None of which has anything whatsoever to do with drug use, which was the original topic.

And it looks like the Aesop isn't "Not all preachers are hypocritical phonies" but "Catholics are lying liars who lie. Wickedly."

The author is a Baptist, and is highly unlikely to apologize for sticking to the Baptist doctrines about grace and salvation. And what else would you call someone who told a distraught girl that her dead best friend was burning in hell? Even a staunch "All suicides are gonna burn burn burn" priest would be loth to say something of that line to a grieving girl. Unless he was a complete horse's patoot, of course.... but that brings us full circle, doesn't it... apparently Penny hasn't had much luck with preachers of late—- the radio evangelist, H.Lee Roller, and whichever clergymen, unnamed, convinced her that her fellow Christian and best friend was burning in hell.

As to claiming Lily was in the wrong, apparently some people were raised like barn animals, but screaming at the preacher and swearing in church would get your BLOCK knocked off in most churchgoing households. Lily and Ben were "in loco parentis," which means they had the duties and authority of legal guardians. And while that might fly in Berkeley, a single slap in the mouth for profanity and disrespect is not assault and battery. Anyone who has SEEN real assault and battery would be insulted at the claim. It was a short, sharp, slap to the mouth to halt to someone who was getting way out of hand.

Yes, quite a few "Shut up Hannibals" have been delivered in the comic. You will note however that they were given out AFTER Ben and/or Lily had bent over backwards to try and reconcile with the individuals aggravating them. The standard routine with both of them has been to back off repeatedly, and only let loose when finally pushed into a corner.

It's not the first time the law has been laid down, either. Penny got grounded for being rude to a customer. And Ben threw OUT one of his regular customers who started swearing in the arcade. (Pattern established....)

And yes, he let Penny tear into Peckansniff and Beltane—- after Peckansniff and Beltane both had created a spectacle in his business and his own house. Even then, he dragged her off before she finished venting her spleen (at the pastor who had just arrived; yet another pattern established.) Unfortunately, as another reader has noted, that seems to be Penny's default response to everything... immediate snark and attack. So again, how long have Ben and Lily been patiently putting up with Penny's acid tongue? (which brings us back to Ben and Lily's pattern of longsuffering till pushed too far....)

And what else would you call someone who told a distraught girl that her dead best friend was burning in hell?

I would ask where she heard such a thing, since most of your media evangelicals - especially of the "Fire And Brimstone" stripe, tend to be Baptist or Methodist, whereas the "Suicide is unforgivable" thing is mainly Catholic dogma.

And I would've simply said "Somepeople believe that. I don't, and neither does my congregation."

I certainly wouldn't have printed said accusation of lies in a comic for the world to see - not without expecting a shitstorm to come flying back at me.

As to claiming Lily was in the wrong, apparently some people were raised like barn animals, but screaming at the preacher and swearing in church would get your BLOCK knocked off in most churchgoing households. Lily and Ben were "in loco parentis," which means they had the duties and authority of legal guardians. And while that might fly in Berkeley, a single slap in the mouth for profanity and disrespect is not assault and battery. Anyone who has SEEN real assault and battery would be insulted at the claim. It was a short, sharp, slap to the mouth to halt to someone who was getting way out of hand.

And in the churches I've been to, either Penny would've had to wait her turn to call out Rev. Roller or would've had several sisters backing her up. (Memphis, TN - C.O.G.I.C. headquarters, in case you were about to ask).

And as I've stated elsewhere: Penny had said her piece and was leaving. Lily made an already out-of-control situation worse by demanding someone she knew was on a razor's edge go back into the lion's den. She could've - and should've - waited until things cooled down until she rounded on Penny. Or apologized herself, if she was that mortified.

Penny may have been wrong, but Lily definitely wasn't right.

Yes, quite a few "Shut up Hannibals" have been delivered in the comic. You will note however that they were given out AFTER Ben and/or Lily had bent over backwards to try and reconcile with the individuals aggravating them. The standard routine with both of them has been to back off repeatedly, and only let loose when finally pushed into a corner.

Not too difficult, given the usual nature of the strawmen set up to get pwned in the comic.

It's not the first time the law has been laid down, either. Penny got grounded for being rude to a customer. And Ben threw OUT one of his regular customers who started swearing in the arcade. (Pattern established....)

And when, in either one of those cases, were Ben or Penny personally called out by the jackass in question?

I think that most of the outrage here comes from Lily being portrayed as 100% in the right on this, and a mere "You were wrong in reacting the way you did, but so was I." would do wonders for smoothing over the ruffled feathers of the readership. I find it a bit telling that RH Junior is putting more effort into defending Lily's actions that he has Lily putting in.

As to claiming Lily was in the wrong, apparently some people were raised like barn animals, but screaming at the preacher and swearing in church would get your BLOCK knocked off in most churchgoing households. Lily and Ben were "in loco parentis," which means they had the duties and authority of legal guardians. And while that might fly in Berkeley, a single slap in the mouth for profanity and disrespect is not assault and battery. Anyone who has SEEN real assault and battery would be insulted at the claim. It was a short, sharp, slap to the mouth to halt to someone who was getting way out of hand.

And in the churches I've been to, either Penny would've had to wait her turn to call out Rev. Roller or would've had several sisters backing her up. (Memphis, TN - C.O.G.I.C. headquarters, in case you were about to ask).

Seconded. I've never been to a church where it's even remotely OK for a preacher to single out a parishioner for public shaming - let alone one whose sins he doesn't actually know, let alone a kid. And if I had been to such a church, and the preacher had chosen me for public humiliation, my family would have done the screaming and swearing for me.

In the days when it was still Under The Lemon Tree, Ben made mention once or twice of not being a nice guy in the past. He hinted at past failed buisnesses and bridges burned. The obvious implication was taht there was more to Ben than what we saw. But as noted, that pretty much got shelved once the comic became Goblin Hollow. Thanks to RH Junior's archive shuffle, the comics where he mentions this (as noted, it was only once or twice) don't seem to be there anymore.

And now that I recall, I'm pretty sure the lines in question were at the tail end of the Schlock Mercenary crossover.

Those past failures and "bridges burned" referred to the sort of embarrassing or even tragic mistakes we all have in our past. An ordinary past is dramatic enough when you're the one living it.