I’m not Catholic, but this story from the Sydney Morning Herald bothers me. MTV plans to air a blatantly sacrilegious cartoon called Popetown, “which depicts the Pope […] bouncing through St. Peter’s in Rome on a cross-like pogo stick and satirizes religious ceremonies.” Non-Catholic Christians might actually chuckle a bit at that, but they’ll stop laughing when they see the advertisement for this series that shows “Jesus apparently getting down from the cross to sit in an armchair and watch the program. The advert’s tagline read: Have a laugh instead of hanging around.”
Not surprisingly, Catholic bishops — especially those from the Pope’s home state of Bavaria — are outraged. As well they should be. If this were a send-up of another religion (for example, Islam), you can bet no one would even consider airing it. Why do broadcasters have no respect or common decency? Didn’t their mothers teach them not to mock other people’s religions? In our supposedly sensitive, tolerant, and politically-correct society, it seems that the only religion no one is required to be sensitive or tolerant toward is Christianity.
I read a long time ago someone saying the last socially-acceptable prejudice in America is to be anti-Christian. I think that’s probably slightly overstating the case, but there’s a certain truth to it.
On the other hand, I gave up getting upset about most of these things a long time ago. I am Catholic, and at a certain point I just had to accept that Catholicism makes a GREAT dramatic foil – whether as the butt of jokes, as the evil empire ruling the universe through mind control, or as the full-of-ceremony, empty-of-heart example of dissipated and useless religion.
I’ll continue being more concerned about housing the homeless in Peoria and feeding the hungry in Central Illinois. If people get off on mocking religion, well, that’s their business. I’ve got corporal acts of mercy to attend to. 😉
Yes, generally I’m an advocate of just ignoring this kind of stuff so as not to give it any more publicity. But in light of recent events — specifically cartoon depictions of Mohammed and “sensitive” media outlets not wanting to offend Muslims by reproducing those images — I just wanted to point out the hypocricy.
It is obnoxious. It either has to be an open free-for-all, or people need to be respectful-to-all.
But then … I suppose that would require us not to mock Scientology.
We cannot and should not legislate “respect” (a/k/a censorship). Certain people want the First Amendment repealed if the speech offends them, and have largely succeeded. We should be ashamed. But that is the problem, of course. There is no shame in our society. In an earlier era, no one would publish the kind of trash you described because the public at large would have shunned the publisher and and condemned the publication (private condemnation is protected speech, too). In our “non-judgmental” society, people are afraid to call trash trash. So it is printed with impunity, except if it offends those who don’t believe in free speech, and are willing to use violence to silence it.
“So it is printed with impunity, except if it offends those who don’t believe in free speech, and are willing to use violence to silence it.”
Or have the ACLU to back their anti-Christian agenda…