❋
WHO IS SABA?
WHO IS PFOOT?
THE PLAYERS IN THE SECULARIST’S BIBLE
❋ Saba
The grandfather, the wisdom, the pontificate, the éminence gris, the scribe, the wordsmith.
pictured below
❋ Pfoot
(pronounced /fʊt/)
The provocateur, the rapscallion, the dilettante, the pest, the nudge (and yes, Pfoot is a foot!)
the character of saba
“Saba” is the modern Hebrew word for “Grandfather”, and is a term of endearment and respect
sample of an exchange between Saba and Pfoot in The Secularist’s Bible
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FOOT IN CULTURES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
The foot serves as a potent, subversive symbol of humility, submission, and grounded action, challenging hierarchical structures in religion and culture. By placing the lowest part of the body—feet—in the position of highest honor (washing/anointing), it disrupts societal status, favoring humility and servanthood over pride.
Religious Subversion
Humility and Service: In Christian tradition, Jesus washing the disciples' feet reverses power dynamics, turning the lowest act into the highest form of service.
Devotion and Renunciation: Touching the feet of spiritual leaders (India) or sitting barefoot represents total surrender and a rejection of ego.
Denial of Materiality: Feet symbolize a rejection of earthly ego, acting as "tried-and-true" vehicles of service.
Cultural Subversion
Anti-Hierarchy: In many cultures, the act of touching an elder's or teacher's feet is a voluntary submission to seniority, overriding personal pride.
Body Politics: The showing of the sole of the foot is considered offensive in some cultures, turning a routine body part into an aggressive expression.
Contrarian Freedom: Barefoot acts (like the "barefoot hiker") often symbolize a rebellion against modern society's social constructs and the embrace of a simpler life.
Oppression & Reform: While historically Chinese lotus feet represented restricted, oppressed subversion, it also became a symbol against feudal standards.
excerpt from The Secularist's Bible
fundamentalism is totalitarian.
SABA All autocrats have the same goal: to control your mind and your body. The goal of fundamentalism is to control every aspect of your life.
PFOOT Fundamentalism and fascism are brothers from different mothers.
SABA So true. We’re experiencing fundamentalist fascism in the United States today.
PFOOT And it’s marching in lockstep with our government.
CLICK TO READ A SPECIAL DISPATCH FROM PFOOT
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The Secularist’s Bible
And Other Astonishing Absurdities
by Stan Biderman
The Secularist’s Bible is at once an urgent clarion call to secular resistance, an absurdist memoir, and a family history of Holocaust survival—unified by one driving imperative: we must unite to defend democracy from fundamentalist onslaught.
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Published by The Secularist Press