Finding humour in the religious world
Many years back, a good friend and I attended catechism classes. He was a buddhist and I was an agnostic. My mother was a Christian but had little bible knowledge or faith strong enough to influence me to become the Christian I am not today. The teacher was telling us about the map of the ancient world, the itinerary of Jesus Christ when my friend started giggling. The teacher didn't know how to react to such impudence. He asked my friend was there anything wrong with the things he said. My friend giggled even more and replied: "I'm sorry, it's just me."
My friend later on told me that he wasn't being blasphemous or disrespectful and acknowledged he was rather rude. He said he just could not help it. It was a spur of the moment thing. Laughing for no reason in a Catholicism class surely meant something. As a non-Christian, I felt the immediate tension that surfaced during class. I searched for any signs of discomfort or uneasiness in the teacher's eyes.
It is difficult to associate humour with religion. Religion deals with happiness not humour. You enjoy a hearty laugh in churches but you do not burst out in laugher. You do not go about telling jokes and make a fool of yourself in mosques, temples and any religious or sacred grounds. It is simply not acceptable. It is sacrilegious. Religion is not something funny a little chuckle raises eyebrowns and suspicion. Are you laughing at my faith? Are you mocking at something I believe in? Are you ridiculing my very existence? Religion is a serious affair.
It is not uncommon that religion is made fun of. Buddha and Jesus Christ have all been the target of crude jokes, comic characters and distasteful T-shirts. This probably doesn't happen in Jerusalem or Tibet but all over the world it has become a norm. From cartoons like South Park and the Family Guy to banned movies like Dogma, religion and jokes have come a long way. Believers have grown inmune to such blunt adult jokes and have taken a lighter position of it.
The cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad have angered Muslims all over the World. I cannot recall the prophet being made fun of, so publicly, in any time of history. Why has this happened? Prophet Muhammad was left untouched while Jesus Christ and Buddha have been ridiculed throughout history. Shouldn't there be equality? Shouldn't it be the case that everyone takes turns to get made fun of? Or should these people or gods never be made fun of in the first place?
It has always been innate in humans to challenge divinity and question divinity. In this increasingly scientific-based world, more people are trying to get rid of religion, trying to challenge the artefacts and historical evidence. And so by lampooning important figures in religion gives humans the sense of superiority.
The increasing tension between the West and Middle East does not allow time for jokes about religion, especially Islam. It is not about the comics or cartoons anymore. It is about the war against the West. It is about standing in solidarity against the West and their all-conquering media. It is about Western arrogance.
The Western ideology of freedom of speech pairs up with this Western arrogance to tell people this: that everybody should concur the ideas they sell or should accept whatever they propose. Freedom of expression must be practiced with sensitivity but then again, won't that not be freedom of expression anymore? It seems to me that freedom of expression is more adequate in the political arena than the religious field. But religion and politics get entangled together in this increasingly intricate web of world affairs that has resulted in so much bloodshed and unrest. Is religion really an 'untouchable', something that can turn distratous and start wars if not properly controlled? Something not to laugh about? Doesn't religion promote inner peace and love? And why wouldn't a little humour pacify everyone and placate the angst that surrounds our world?
Humour should always be practised with sensitivity. The religious world will also be better off with priests, monks, imams with a great sense of humour to liberate this messed up world and make it seem a little lighter. The time for humour in religion has to be put on hold. The day when the Quran or the Bible in comic strips appearing in our dailies is something to look forward to. Or is that already being blasphemous?
My friend later on told me that he wasn't being blasphemous or disrespectful and acknowledged he was rather rude. He said he just could not help it. It was a spur of the moment thing. Laughing for no reason in a Catholicism class surely meant something. As a non-Christian, I felt the immediate tension that surfaced during class. I searched for any signs of discomfort or uneasiness in the teacher's eyes.
It is difficult to associate humour with religion. Religion deals with happiness not humour. You enjoy a hearty laugh in churches but you do not burst out in laugher. You do not go about telling jokes and make a fool of yourself in mosques, temples and any religious or sacred grounds. It is simply not acceptable. It is sacrilegious. Religion is not something funny a little chuckle raises eyebrowns and suspicion. Are you laughing at my faith? Are you mocking at something I believe in? Are you ridiculing my very existence? Religion is a serious affair.
It is not uncommon that religion is made fun of. Buddha and Jesus Christ have all been the target of crude jokes, comic characters and distasteful T-shirts. This probably doesn't happen in Jerusalem or Tibet but all over the world it has become a norm. From cartoons like South Park and the Family Guy to banned movies like Dogma, religion and jokes have come a long way. Believers have grown inmune to such blunt adult jokes and have taken a lighter position of it.
The cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad have angered Muslims all over the World. I cannot recall the prophet being made fun of, so publicly, in any time of history. Why has this happened? Prophet Muhammad was left untouched while Jesus Christ and Buddha have been ridiculed throughout history. Shouldn't there be equality? Shouldn't it be the case that everyone takes turns to get made fun of? Or should these people or gods never be made fun of in the first place?
It has always been innate in humans to challenge divinity and question divinity. In this increasingly scientific-based world, more people are trying to get rid of religion, trying to challenge the artefacts and historical evidence. And so by lampooning important figures in religion gives humans the sense of superiority.
The increasing tension between the West and Middle East does not allow time for jokes about religion, especially Islam. It is not about the comics or cartoons anymore. It is about the war against the West. It is about standing in solidarity against the West and their all-conquering media. It is about Western arrogance.
The Western ideology of freedom of speech pairs up with this Western arrogance to tell people this: that everybody should concur the ideas they sell or should accept whatever they propose. Freedom of expression must be practiced with sensitivity but then again, won't that not be freedom of expression anymore? It seems to me that freedom of expression is more adequate in the political arena than the religious field. But religion and politics get entangled together in this increasingly intricate web of world affairs that has resulted in so much bloodshed and unrest. Is religion really an 'untouchable', something that can turn distratous and start wars if not properly controlled? Something not to laugh about? Doesn't religion promote inner peace and love? And why wouldn't a little humour pacify everyone and placate the angst that surrounds our world?
Humour should always be practised with sensitivity. The religious world will also be better off with priests, monks, imams with a great sense of humour to liberate this messed up world and make it seem a little lighter. The time for humour in religion has to be put on hold. The day when the Quran or the Bible in comic strips appearing in our dailies is something to look forward to. Or is that already being blasphemous?
posted by jingli K at 5:35 PM
4 Comments:
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interesting point made. i guess smtimes thats e thing about an agnostic n a believer, seeing aspects of faith v differently.
when a christian starts jumping and laughing during praise & worship, we call it fruit of joy from the holy spirit, non-christians say its craziness. but i think faith is an experience, not something that can b taught or forced down e throat. so sometimes such discussion will end up as an impasse.
the catholic church sure has it's joyous and fun side. i don't know how exactly your fren laughed during cathechism, so i cant comment on that. but i guess given any situation (not just religious class), shud a person do something outta the norm, or inappropriately, it's bound to create e same kind of tension that u mentioned. and as for the cathechist, perhaps he/she got sensitive abt the laughter, like, did she got anything wrong, or was it just something abt his/her appearance. let's not make a sweeping statement abt religion and humour doesnt go.
regardg the prophet mohammad comic. i think that's not humour. that's insensitivity. prophet mohammad is a symbol e muslims held with high regards. imagine someone drawing your mother as a prostitute or something along that line, would you brush it off as a joke and laugh with them?
of coz it doesnt mean i'm for their violent acts.
anyway, as a catholic, i do believe the Lord has a sense of humour. i hope you'll b given the grace to see it one day.
oh and btw, dyu know theyre gonna hv bible in sms language? and the children in many churches enjoy learning about the Mass readings thru cartoon images of Jesus and other impt figures of our faith?
with a flying V in hand and a massive sound that predated the proverbial wall of marshalls by nearly a decade, lonnie mack paved the way for generations of blues rockets from eric clapton to stevie ray vaughan. as mack himself noted, "there wasn't no rock and roll when i started. it came along as i was doin' it." you have intellectual friends and im not one of them. i hope this post doesnt get the boot too. mack's breakneck, vibrato-embellished guitar style influenced all of the aforementioned players, especially vaughan, who grew up listening to mack's early singles and co-produced and played on the guitarist's 1985 album, strike like lightning. whether imbuing the blues with a country streak or working hard-core blues into a rockabilly boogie, mack is a guitarist whose style defies categorization.
talking about humour,
a church friend lashed out at me just this week for making a joke out of prayer. yyeah well.
humour is not sacrilegious, ridicule is. i guess there is a thin line..
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