Josh, if you think Bavink is being an ass there, you’re being an ass. Bavink was Dutch, and it’s well-known that all the Dutch are self-righteous prigs who sit around waiting for the predestined collapse of their system of dikes that keep out the north sea, when they aren’t busy frequenting prostitutes or smoking marijuana. Besides, all that pilgrimage traffic does wonders for the economy in places near the relic churches. After all, if I give my neighbor a tee-shirt, I clothe him for a day, but if I teach him how to sell “I VISITED THE CRYPT OF SAINT BLOVIATOR AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT” monogramed fruit-of-the-loom wife-beaters, I clothe him and his family for life.


(see, I can play too.)


Seriously, Bavink was calling his readers out on the whole James thing, and he was for the most part dead on target.


PS: I love you, man.