My friend Seth Andrews of The Thinking Atheist podcast
recently did a show where he asked the question:
Should we mock religion?
I wanted to offer my own answer right here:
Yes.
We should absolutely mock religion.
But we do want to be careful about what exactly we're mocking.
Bad ideas of any sort deserve to be criticized.
And mockery is a form of criticism.
There are comedians like Jon Stewart and Bill Maher
who have made careers out of mocking bad political ideas. But for some reason,
a lot of people are hesitant to make fun of religion.
Now, I understand that when it comes to, say, Islam, where
mocking it could result in a death sentence, and it has for some people.
But not all religions are like that, and
even with those religions, we treat them with kid gloves.
Why is that?
Maybe part of it is because we understand that a lot of people build their lives around their religion.
And if we're mocking their faith, is pretty much equivalent to mocking who they are as people.
I understand that thinking.
It's commendable, really, that some people think like that. That they
wouldn't want to make fun of religion, because they don't want to make other people feel bad.
But I don't think that alone should immunize religion from criticism.
Sure, some people may not react very well to it,
but a lot of people will.
In fact, I think it provides a very useful way to get people to rethink their beliefs.
When you straight up challenge someone's ideas, they get defensive.
They will rationalize whatever position they hold, no matter how absurd it is.
If you've ever seen a political interview, someone interviewing a senator or a president, you know what I mean.
But if you can get people to laugh about the ideas they already hold,
that's powerful.
That will get them rethinking those beliefs in the future.
You could make the argument that a comedian like George Carlin
has done more to change more people's minds about religion
than someone like Richard Dawkins.
Because Carlin took those ideas that you have believed your entire life
and made you realize how illogical they were.
And he got you to laugh about it.
The next time you thought about someone looking down on you from Heaven,
or the Ten Commandments,
it was hard not to think about what he said about it.
Humor makes it easier to internalize criticism.
Another reason I believe it's okay to mock religion
is because it's an idea that people choose for themselves and they can still change their minds about it.
Religion, unlike your race or your looks,
is something you have complete control over.
So have at it.
Religion's just one long setup waiting for a punchline.
Now, I should mention a few caveats:
Not everyone can do it well.
Not everyone will receive it the same way.
And mockery is not appropriate in every context.
I'm much more likely to mock religion when I'm speaking to a large audience,
as opposed to if I'm having a one-on-one conversation with you.
I also hope, that if you're gonna make fun of religion,
you're making fun of a belief that people actually hold.
Because if you mock Christians for believing, for example,
that God is this bearded white man in the sky,
they're gonna tune you out immediately, because is not what a lot of them actually believe.
Also, it's important to think about why you're mocking faith.
Are you doing it to put other people down and to show they're idiots?
Or are you doing it because you want people to understand why religion shouldn't be the basis for public policy?
I hope it's the latter.
Point being:
mockery of religion should never be off the table.
It's a very powerful tool atheists have in our arsenal.
Ridicule is a good response for ideas that are ridiculous.
My name is Hemant Mehta and I write at FriendlyAtheist.com
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