The truth hurts - unless, of course, it’s funny

Is faith funny?

It’s freakin’ hilarious.

You mean to tell me there are actually people who believe someone could get “resurrected” after death? That reincarnation happens? That a cracker is actually the body of Christ? That a god is listening to your prayers? That heaven and hell exist? In the 21^st century?

It’s either funny or incredibly depressing. I’m not sure which. Maybe both.

Ok, I know, I’m misreading the question…

Here’s a better question: Can faith and humor go together?

They can… but only if you’re not the person whose beliefs are being mocked.

Humor is based in truth. Religion isn’t. Faith is all about things we wish were true, not things that actually are true. That’s what made comedians like George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, and Bill Hicks so legendary: While everyone else was debating the color of the emperor’s clothes, they weren’t afraid to say the the emperor wasn’t wearing any, and the way they said it was genius. They earned millions of fans by calling out the religious hypocrisy all around us. (And they weren’t just picking on corrupt religious leaders — they were going after anyone and everyone who believed in god.)

Bill Maher did a comedy bit in his recent show in which he just reads from Pastor Rick Warren‘s The Purpose Driven Life. He doesn’t mock it. He just reads it verbatim. And the audience loves it because what Warren has to say is so mind-bogglingly idiotic. Ricky Gervais follows suit in his latest special,telling the story of Noah’s Ark (as written in a children’s book). You can see from the video how he brings down the house.

The Book of Mormon continues this trend. The writers don’t have to be provocative on purpose. They just have to tell the truth about Mormonism and people will laugh. Because faith is funny.

Take the lyrics of one song from the musical: “I Believe”:

They’re not going out of their way to pick on Mormons. They’re just explaining Mormon theology.

Since we’re talking about the brainchild of Matt Stone and Trey Parker, what about their other creation, South Park? They did an episode discussing Mormon beliefs and people were offended. Another time, they explained the beliefs of Scientology and that was enough for Isaac Hayes (the Scientologist who voiced the character Chef) to quit. They wrote a few episodes highlighting how offended Muslims get when Muhammad is depicted… only to receive death threats from radical Muslims in response. Atheists weren’t immune from the scrutiny, either. In a couple episodes, South Park pointed out that even when God was out of the picture, atheists would find other things to argue about. (I thought those episodes were great.)

Again, were they mocking all these belief systems? I would argue no. In most cases, they were just pointing out the beliefs that many adherents of these faiths hold. But faith is funny, and the audience members who know better than to follow the religions in question were laughing in spades. (I’m curious if Mormons, Scientologists, and Muslims found those episodes as funny as I did. I suspect there are a few people who liked them, but certainly not many.)

At some point, we become immune to certain religious beliefs and we stop laughing about them. It’s not funny if I state that millions of Christians believe Jesus is returning to Earth some day — even though that’s true. But Harold Camping, who predicted Jesus was coming back on a specific date, was rightfully turned into a laughingstock for his beliefs.

Comedians everywhere have mocked the strange beliefs of other people for generations — and we revere them for telling the truth. But religious people tend to stop laughing when they realize they’re the butt of the joke.

Hemant Mehta  | Jun 15, 2011 6:04 PM