Blasphemy Will Save Us All

         

Just boil Christian vegetables in an Angst Broth for 3 years.

            For my regular readers and people who know me, you know that "blasphemy" plays a major part in my writing. I cherish that America has evolved into a society where Faith, Marketing, and Humor have combined to create a place where you can wear a Jesus For President shirt that both advertises your core belief system and lets you participate in the ironic tshirt fad. "Laissez faire faith" has become abundant and generally accepted because of no central church or religious sanctions. Religious texts and figures are so ancient and now so widely known across faiths that their taboo nature has deteriorated in the path of globalization.
            Clash of cultures exists when humor is absent. Which is funny, ha, because Christian teachings never cited humor as a virtue, and most mentions of laughter in the Bible are damning those who do it (Try Luke 6:25, Psa 59:8, Pro 1:26). There are those fundamentalists who hold their ground despite the times, but the blasphemies once punishable by death have been heavily downgraded by society, and somehow even embraced. Shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, and South Park have an attitude of anything goes when it comes to depictions of deities and are watched by a wide spectrum of ages, including young eyes whose parents are scared of the lessons being taught to developing minds.
            To fight this, churches have become more mainstream in order to compete with the same audiences. Veggie Tales reimagined Bible stories and present moral scenarios through slapstick and self deprecating humor that often pokes fun at the source material, but still stating its message. Songs about lazy pirates, losing your hairbrush, and the importance of water buffalo were even years ahead of Lonely Island's musical takeover of SNL. It's becoming apparent now that the viewers of Veggie Tales grew up to watch these other shows anyway, because the change in the church's presentation helped build a natural progression on to adult formats.
            Blasphemy won't disappear from the modern list of accepted sins like some of the Levitcal laws, because the Bible does claim it to be the worst and most hated by God. However, I've noticed the new school of thought is that there are two types of blasphemy: Soft and Hard. Soft would imply anything said or done out of light hearted humor or without spite. Hard would include intended instances of maliciousness. Generally people can distinguish between the two, so I think people who damn others for their goddamns better know this whole damn world needs a new outlook. In addition to language (last blog), a healthy mix of humor and irreverence is key in the coming century in order for society to make amends with itself and reach a higher stage of global interaction, and it's seems to be happening in America. If I am wrong let whoever is up there strike me down, because I probably had it coming.

Serve with Mr. Pibb and Red Vines