For this premium unleaded, may the Lord make us truly grateful...

Fuel's in the news right now, what with the recently-ended Scottish refinery strike (advice to drivers "Don't panic". Cue mini-panic) and a convoy of truckers entering London to protest against rising diesel prices.

With this in mind, perhaps all those worried about petroleum-related matters should study the antics of Rocky Twyman (what a name) of Washington state, who last week held three separate "gas-station pray-ins".

Rocky's worried about rising "gas" prices in the States (perhaps he should try filling up over here) and has asked fellow motorists to join him in a simple call of "God, deliver us from these high gas prices."

And his efforts haven't gone unnoticed, at least here on Earth, with a representative of the group Consumer Watchdog saying: "Given the complete inertia and silence of this White House on a crisis that has people feeling just hopeless, prayer is probably as good as anything. Frankly, I wish them luck."

[Thanks Christina]

The day Ricky Gervais became an atheist

American men's magazine Best Life has a short piece by comedian Ricky Gervais on how he became an atheist.

After saying how, at the age of 9, he was a massive fan of Jesus – "More than pop stars. More than footballers. More than God" – Gervais describes the day his 19-year-old brother, Bob, walked in just as he was drawing Jesus on the cross as part of his RE homework:

"There I was, happily drawing my hero when my big brother Bob asked, 'Why do you believe in God?' Just a simple question. But my mum panicked. 'Bob,' she said, in a tone that I knew meant 'shut up.' Why was that a bad thing to ask? If there was a God and my faith was strong, it didn’t matter what people said. Oh…hang on. There is no God. He knows it, and she knows it deep down. It was as simple as that. I started thinking about it and asking more questions, and within an hour, I was an atheist."

So, a fairly rapid conversion then. And Gervais goes on to describe the "gifts" that opened up to him as a result of his "newfound atheism":

"The gifts of truth, science, nature. The real beauty of this world. Not a world by design, but one by chance. I learned of evolution—a theory so simple and obvious that only England’s greatest genius could have come up with it. Evolution of plants, animals, and us—with imagination, free will, love, and humor. I no longer needed a reason for my existence, just a reason to live. And imagination, free will, love, humor, fun, music, sports, beer, and pizza are all good enough reasons for living. But living an honest life—for that you need the truth. That’s the other thing I learned that day, that the truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, in the end leads to liberation and dignity."

Nice one, Ricky. And thanks for giving me a great excuse to put up a clip of the hilarious Genesis scene from stand-up show Animals:

What's worse? 'Jesus' or 'Christ'?

Just a short blog on something I read today in ShortList, a free magazine you can pick up outside tube stations in London on Thursday mornings.

In today's edition they had an interview with comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb (the guys from Peep Show), in which they discussed what you can get away with saying in BBC programmes. In addition to informing ShortList that you "can only get away with saying 'fuck' two or three times in a sketch show", Webb added that "with blasphemy you are allowed to say 'God' but you can't say 'Christ'. 'Jesus', but not 'Christ'."

Now, the reason I blog this is that, if it's true, it's an interesting little fact and I'd like to know why it's the case. In that wonderful arsenal of blasphemous terms, what's so bad about "Christ" compared to "Jesus"? Mitchell suggests it's because "Christ is his surname", though somehow I doubt this is the reason.

So, I'm putting two questions out there. Firstly, is this true? I had a go at finding out myself, but Googling "blasphemy" and the "BBC" together mostly just throws up loads of stuff about Jerry Springer the Opera and those delightful folks at Christian Voice. Secondly, is it worse to say "Christ" than "Jesus", and if so, why?

Answers on a postcard (or preferably in comments to this post)

Russian election shock: God wins

We all know who won the Russian election, and we also know who really won the election, don't we? But do we know who really really won? Michael Binyon does, and you can read about it in his cover story for our new issue: Russian Roulette. To whet your appetite I'll give you a clue: He's big, he lives upstairs and he moves in mysterious ways.

Tons more great stuff in the issue which we will be publishing online over the next few days - but we won't put everything on the website. For the full, beautifully designed, print version complete with original photography, why not subscribe now?

Plane makes emergency landing after pilot insists on speaking to God

Now, if someone thinks they can communicate with God that's fine, but most people would probably prefer if they didn't try to this while co-piloting a transatlantic flight.

Passengers on an Air Canada flight from Toronto to London received a shock when their plane made an emergency landing at Shannon airport in Ireland, after which they witnessed their co-pilot being carried into the cabin in restraints saying that he wanted to "talk to God".

The landing occurred after the crew declared a medical emergency and, helpfully, one passenger was happy to describe the scene to a news agency:

"He [the co-pilot] was very, very distraught. He was yelling loudly at times. He was swearing and asking for God and very distressed. He basically said he wanted to talk to God."

[Thanks Frank]

Jesus appears in potato salad

Could this be the most ridiculous "religious figure in appearing in food" story yet? Fox News reports, in an entirely unsceptical way, how a Pastor Renee Brewster of Florida discovered Jesus in a potato salad she made for church.

Pastor Renee tells the moving story of how her ten-year-old granddaughter drew her attention to this miraculous Spud-u-Christ – allow Fox to explain:

"It was her 10-year-old granddaughter who made her give the potato a second look. 'My granddaughter said Granny did you see that in the middle? I said what?' And taking a closer look she saw the cross with Jesus in the middle. 'It’s remarkable. Even when I cut the good part off the cross ended up being shaped like a tomb from long ago.'"

Apparently Pastor Brewster had been apprehensive about making the salad, as someone called Sister Frankie usually does the deed: “I was hesitant about making the potato salad because Sister Frankie makes the potato salad at church and I said Lord if it’s not for me to make potato salad then send me a sign.”

And so he did. But it seems she actually disobeyed him and went ahead and made it anyway, as her husband, Bishop Brewster is on record as saying: “It was good. It was the best you ever made ... it was almost as good as Sister Frankie's.”

This is fine though, because, as Fox says, "The potato did more than feed them physically. It nourished them spiritually and helped reinvigorate their mission." Thank Christ for that.

In other God-related food news, how about a faith-based diet? Gwen Shamblin, founder of Tennessee's Weigh Down Workshop, has developed a weight-less programme that works by the principle: "Let God tell you when you're hungry and when to stop eating". Which could prove problematic if he kept appearing in your potatoes.

[Thanks for those Christina]

Christina Martin: Why is it fine to mock disabled people, but off limits to joke about God?

As a bi-monthly magazine we often find events occur that we'd love to cover, only for the opportunity to have passed by the time our next issue comes out. That's why we've added a new Web Exclusives section to the New Humanist website, allowing us to publish additional content to what you see in the magazine.

To get things started we've got comedian Christina Martin asking why jokes about disability are considered fair game in comedy, while jokes about religion can get you banned from venues and broadcasting channels.

Christina wrote a piece for us earlier this year where she told how her jokes about Jesus and the Pope had affected her chances of appearing on Paramount TV, who were seemingly too worried that she might offend Christian viewers. Yet, as she observes in her latest piece, time and again she hears comedians mocking disabled people to the sound of roaring laughter. Why is this considered fine, while jokes about God are seen as too likely to offend?

Have a read of Christina's piece and let us know what you think by commenting on this blog post. Do you think disabled jokes are becoming all too common in comedy? Or should no topic be off limits? Does religion get unfairly shielded from mockery, or is it wrong to poke fun at deeply-held beliefs?

Next up on Web Exclusives, we'll have the writer and critic Michael Bywater on the absurdity of referring to Christmas as "Winterval".

Chat with God, he's great

For anyone out there with too much time on their hands, here's something to have a little fun with. You can now talk live to God in an automated internet chat room. I had a natter with him and to be honest he's a bloody nice bloke. Told me his hobbies are "robots, computers and chatting online". Nice to know he keeps himself busy up there.

[Cheers Christina]