Is It Disrepectful To Make Fun of Religions or Their Adherants?

[David Sklansky]

My answer is that it depends.

Firstly some people will say that it is disrespectful to make fun of anything or anyone for any reason. They don't care if it is someone who says that the moon is made up of green cheese, or that Andrew Prock is smarter than me. Obviously if you accept that position nothing further need be said and it would follow that no religion should be made fun of.

If however you agree that it is sometimes OK to make fun of something then I continue:

I think it is probably disrespectful to make fun of a particular religion if you yourself believe in a different religion.

I think it is definitely wrong to make fun of a religion if you are talking to a person in pain who is deriving comfort from that religion. If someone's child has just died and they say to me "its OK because I know she is in a better place now" I would never say "wanna bet" even though thats one of the things I would be thinking.

I believe it is wrong to make fun of the aspects of religion that supposedly teach us how to live. Or whether life has meaning without God. Stuff like that. Even if you strongly disagree.

With that being said I now claim that it is OK for me to make fun of people who have precise ideas about the existence and details of a God, that to me, seems as farfetched as ESP, rushes or astrology. Put another way if it is OK for someone to say that a belief in astrology is nutty and reflects negatively on the believer, then it is Ok to say the same thing about a particular religion as long as the one who is saying it is not a practicing member of a different religion and is not saying it at an inappropriate time.

[tylerdurden]

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Put another way if it is OK for someone to say that a belief in astrology is nutty and reflects negatively on the believer, then it is Ok to say the same thing about a particular religion as long as the one who is saying it is not a practicing member of a different religion and is not saying it at an inappropriate time.

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Maybe we need to define "religion" a little, because I'd say it's OK for any practicing member of any religion to make fun of (eg) Scientologists. Then again, I don't really consider Scientology to be a "religion" so I agree with you.

[MarkL444]

I dont understand what there is to gain by making fun of religions.

[drudman]

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Put another way if it is OK for someone to say that a belief in astrology is nutty and reflects negatively on the believer, then it is Ok to say the same thing about a particular religion as long as the one who is saying it is not a practicing member of a different religion and is not saying it at an inappropriate time.

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Maybe we need to define "religion" a little, because I'd say it's OK for any practicing member of any religion to make fun of (eg) Scientologists. Then again, I don't really consider Scientology to be a "religion" so I agree with you.

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Scientology and Christianity are the same thing. Belief in metaphysical entities.

[maurile]

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I dont understand what there is to gain by making fun of religions.

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Have you ever tried it?

[MarkL444]

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I dont understand what there is to gain by making fun of religions.

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Have you ever tried it?

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Yeah I guess. I remember when I first learned about Hindu in a religion class a few semesters ago I couldn't get over how dumb it all sounded.

Maybe a better question would be how can you make fun of something that you can't say for sure isn't true? Meaning, you can never be 100% sure.

[BZ_Zorro]

Agreed. Don't bring the topic up socially or when it's inappropriate or unwanted.

But otherwise, if people have kooky beliefs that they wish to convince others of, then those beliefs should be made fun of. Why should they be allowed to spread their memes unchecked?

[A_C_Slater]

David,

What are your thoughts on Buddhism? No kooky deities or storylines. Do you consider Buddhism a religion or a philosophy?

[Mayhap]

Generally, when it comes to poking fun, you can dish it out all you want as long as you can take it yourself.

[David Sklansky]

If it makes factual statements that are at odds with the known laws of physics, it is a religion in my book.

[Aytumious]

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David,

What are your thoughts on Buddhism? No kooky deities or storylines. Do you consider Buddhism a religion or a philosophy?

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Or Taoism.

[kuro]

Making fun of someone's religion is like making fun of their race or family. Is it disrespectful to make a joke about how fat a guy's wife is even if the joke makes everyone else laugh? If you know it's going to offend them then there's really no point in doing so.

[maurile]

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Making fun of someone's religion is like making fun of their race or family.

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Except that people aren't responsible for their race or their family.

[Zeno]

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Is It Disrepectful To Make Fun of Religions or Their Adherants?

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Only in certain situations and circumstances, some of which you described.

In general, I would say no. In fact making fun of religion or specific religions or the more preposterous beliefs and/or creeds of religion(s), or the intolerance they at times propagate serves a very useful purpose. One only has to read some Voltaire to see that.

Salman Rushdie is a very recent example of someone that bashed religion (Islam). He paid a heavy price for it. Reason magazine recently published an interveiw with Salman this is worth reading.

And in American, making fun of religion is a worthy and time-honored tradition. Thomas Paine comes to mind. And also see Mark Twain's essays Christian Science and the Book of Mrs. Eddy and Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven. Both are brilliantly humorous, witty, sardonic and well-done critiques of the lengths of human folly. Many other well known and respected authors could be added, in fact I invite everyone to do so. It would be interesting to compile a list and see how many are on it.

As an aside, It is interesting that I recently had in mind to post a sardonic short news story with the title: God gets boozy, bitch-slaps Satan. I am too busy with other things to do a good job of this, but I may yet do so. Eons ago I made a post in the other topics forum titled 'Why doesn't God answer my prayers'. I think that was the title but that was long ago, when Abraham still roamed about the earth like some blundering mastodon.

-Zeno

[BZ_Zorro]

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Is it disrespectful to make a joke about how fat a guy's wife is even if the joke makes everyone else laugh?

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No, but if he starts saying fat is healthier and better and we should all become fat, then I start bringing science into it. And making fun of him too.

[Zeno]

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If you know it's going to offend them then there's really no point in doing so.

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I disagree. This gives an unnecessary social cloak and acceptance to ideas and beliefs that are inimical to clear thinking, and that, at different times and places in human history have promoted intolerance, inflamed passions, and caused untold misery to millions and probably will do so into the foreseeable future. I for one will not remain silent because it is possible that I may offend somebody with either criticism or making fun of some of the more revolving religious beliefs. Indeed, being offensive can be a worthwhile tactic to counter the bold postures of the disciples of nonsense. The more negative and absurd aspects of religion are fair game to be made fun of in my opinion.

In addition, you may not like it, but freedom of speech also means offensive speech is protected.

-Zeno

[kuro]

Are people really responsible for choosing their religion when for most people it was taught to them at a very young age by their parents? Often times children of schizophrenics are not mentally ill but they exhibit behavior and beliefs that are consistent with being a schizophrenic because they learned those behaviors from their parents. Are those children responsible for acting like schizophrenics?

[IronUnkind]

This all seems acceptable, but one wonders what is your aim when you ask if Jesus got laid a lot.

[David Sklansky]

"This all seems acceptable, but one wonders what is your aim when you ask if Jesus got laid a lot."

That wasn't making fun of Jesus at all. I hate to explain my jokes but if you remember, my previous sentence was that I wondered if it was worth going to the trouble to work out the details of MY religion Sklanskyanity and I followed it up with that question. Get it now?

[sexypanda]

I really don't think there's anything wrong with making fun of a anyones thoughts or beliefs. By making fun of something, one's pretty much just pointing out logical inconsistencies in a particular belief, but in a light-hearted humorous way. But as you described before, there are times when it's inappropriate. Bringing it up after the death of someone's child is just in poor taste.

Humor can be a great tool to make a point. Many great authors have used humor and satire to point out inconsistencies in religion and government. Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" is the first work that comes to mind that does this brilliantly. He proposed that parents eat their children in order to stop overpopulation and hunger in 18th century Ireland. He didn't mean this as an actual solution, but was merely pointing out a social inequity. Today, this form of humor can be seen everywhere, from shows like South Park and the Daily Show, and from comedians like Bill Maher and George Carlin.

Your specific question regarding making fun of religion reminds me of a classic South Park episode where a Mormon family moves to South Park. This Mormon family is the exact opposite of the rest of the families in South Park. They're very close knit and caring. They do many things together as a family and seem very happy. Stan, one of the main characters in the show, sees this and tries to learn more about Mormonism. The more he learns though, the more he realizes how ridiculous this religion is. Most of the episode directly makes fun of Mormonism and it's belief system. At the end though, the family is confronted with these inconsistencies, but the family says that they really don't care if John Smith actually existed, or read out of a hat. These beliefs bring them closer as a family and make them happier.

Humor can be a great weapon to combat ideas, as long as your dealing with an open-minded audience who's willing to accept that their beliefs may be flawed. It's a great way to open a discourse about problems you see in religion, politics, or anything else, but you do run the risk of offending the close minded. I'm willing to take that risk.

[SomethingClever]

Yes, it depends.

Depends on how ridiculous the religion is, and how seriously its followers take it.

I personally make fun of scientologists and mormons. And snake handlers.

I feel bad for people that are *extremely* into other religions, but I don't make fun of them.

[MoreWineII]

This question depends entirely upon who you're asking. To me, yeah it is. I'm not really a religious person, but yet I find it very easy to exist (and prosper) even if the rest of the world doesn't share my belief system.

You know, I think it's strange that religious zealots are condemned and ridiculed every day, but the people on the other side, the people who make it their mission to convert other people to atheism, don't take much heat. I wonder why that is.

Why is it so hard for people to just live their own lives and not try and convince other people that what they think or believe is correct?

Anyway, I kind of got off topic there but yeah I think making fun of a subject that is near and dear to a person (as religion usually is) is disrespectful, especially when you have the option to MYOB. You should almost always take that option.

[chezlaw]

Some of the best comedy ever made makes fun of religon and adherents. Laughter is one of gods greatest gift to humanity and it would be disrepectful not to make great comedy.

[bholdr]

Making fun is by definition 'disrespectful'

people are free to choose what they respect or disrespect...

I will continue to not-respect religious whackos

but i will rarely disrespect them for their beliefs, rather i will continue to disrespect the absurd and irrational manner in which they hold their beliefs.