Author and food activist Raj Patel says he is not the Messiah. But after his appearance on the TV show The Colbert Report, he found himself to be an object of worship for a religious group. Patel only wanted to plug his latest book called The Value of Nothing.
Patel has issued a denial of holiness on his website, where he compares his situation to the Monty Python movie The Life of Brian. Followers have traveled thousands of miles to see him. Link -via Metafilter
(image credit: Eliot Khuner)
Their reasoning? Patel's background and work coincidentally matched a series of prophecies made by an 87-year-old Scottish mystic called Benjamin Creme, the leader of a little-known religious group known as Share International. Because he matched the profile, hundreds of people around the world believed that Patel was the living embodiment of a figure they called Maitreya, the Christ or "the world teacher".
His job? To save the world, and everyone on it.
"It was just really weird," he said. "Clearly a case of mistaken identity and clearly a case of people on the internet getting things wrong."
Patel has issued a denial of holiness on his website, where he compares his situation to the Monty Python movie The Life of Brian. Followers have traveled thousands of miles to see him. Link -via Metafilter
(image credit: Eliot Khuner)
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That last comment rocked.
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I've met Raj Patel when he spoke at an event sponsored by the nonprofit that I work for. He's a great speaker and quite a figure in the food policy world. He also swears like a sailor and signed his book Stuffed and Starved for me with the inscription "With deep f****** appreciation for the work you do, Raj" at my request that he swear in his inscription. So basically, he's awesome. I'm not sure he's the messiah, but if he is, I'm glad I got to drink a beer with him.
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Shut up, big nose.
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Ah yes, the perpetual pre-trib search for the antichrist continues... This guy doesn't strike me as evil and he's not a politician.... But I suppose if he gets fatally wounded and miraculously survives, it'll be a dead giveaway. ....Oh wow, poor guy, I hope people don't start trying to kill him over this!
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We just need to ask his mother if she's a virgin.
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