Richard Dawkins and the Loch Ness Monster

A slightly modified version of a joke told at the start of this morning's sermon by the Team Vicar of St James's Whitehaven ...

Professor Richard Dawkins has hired a boat to go fishing on Loch Ness. Suddenly, to his astonishment, he's attacked by the monster. It tosses both Dawkins and his boat up in the air, and prepares to grab him in his jaws when he falls back to the lake.

As he flies through the air, Professor Dawkins calls out "God help me." Suddenly the monster freezes, and a sudden breeze lifts him, carries him to shore, and then dies away, depositing him gently on the ground. Then a voice speaks inside his head -

"My child, I didn't think you believed in me."

"Give me a break, God" says Dawkins. "Two minutes ago I didn't believe in the Loch Ness Monster either."


In case Richard Dawkin's lawyers are preparing to go after the team vicar, I should explain that he told the joke about "an atheist" - as I thought I had previously heard it told with Professor Dawkins as the protagonist I reinserted his name.

Of course, a more intriguing question might be whether anyone still believes that Tony Blair is running the country ...

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