board of the Daily Wildcat to discourage comic strips whose sole purpose (on a given day) is to ridicule some aspect of a religion.

By John Sain (letter)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 29, 1997