Are You Offended by "Djesus Uncrossed"?
Humor can be a funny thing (ba dum bum!).
Some Christians (and now, it seems, some Muslims, too) have taken offense at "Saturday Night Live's" recent skit, "Djesus Uncrossed," depicting the Saviour as back and ready for revenge.
For those who care to see it, here is the segment [warning: there's some language and gory violence]:
I am a committed Christian (or, at least, I hope and pray that God thinks so!). But, for what it's worth, I thought this segment was the funniest thing "Saturday Night Live" has done for a long time.
The joke wasn't ridiculing Jesus' identity as the Son of God, Christian beliefs, or Christians generally, but rather the predictable, over-the-top violence and revenge fantasies that characterize Tarantino movies. (And hey, the part where Jesus blows Judas Iscariot away, after telling him "If you get to Heaven, say 'hi' to my Dad" is laugh-out-loud funny.)
What makes it funny? The disconnect between our understanding of who Jesus actually is -- selfless love, cheap grace, and eager forgiveness -- and the vengeful, back-from-the-dead, take-no-prisoners Jesus portrayed in the skit. (The humor works in much the same way as in this famous SNL skit, about Ronald Reagan as Iran-Contra mastermind.)
Don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those conservatives who routinely dismiss anti-Christian bigotry with eye-rolling and an oh-so-hip plea for everyone to "lighten up!" There is plenty of anti-Christian bigotry around, as I noted some time ago, commenting on a previous NBC offering. And I do think it's necessary for Christians to push back when truly objectionable stuff appears, because otherwise there's no end to what the cultural elite will impose upon us.
But -- with all the respect in the world for my conservative Christian friends who were genuinely offended -- isn't it important that we pick our battles? This skit isn't going to change anyone's view of who Jesus is (the Way, the Truth, and the Life) and what He came to do. The uglier, more dangerous stuff is the insidious entertainment that treats Christianity and Christian principles as hate-filled, bigoted, lacking in compassion and humor, or irrelevant. Things like holding a morals-free sex seminar in a Christian chapel during Lent, to my mind, are far more disrespectful of Christianity and do far more to undermine a right understanding of its principles than this sketch.
I simply don' think Jesus would be outraged by this. He may take His work on Earth, His love for (and expectations of) us, and His identity as God's Son with eternal seriousness -- but He doesn't take Himself seriously . . . because He is utterly lacking in unworthy personal pride. Don't you think Jesus has a sense of humor -- and that He might even laugh at the sheer silliness of it all?
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Comments:
Oct '10
Re: Are You Offended by "Djesus Uncrossed"?
KC Mulville
Some things are plainly out of bounds, like (my usual example) the communion bread or wine, because those things are sacred. If you mock those, it means that you have so little respect for sacred things that you must have no respect for anything else, and then I'd strongly object.
KC, given this and your earlier comment on Life of Brian, what are your feelings on that movie. I've always thought it was the height of Monty Python's art. Was it sacrilegious?
Jan '11
Re: Are You Offended by "Djesus Uncrossed"?
Severely Ltd.
KC, given this and your earlier comment on Life of Brian, what are your feelings on that movie. I've always thought it was the height of Monty Python's art. Was it sacrilegious?
Malcolm Muggeridge, a great friend of WFBuckley, had a conversation with John Cleese and Michael Palin about this very subject. The YouTube is here.
When I first saw the movie, frankly, I thought it was juvenile. Funny, but juvenile. What's odd is that it left me with a curious sense of relief, in that the criticisms Monty Python ridiculed were nothing I hadn't already thought of. When I look at the movie now, my reaction is - this is the most damning ridicule you've got? We've got that covered.
So, freed from any fear that the movie would mock anything substantial, I've always felt free to laugh at the jokes.
In the YouTube interview, the Pythons talk about the movie as a way to puncture any closed belief system. Love them though I do, that presumes that Christians don't think about what we believe.
Good Lord, I've been thinking about little else for 40 years. They're wrong.
Jan '11
Re: Are You Offended by "Djesus Uncrossed"?
Again, Cleese says the same thing about his rejection of Christianity as Ricky Gervais said. He rejected Christianity based on feeling that it insulted his intelligence ... at the age of eleven. He felt as if he was catechized poorly.
Maybe he was, but as a thinking adult, surely you have to acknowledge the limitations to which any large-scale system of catechesis must succumb. Forgive the humanity involved. Get past your feelings that you had when you were eleven; why become a permanent eleven-year old? Why evaluate everything from an eleven-year old's perspective? Seeing things from an adult perspective makes much more sense for an adult.
If you disagree as an adult, fine ... but to remain stuck in an adolescent view of religion is to miss most of it.
Re: Are You Offended by "Djesus Uncrossed"?
I was baptized as a child, catechized from then on -- and always struggled with non-belief. I was scared to look too much into atheism for fear it might destroy my faith altogether.
One day I was asked to write on a history of unbelief for a magazine. I took the assignment. And was shocked to realize that the general field hadn't really discovered anything beyond my 4th-grade doubts.
I guess I thought there was much, much, much more "there" than the questions I developed as a child. Not only was there nothing more than that, it was just a disappointing treatment of even those questions.
And don't read Hitchens' book God is not Great. Riddled with errors and just juvenile. He's much better than that -- Hitchens, that is. I'm sure it made money and we all understand that temptation -- his other works tend to be better.
Nov '11
Re: Are You Offended by "Djesus Uncrossed"?
What kind of errors, Mollie?
Re: Are You Offended by "Djesus Uncrossed"?
Well catalogued elsewhere, but perhaps best represented by his claim that Orthodox Jews have to have sex with a sheet in between them. Not true, not substantiated, but fitting for his conclusions. As a religion reporter, I remember just saying (in my libertarian book club that read it) over and over "that's not true, that's not true, that's not true." It was more like "take the worst thing you've ever heard about a group, then draw conclusions from it (truth or understanding be damned)."
Rather brutal take-down (though it might not mention that sex error) here.
Feb '11
Re: Are You Offended by "Djesus Uncrossed"?
C. U. Douglas
Majestyk
skipsul: I direct you all to this little gem from the 1980's:
Gandhi 2
The humor here is basically the same. · 2 minutes ago
UHF is a Cult Classic. Conan the Librarian! · 5 minutes ago
Running on that little Rabbit Trail: I am always disappointed when my friends can't quote that film. Also, best side throwaway gag in that movie is the blind man trying to solve a Rubik's Cube. · February 21, 2013 at 10:46am
Supplies!!!
That always got me rolling on the floor.
Feb '11
Re: Are You Offended by "Djesus Uncrossed"?
Tommy De Seno: Ok - "A less violent Passion of the Christ" made me laugh.
One test I use to determine if a parody is good natured or intended to insult is to look at the author. I can laugh at myself or my beliefs if you want to laugh with me, but no one likes to be laughed at.
SNL - The evidence is clear by testimonials of former stars that SNL is a left wing propaganda machine. Search for Chevy Chase talking about it. So I start out suspicious of this video.
.....
Agreed. I suppose I can't quite determine whether they're laughing at me or with me in this particular example, but I agree that I go in suspicious of the intent.
Jul '11
Re: Are You Offended by "Djesus Uncrossed"?
The New Clear Option: Definitely the funniest thing they've done since the Belushi/Ackroyd golden age.
· February 21, 2013 at 10:10am
No.
There's a lot of great things, and great eras since the early beginning. I think that when it's said and done, Dana Carvey will be considered the best actor in the program's history.
They've been doing these short films for several years now, and they tend to be the highlight of the show. The Jesus video was just another one.
Some others that come to mind:
Batman
Sopranos
Twilight
Enjoy!
Feb '12
Re: Are You Offended by "Djesus Uncrossed"?
I haven't watched SNL in years because it's too raunchy and ribald. In short, one can hardly be a Christian and watch SNL without taking offense. If Christians regularly watch that show, and it took a skit explicitly about Jesus to offend them, then I just don't know what to say to that.
So, Christians: you want to not be offended at the comedy of a bunch of post-modern atheist/agnostic/iconoclasts? Then, be careful little eyes what you see.
Oct '10
Re: Are You Offended by "Djesus Uncrossed"?
KC Mulville
Severely Ltd.
KC, given this and your earlier comment on Life of Brian, what are your feelings on that movie...Was it sacrilegious?
Malcolm Muggeridge, a great friend of WFBuckley, had a conversation with John Cleese and Michael Palin about this very subject. The YouTube is here.
When I first saw the movie, frankly, I thought it was juvenile. Funny, but juvenile...When I look at the movie now, my reaction is - this is the most damning ridicule you've got? We've got that covered.
I have an affection for Malcolm Muggeridge as someone that moved courageously from the left to the right when it was unpopular, and for his defense of Christianity later in life, but I've seen the video and wasn't impressed with his arguments. (MM was also a great friend of P. G Wodehouse.)
Cleese has pointed out that in the segments where they seem to be skewering the sectarianism of Christianity (a valid target to my way of thinking), they actually had in mind the leftist groups rampant in England in the 60s/70s.
Juvenile humor is good. Isn't distaff Ricochet constantly reminding us that men don't grow up?
Jul '11
Re: Are You Offended by "Djesus Uncrossed"?
Shane McGuire: I haven't watched SNL in years because it's too raunchy and ribald. In short, one can hardly be a Christian and watch SNL without taking offense. If Christians regularly watch that show, and it took a skit explicitly about Jesus to offend them, then I just don't know what to say to that.
So, Christians: you want to not be offended at the comedy of a bunch of post-modern atheist/agnostic/iconoclasts? Then, be careful little eyes what you see. · 20 hours ago
This is WHY people make fun of you. You can't seem to take a joke. OMG, hide your eyes, and the women and children!!!
If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger? Yes. Anyone is mockable. But you don't need to serve yourself up on a tray.
I'm a Christian as well, and sometimes the jokes write themselves.
"Lighten up, Francis." Life is easier that way.
And with that, this thread needs more Cowbell.
Aug '10
Re: Are You Offended by "Djesus Uncrossed"?
I'm not offended that people joke on television about Jesus the way they'd joke about any other historical figure. I just change the channel.
On the other hand, I'm angry that Allegheny college ignores the desire of Christian students to have the location of a morals free sex seminar be anywhere on campus but the chapel. And it's disquieting to think about what we all know will happen next : The students will complain about the disregard for their sensibilities for a little while longer, in a defensive, timid kind of way. Then they'll be talked (or snubbed) into believing they appear to be intolerant yokels making a big deal over a building that has been used for ages for all kinds of secular things.
In order to feel less uncomfortable about remaining at the school, the students will stop saying what they think about the way the chapel was used and cease acknowledging to themselves what they sense. The subtle (not so subtle) displays of hostility on campus toward Christian outlook and culture will increase.
I wish--for everyone's good, in the long run--Christian students at
Edited on February 25, 2013 at 3:03pmAllegheny would tell the people behind the location for this seminar to go touch themselves. They could best do this by taking their tuition money to a different kind of college. But I don't think I would have had the insight and courage necessary for that kind of constructive action at their age.
Apr '11
Re: Are You Offended by "Djesus Uncrossed"?
I disagree re: Dana Carvey, EK. However, I do admit my ignorance on this topic; still it's more a function of just how horrendously boring SNL has been for decades than my cloistered life. We're not talking about a violation of the 2nd Commandment here, though.
Additionally, I completely agree with you re: your response to "be careful little eyes..." That IS (one reason among many) WHY non-believers make fun of Christians, particularly American Evangelicals.
Still, the moment you identify with a religion that affirms a Man rose from the dead, you're a nut, Evangelical or not. Unless you're a the moralistic/therapeutic deist sort of "Christian," (read: Mainline Prot/Liberal Catholic/Emergent/-ing), that's a pretty wide net.
1Cor 1:22-25 applies here.
EstoniaKat
The New Clear Option: Definitely the funniest thing they've done since the Belushi/Ackroyd golden age.
· February 21, 2013 at 10:10am
No.
They've been doing these short films for several years now, and they tend to be the highlight of the show. The Jesus video was just another one.
Some others that come to mind:
Batman
Sopranos
Twilight
Enjoy! · February 22, 2013 at 11:26am