2011-10-26
Explanation
This comic features a child questioning a priest about the biblical story of Adam and Eve. The child asks: "Wait, Eve was made from Adam'''s rib?" The priest confirms. The child then follows the logical chain: if Eve was made from Adam'''s rib, they would have the same DNA, which means they would have the same sex chromosomes. The child concludes, horrified: "So you'''re telling me Adam and Eve were gay twins?! We'''re all descended from two brothers doing it? That'''s a sick story, Father! Sick, sick, sick!"
The humor comes from applying modern scientific understanding (genetics, DNA, sex chromosomes) to an ancient creation myth that was never intended to withstand that kind of scrutiny. The child'''s logic is technically sound within its own framework -- if Eve were literally cloned from Adam'''s genetic material, she would be genetically identical to him, including having XY chromosomes rather than XX. The priest is left speechless by this line of reasoning.
In the final panel, labeled "Later," the priest is shown drinking alone at a bar, thinking "Why is it always the children?" -- suggesting that children'''s naive but logically rigorous questions are the most devastating challenges to religious narratives. The votey panel shows the cartoonist thinking "I can'''t wait to have kids," implying he looks forward to watching children create these kinds of uncomfortable logical conundrums.