Is religious humor offensive?

I have a friend who regularly blogs about religious stuff. He saw a funny cartoon that kinda spoofed the famous painting by daVinci "The Last Supper." I assume most of you are familiar with that painting, Jesus with his 12 disciples. The cartoon was kinda cute, I thought, but a reader was offended, saying that Jesus' death on a cross is not something to joke about.

So, first of all, do any of you feel that poking fun at a piece of art that was created 1500 years after Jesus walked this earth is the same as poking fun at Jesus, let alone joking about his crucifixion? (It's not like the art piece was of his death or suffering; the last supper is before he was handed over; sure, part of the passion story, but not directly related to his death.)

Secondly, there are some jokes out there about Jesus, his death, etc. I suspect you've heard a few. Do you think they are offensive or inappropriate? Personally, I think God has a sense of humor. Just look at the platypus. You think he wasn't chuckling when he created that? And, though Jesus' death on the cross is indeed a very somber and serious thing, I don't think there's anything wrong with being light-hearted from time to time ... humor has its place.

Curious how others in this forum feel.

And, if no one here is offended, perhaps we can share some of those jokes and enjoy some laughter together.

Offense is taken, not given. That isn't just a figure of speech, that's how things tend to work. Different people are offended by different things, what might be funny to one person, might be abhorrent to another person. That being said, I do not personally take offense when it comes to most religious based humor. We should be able to laugh at ourselves, right?

However, some people do take offense. And often times the best policy is to just try and keep everyone happy.

The is a difference between humour out of funny scenes and humour out of disrespect. Yes God does have a sense of humour but it is not based upon disrespect against people or creation as a whole. I did not get your example, but I do not find jokes that make fun of God or Jesus as funny. How will you feel if people made jokes out of what your husband, father or best friend did for you? God bless

I think there is a distinction between making fun of God and making fun of religion or his creatures.

I too am convinced God was having fun creating all the strange, majestic and beautiful creatures, knowing how we (at least some of us) would gasp and be in awe over the, or find them to be totally silly. I also think he must have humor to make me

But for jokes directly about God I guess one should be a bit careful. Reading the OT makes it clear one does not "mess around" with God.

I think we have to be careful about humor...sure, it's good to be able to laugh at ourselves, etc. But we serve a Holy God, worthy of praise and worship. Jokes can be barbed with underlining meanings. There's a time for humor and a time for seriousness.

I know I've had friends who would make personal off-color jokes about someone and when that person got offended they would say " I was just joking" and walk off in a huff like it was the other person's fault for being too sensitive.

I will go even further and say that I think many of the Veggie Tales segments are disrespectful to God and His Word. Joshua was not a tomato (?) bowing down before a cucumber (an angel) in the desert. It is not MEANT to be a funny scene, but a serious one. I admit to laughing at some of these, but as an adult showing these to kids, my conscience was greatly smitten. Is this the right way to teach children about the Holyness of God and the importance of redemption? I doubt it.

I stopped letting my kids watch the ones that involved bible stories. I let them watch the ones that taught about character-building, etc.

My daughter asked me when she was 12 yrs old why there isn't 'humor' in the Bible. Interesting question. The answer I eventually gave her was that maybe it's because different cultures, even different generations, have different ideas about what is funny. And the purpose of the Bible is the redemption of mankind. That's WAY serious

It depends on the joke, but I think religious humor is fine generally. If religious humor is wrong..I'm in big trouble. It's so difficult resisting the urge to draw an afro on the church bulletin's picture of Jesus.

I think that all religious humor should be allowed. Even if I am a believer I do not think that humor is a bad thing and of course we should be able to have fun.

I think that Johnxxx said it very well with "Offense is taken, not given."

But the stoning scene from life of brian is marvelous: stoned for saying jehovah (life of brian) - YouTube

Life of Brian has a lot of potentially offensive humor. The "dance kick" crucifixion line at the end comes to mind.

Wow, I have to disagree with you there. I love the Veggie Tales, and I think it's a great way to get kids interested in the stories. I don't think God minds at all that we are using humor to teach His Word to children.

But there is humor in the Bible.

For example, when Namaan wanted to be cured, and he went to Elijah, who told him to bathe in the Jordan. First, he was ticked off. He went with great pomp and verve, and Elijah wouldn't even meet him face to face. He was going to take off in a self-righteous huff, since he'd already bathed in waters cleaner than the Jordan, but one of his servant girls said, look, if he'd asked you to do something hard, you would have done it to be cured. So why not do this easy thing? I think that story is filled with humor, poking fun at all sorts of norms.

The story of Esther is similarly comedic, and I have to admit, I get a chuckle every time I read about Lot bargaining with God about how many righteous people there have to be in a city for him to save it. "Do I hear 20? How about 10? 8? Going once, going twice...." LOL

Or how about Jonah? Dang, that one is a laugh riot from the get go. "The Lord said to Jonah, 'get up and go to Ninevah,' and Jonah got up, and went the other direction." ROFL! Or at the end, when Jonah's griping about the castor plant, lol, it's just so funny. The last sentence, even, "the whole city was saved, and much cattle." How can you read that and not laugh?

There's tons of humor in the Bible.

Me like.

I find there is a distinction that can - but is difficult to - be made between idle banter in good humor and blatantly insulting "humor".

To each their own.

"Half the world talks
With half a mind on what they say"
~Neal Peart

I don't like humor that makes fun of God or Jesus. Even during the few years when I wasn't a christian, it made me cringe a little bit inside whenever I overheard someone cross the line.


As long as no one's disrespecting what people believe, I have no problem with people poking fun at religion. It can be done tastefully without crossing the line.

Here's my take on this. Is this religious humor edifying and glorifying to God? Nuff said in my opinion.

I think this is a really good example of how people see things differently and we are to be considerate and understanding of other people's point of views

The examples you mention are very intriguing in what they teach about the human condition..yet what you call humor, I call pathetic examples of how humans can react...like Jonah being sulky about Ninevah being saved.

People just respond differently and it's good to be aware of that and not think 'only my perspective is correct'. God has taught me some valuable lessons on this...I seem to learn the hard way

We can disagree and still be 'nice'....something we all need to practice.

The dance kick? What?

Towards the end of the movie, when Brian is being crucified, the guy on the cross next to him is trying to cheer him up, so they sing "Always look on the bright side of life." At one point in the song, there's a whole line of people being crucified on crosses (which is historically accurate ... that was the standard mode of meting out the death penalty back then, not unlike hanging in later centuries, or lethal injection today) but they all start doing the "can can" to the song. It's horribly funny in its gruesome humor. And yes, offensive but in a funny way, if that makes sense.

This, more than anything else, is the problem with humor so called - more often than not, it's simple insult. I've met very few people who exercise genuine wit but a lot who think they're hilarious for pointing out personal flaws that everybody was already aware of anyway. And invariably... they're "just joking." That phrase ranks up there with "I know," "all due respect," and "no offense."

There are some friends (whom I've recently decided to stop seeing) with whom conversations are nothing but one-upmanship. I blame cartoons and sitcoms. They've learned to be uncomfortable with silence and can't stand even knee-deep conversations. Fifteen seconds is too long to go without some sort of humor and, since most people don't have that much material, they resort to snark.

I realized, at the same time, that I really, really liked another of my friends. I didn't know why. We didn't have a whole lot in common. He's in the Air Force, I'm a pacifist. He works out all day, I'm a desk-jockey mathematician. I thought about it for a while and realized that I've never had a conversation with the guy that felt like a competition.

My favorite, as a religious studies student: St. Peter is guarding the gates of heaven and, because there have been some demonic attempts to sneak in, he's resorted to a series of simple tests that demons always fail. Someone approaches. "Before I even check the list, please spell the name 'Jesus' in your native language." The man does so correctly and is passed to the next checkpoint. Another approaches. "Please spell the name 'Jesus' in your native language." "But that's not fair! I'm Buddhist!" Peter nods. "Alright, then. 'The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara?'"

ROFL! Love it.

As for the rest of the post, yes. There is no humor in pointing out someone's faults. Humor is, as in your example, in the contradictions in life. I suppose a Buddhist may be insulted by the above joke, but probably not. There is no insult in admitting that Buddhist gods' names are hard to spell. It's just funny.

***Amen to that!***

Ah... well Always look on the bright side of life is a genius song!

I think it might be offensive... but then you should not watch it.

Would you consider ^ that:

A. Offensive

B. Unoffensive