Talk about yer faith-based initiatives . . .

This week, as just about everybody on the planet already knows, we in the U.S. lurched into the second term of George W. Bush -- the president who's done the most in recent memory to dismantle the wall between church and state. So it's a great time to find a comic strip that regularly takes on the subjects of religion and politics. Tatsuya Ishida's webcomic Sinfest does both, and manages to be both caustic and adorable.

Both God and the devil are recurring characters in the strip, along with main character Slick ("slacker, occasional pimp, negotiating with the Devil to sell his soul, leader of the Resistance"), It-Girl Monique ("jail bait, low fidelity, many tramp-like qualities, but deep down inside she's still a tramp"), and pig Squigley ("male chauvinist pig, beer enthusiast"). Monique and Slick frequently team up for political reasons:



Just as often, though, the strip takes on vanity, cats and dogs, the creative process, the relationship between men and women, or pop culture:



Enough of my pontificating. Go now and check it out yourself.