Humor Versus Blasphemy

“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24).

Generally speaking, humor is intended to be funny, to produce laughter. Political humor is acceptable—so long as it is not one-sided or vicious. Both political and celebrity humor can sometimes be over the top and little more than character assassination disguised as a joke. Religious humor is acceptable and has been used effectively to show the error of someone’s beliefs. It may even be used to highlight certain foibles among Christians and their attitudes. But when it is used to mock God and things regarded as holy in the Scriptures, it steps across the bounds of decency and enters the confines of blasphemy which, according to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is any “contemptuous or profane act, utterance, or writing concerning God.”

Such an offensive attempt at humor was recently used on National Public Radio on December 6, 2014. Before delving into that, however, one wonders why taxpayer dollars are used to fund radio. NPR expresses a variety of views, most of which Christians would disagree with. Why are any stations on radio or television paid for by taxpayers? Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Jon Stewart, and scores of others give their political and social views every day. They are not funded by taxpayers. They must attract sponsors and pay their own way. So why are some allowed to circumvent the free enterprise system and given an audience for free? The fact that their ratings are not all that high is not the point.

But that aside, one of the programs on NPR is titled, Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me! It is hosted by Peter Sagal, whose words will be quoted concerning a certain topic after introducing the picture he commented on. The Catholic Diocese is trying to get Catholics to attend worship during the Christmas season; so they have been running ads to attract attention. The one under discussion features a young woman with her telephone taking a picture of herself. However, the picture that is seen has not only her but an artist’s rendition of Jesus in the background over her left shoulder. He has a trim beard, and it appears that His hands are clasped together. The idea, of course, is that God is always with us; we are never alone.

So underneath the picture just described is the caption, “It’s never just a selfie.” At the bottom of the advertisement, are the words:

Join us for Christmas
Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn

Basically, this is a harmless advertisement that seeks to encourage Catholics to worship over the holidays. It does not step on anyone’s toes, is not critical, nor does it mock anyone. Anyone offended by it would just have to be looking for trouble. But below is the way Peter Sagal described it:

You can take a selfie with Jesus. The Catholic Church preaches that Jesus is always with us. In fact, He’s right behind you. So this new app, Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, shows a woman sitting by herself. She’s holding out a phone to take a selfie like the kids do, but in the picture you see the woman and this bearded beatific man smiling behind her. It’s not some rando [sic] creepo who got into the church; it’s the Son of God. This raises all sorts of questions for the woman. For starters, why didn’t Jesus offer just to take the picture Himself? His hands were occupied.

At this point there was some laughter in the audience, which quickly changed to, “Aww!” Obviously Sagal was implying that Jesus was engaged in lewd or lascivious behavior, which fits into the category of blasphemous rather than humorous. Only a perverted mind would be capable of writing or speaking such a line.

The O’Reilly Factor, which presented this story on December 9, 2014, contacted NPR concerning what was said. They tried to reach Jarl Mohn, the CEO of NPR, in order to ask him what exactly was intended by, “His hands were occupied”? All they received was a reply from a spokesman who said the following:

Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me! is a comedy show that pokes fun at the news. Their goal is to make people laugh. We regret that we didn’t succeed in this case.

That’s it? This is not an apology, nor is it acceptable. Furthermore, they know it. Even the best of comedians tell a joke that few laugh at. Jay Leno sometimes said something along these lines: “They told me at the staff meeting not to include that joke. I wish I had listened to them.” These words usually got a bigger laugh than the unappreciated joke. But he did not apologize for not being funny. So why did the NPR spokesman make such a statement? They certainly knew that the joke was a bomb. It was blasphemous to have even made the suggestion, and they ought to admit it (since everyone already knows it). If they had a shred of decency, they would announce:

We have needlessly offended not only Catholics but all of those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. We do apologize and will make certain that nothing of this kind happens again.

However, this is not the approach that NPR has taken. Firing the writer of that material would also be a good gesture because his judgment is not to be trusted. How can anyone not know how tasteless such a line is? Are these people so removed from God that they think Christians would laugh at such a remark? It is difficult to understand how anyone could even imagine such a scenario.

Christians should not let this situation pass. Even if nothing positive comes from it, NPR ought to hear the voice of protest. Letters may be addressed to NPR, 1111 North Capitol St., NE, Washington, DC 20002.