Job, the Devil, and Holiness

I once saw this interesting cartoon in the papers: Two devils, stereotypically cast with horns and goatees and impeccably dressed, were lounging in leather chairs over cigars and martinis. With a devilish smirk on his face, one remarked to the other in regard to the ongoing sexual abuse crisis rocking Catholicism, "Love the work you've been doing with the church recently." Conversely, another cartoon had Satan fuming as he scanned the headlines, which in addition to the scandal included the persistent mess in the Middle East. In this cartoon, the devil commented, "With all of this going on in the name of religion, I'll soon be out of a job." I couldn't help but recall a quip by satirist Karl Kraus who once wrote, "The devil is an optimist if he thinks he can make people worse than they already are." It'd be funny if it weren't so true.