*Pastafarians and Socrates*

The Death of Socrates

Today we talked a bit more about Socrates in class. We studied a famous painting called The Death of Socrates. It was painted in 1787 by the French painter Jacques-Louis David. This painting however, is not historically accurate though. Socrates was actually an old, frail man during his life. Socrates always wore a dirty rag and cared nothing for his physical appearance. He looked no where close to the buff, 6-packed man in the painting. Another interesting thing about the painting is that the artist painted himself next to Socrates (the one with the orange gown). He has said that the reason he is clutching to Socrates leg, is to symbolize that he wants part of Socrates to stay with him even after Socrates dies. He is basically saying "yes, I agree in what you believe, and that I want to grasp onto your knowledge". The painting is ironic in general, because it shows this heroic, strong, brave man in the painting, yet the real Socrates was far from strong and bold.

There was one other topic that was very interesting to me. It was about this sort-of new religion called Pastafarianism. Basically, the followers believe in a giant flying spaghetti monster that created the universe. One of the Amendments in the Bill of Rights says that people in the United States of America have freedom of religion, speech, and press. But what is the limit to religion that draws the line? How can people say that there religion is right and others are wrong? What makes some religions better than others?