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> > I was one of the infamous posters in the "great limerick > > controversy" this past autumn, but the issue there was one of the > > relevance of joke posts to the list, not controversial opinions. > > Did it occur to you, that some of the limericks, would have appeared to > be in very poor taste to those who do hold religious beliefs? One could argue that these limericks, with their easy sense of familiarity, were closer to the spirit of medieval devotion than many worshippers are today. Medieval saints weren't remote figures. They were human beings, whose intercessions were sought every day, and whose existence was never doubted. Their lives (and often their deaths) were an important part of the cultural background, and formed the basis for oaths and figures of speech, as well as sermons and homilies. Think of the limericks on this list as experiments in reproducing the medieval mind-set. And bear in mind that very few of them were offensive in the sense that they denied a saint's holiness. A saint is for life, not just feast days... Alasdair %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%