I saw this on the Colbert show a couple days ago. I thought the Harvard professor’s ideas were interesting. I also thought it was interesting seeing Colbert talk about his faith, almost breaking character for a bit. If you didn’t know he is a Sunday school teacher. Oh, what I would give to sit in on a Bible lesson from Colbert…
I don’t think that it means you can’t literally EVER laugh at something or it loses the sacredness(?). But laughing as in ridiculing it for being what it is. Laughing at something funny/ironic is different than ridiculing something to destroy its image. I think there is a middle ground here, satire is a genius way of getting a point across. And I love to laugh at satire.
Gosh, Colbert is brilliant. It’s funny that the guest brings up the gospel of John because in the Gospel of John, Jesus routinely, or so I’ve been told, pokes fun at the audience and his disciples. It’s particularly evident when he has to explain himself. A lot of it is lost in the translation from greek though. And there are other comical places in scripture. Elijah telling the prophets of baal that the reason their altar hasn’t been burned up yet is because Baal is relieving himself, is pretty funny to me. I think we can laugh at something and still hold it sacred though. Just look at Jewish culture for example. Humor is routinely used. It’s a good way to get over some harsh times some times.
There sure are limits though. I would agree that ridicule would be one of them, but I don’t mind laughing about somethings held sacred. Even if I do happen to hold them sacred myself.