Laughing at our sacred cows

I've been trying to think of what to say about the whole furor over the anti-Muslim cartoon going on in Europe. I thought that my paper's local cartoonist, David Fitzsimmons, wrote a good editorial about it. I like how he drew the line:

I censor myself. All cartoonists do from time to time. Would I have drawn Muhammad? No. To draw a likeness of Muhammad is to ridicule a core, heartfelt belief of many Muslims.

I would no sooner do that than I would gratuitously mock I'itoi, yarmulkes or the Book of Mormon. It is hurtful. And it doesn't address issues in a meaningful way....

When it comes to religious icons, I draw the line at the point where the banner of rigid belief enters the public square.

When religion is dragged into the public arena to wrestle with reason, it is fair game. Whether it's a school board in Dover, a pope in the pulpit or an extremist in Tehran.

I think decent people (of faith or not) should try to err on the side of respecting what is sacred to others. I agree with Fitz that when someone starts pushing their religions agenda in the public square, it's fair game, but for the most part, we really should try not to make fun of other people's deeply held beliefs.

But what I really think is more incumbent upon us, especially people of faith, is to learn how to laugh at our own sacred cows. We shouldn't be so quick to take offense at every poke at our faith. I'm convinced God has a way better sense of humor than we do. I'm not crazy about Darwin fishes, for example, not because I have a problem with Darwin or think he's incompatible with Christianity, but because they've taken a symbol used specifically to represent Christ and put someone else's name into it. That kinda bugs me (way more than the feet added onto the fish, incidentally). That said, I have a bunch of good friends who have Darwin fishes and I understand why and get the statement they're making, so I can laugh it off. It just isn't worth frothing up at the mouth over, let alone setting embassies on fire.

What I have a lot more trouble brushing off is the offensive, ugly, hateful stuff that comes out of the mouths of people claiming to represent my faith. (Yeah, I'm looking at you, Pat Robertson!) That's a lot more blasphemous than the pokes that come from outside from people who don't really understand my faith.

Jesus said that what we put into our mouth can't make us unclean, but what comes out of our mouth can. So the Darwin fish or the belittling Muhammad cartoon, that's just us swallowing something from outside. But the stuff we say in Christ's name? That's where we'd better be really, really careful.