http://www.google.com/notebook/feeds/13399871141451566557/notebooks/BDSF3IgoQ0MSXlYUj/NDSelIwoQ0Ifqkccj2008-09-17T21:32:29.520Z2008-09-17T21:34:04.465ZFault lies with the manufacturer<div><h2>Fault lies with the manufacturer</h2></div><div><h4>The Times</h4><span>Published: Tuesday, September 16, 2008</span></div><p>Editor:</p><p>I am the cartoonist that supposedly "needs a lesson in theology." However, I don't believe that my cartoon (Aug. 29, Times) misses the mark at all.</p><p>I don't really know about the "theology" of the fictitious man in the sky--which is really an invention of man as much as any other religious abstraction and all the doctrines therein.</p><p>As far as I am concerned, it is all man-made. So I do attribute to religion our poor and unhealthy approach to sex and sensuality. We are indeed the culprits. You do find in many religions a condemnation of the body as a "prison" in which the big goal of the "soul" is to escape into a supernatural realm.</p><p>Kevin Slingerland speaks despairingly of "sin" and "lust"--in that "to lust" is "to sin." Really? What is "sexual lust" but a biological drive, the sex drive--that very thing that enables us to continue the species? It is not the misuse of our sexual capacity that religious folks condemn--it is the capacity as such. That is classic religion. (There are exceptions of course).</p><p>Sex is also a means to pleasure and happiness--for both married and unmarried people. No, there is nothing wrong with erotica. Sexual pleasure and sensuality--what a glorious gift from nature. And is it not the case that God, (for those who believe in such a being) the manufacturer of the human body, who has endowed us with this very capacity?</p><p>My point still stands: if the human body is sinful, then the fault lies with the manufacturer.</p><p>Victor Pross</p><p>Chiliwack cartoonist</p><br><blockquote class="gn_c"><span> The cartoon in question (along with the context in which it was published) can be found here: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/victorprosscaricatures/2807427410/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/victorprosscaricatures/2807427410/</a><br></span></blockquote>Mercy