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Path: utzoo!watmath!watnot!awtron
From: awtron@watnot.UUCP (Andrew Tron)
Newsgroups: net.jokes
Subject: Re: RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS (but not really blasphemous, i think)
Message-ID: <11300@watnot.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 20-Jul-85 16:00:25 EDT
Article-I.D.: watnot.11300
Posted: Sat Jul 20 16:00:25 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 22-Jul-85 06:07:02 EDT
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 43

Summary: 
 
Expires: 
References: <1865@sunybcs.UUCP>
Sender: Andrew Tron (Indiana Fermat) 
Reply-To: awtron@watnot.UUCP (Andrew Tron)
Followup-To: the same 
Distribution: net
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Keywords: Religious humour 

There once was a top religious conference organized in Geneva. The main
attraction was THE ULTIMATE RELIGIOUS DEBATE [i.e. who is right, the
Christians or the Jews] . The Christian debater was none other than the Pope
Himself, while the Jewish debater was the Chief Rabbi of the Temple of
Jerusalem. Five minutes before the debate was scheduled to start, the
organizers realized that the Pope could not speak a single word of Hebrew,
while the Rabbi could not speak a single word of Latin: in fact, they had
no language in common. Thus they were forced to use American Sign Language.

The Pope started by showing three fingers. The Rabbi replied by showing one.
The Pope traced circles with his fingers in the air. The Rabbi responded by
tapping his rostrum with his index finger. The Pope raised the Chalice and
the Host. The Rabbi raised an apple. After all these gestures, the Pope
made a startling announcement.

"I give up!!", he cried. "I admit that Judaism is the superior religion.
Now all faithful should take my heed and convert to the superior religion".
The press was literally stunned. They converged around the Pope and asked him
for an explanation. Quoth the Pontiff: "I put up three fingers, signifying
the Holy Trinity, but the Rabbi put up one finger, signifying the one God.
And he is right! All that matters is that we believe in one God. I signlled
that God is everywhere, but he said that God is here. And he is right. It
doesn't matter where God is, so long as He is with us. Finally I raised
the Body and Blood of Christ. In response, he raised the apple. And he
is right. The Original Sin is the basis for all our faiths, and this is
what we should be studying. I give up."

The press immediately rushed to get a statement form the Rabbi. Said he: 
"I don't know what went on. He said that we had three minutes to go,
and I said we had only one. He said that we had all the time in the world,
but I insisted that we had to start now. He picked up his lunch, I picked
up mine, and that was that."