I'm going to hell for that bit. And you're all coming with me! And don't try to get out of it, "We didn't laugh at that bit, Jesus, please!" "Shut up! Get on the bus with Leary and Scorsese. You're going right to fucking hell!"
- Denis Leary, No Cure For Cancer
Why bother to poke fun at a being that doesn't exist?
Religion is all about ideas. It's about teaching people to think in a certain way. Unfortunately, religions often resort to somewhat harsh means of enforcing their paradigms. They work, and they worked on me.
Blasphemy offers a way to alter the paradigm. It takes quite a bit to unroot deep-seated fears, and a dose of good sacrilege is just what the doctor ordered. The day I was able to laugh out loud at a joke made at the expense of God was the day I knew that the fear was gone. The worst of the programming had been erased.
I still laugh, just because I like the way that freedom feels.
Face it, it's funny. Everyone who's ever been religious knows what I mean, even if they won't admit it. How many times have you had to stifle a giggle, mentally rebuffing yourself for finding such impious thoughts humorous?
Laugh! Life is funny. We are funny. The things we talk ourselves into believing are funny.
I spent too much time taking it all way too seriously. Now it's time to enjoy the things I wouldn't even allow myself to snigger at before.
There are many ways to convey a point, and few as effective as humor.
For example, when confronted with Pascal's Wager, the non-believer can embark on a deep and mathematical explanation of it's flaws, or he can simply quote Homer Simpson. When a cartoon character can debunk the best Christian philosophers in one sentence, there's no defense! Similarly, The God Simulator neatly demonstrates the problem of evil, and demolishes Augustine's apologetics by merely asking a few simple questions.
Not all blasphemy is so erudite, of course. But it's well worth the time to find irreverent work that is.
Copyright © 1997-1999 by Jason Steiner.