Make Fun Of Faith? Sure. Jesus? Uh, No.

There's also the question of intent. Did Griffin set out to insult Christians or just draw a few headlines? She said she was parodying starlets who thank Jesus for awards and box-office receipts. She didn't seem to mind the publicity.

"I just am loving it," she told CNN's Larry King. "It's in the newspapers around the world, and every article starts with, 'Emmy winner Kathy Griffin,' and then the letters all just blur after that."

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, president of CLAL, a New York-based Jewish think tank, said that he found Griffin's remarks offensive but that "peddling anger and offense is simply her stock in trade."

In other words, consider the source.

The larger question, and the one that probably hits closest to home for many people, is whether Griffin was taking a swipe at religion generally or Jesus in particular. And that, observers say, is not an insignificant distinction.

For most Christians, Jesus of Nazareth is the savior of mankind. "For us and our salvation, he came down from heaven," the Nicene Creed says. "For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried."

In short, Jesus deserves a certain level of respect. That's what hurt, not angered, Russ Hollingsworth, general manager of the Miracle Theater in Nashville, which bought a full-page ad in USA Today taking Griffin to task.

"There's a line that our culture really shouldn't cross," he said. "Kind of like walking by a funeral and shouting obscenities at a family. That's something we don't do."

For years, Hollywood has struggled with what to do with Jesus. Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber made him a "Superstar," and Martin Scorsese tried to humanize him (some said too much) in "The Last Temptation of Christ."

Jack Kenny gave it a try in last year's short-lived NBC drama "The Book of Daniel," which featured an everyman Jesus who knew about the Vicodin hidden in the desk drawer of priest Daniel Webster. That was too much for many viewers, and Kenny said that Jesus remains on a pedestal, above it all.

"But it's a weird thing, a pedestal," Kenny said. "Because it makes someone unknowable and untouchable. Is that really what we want with a figure like Jesus?"

RNS writers Adelle M. Banks and Daniel Burke and RNS-affiliated freelance writers G. Jeffrey MacDonald and Rachel Pomerance contributed to this report.