George Carlin on religion and Theseus slaying the meteor

We thought we'd watch a movie with simon tonight. Decided on the new Parent Trap because it's pretty cute. It started and we realized that he has no idea what divorce is. Doesn't matter, he was near tears when one group booby-trapped the others cabin (5 minutes into the moview.) He tearfully asked that we turn it off, then spent five minutes saying "why did they do that?" We went to a really neat Commedia dell'Arte puppet show today, although the second show was so NOT for children that it was kind of funny. It was a standard "heaven" piece. Puppets were shown coming up a ladder, ringing a bell, and the golden gate was opened by an angel. Ahem. Then we realized that he knows nothing of God. (DIFFERENT Gods, yes, but not that many people feel that there is only one God, etc. etc.) Also, he's never heard of angels. And I found myself whispering "um, some people think that there's a nice place up in the sky and the puppet in wings is supposed to be good.") Has anyone out there seen George Carlin's piece on who God is? So I'm sitting there in this puppet show, trying to contextualize a stylized angel on the fly, and this is floating through my mind: "Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money!" That routine has definitely colored any approach I may have to discussing God with my son. We've been busy playing Orion the mighty hunter and Theseus slaying the minotaur all morning, incidentally (although I loved it when Simon referred to it as the "meteor.") We'll get to the other eventually. We started with gods and goddesses from other cultures and we're working on the relationship between humans and gods, as well as why Orion and others live in the sky, as do, of course, the dead kings from the Lion King. (A Christian parable if ever I've seen one, and he adores it, so the framework is all set. These parables can really sneak up on you.) Incidentally, if you'd like to look at an extremely intriguing artist, check out Sea Monkey Sea Mask and Puppet Show. I'd love to see their work. Anybody want to bring them to the bay area?