I have noticed that there tends to be the following association:
Humorlessness goes with vocal external religiousity.
A good sense of humor and tolerance go with deep internal religious conviction.
Has anyone else noticed this–that those religous people who truly work on the states of their own souls first and worry about “fixing” the world afterwards (if at all) have an easier time accepting humor about themselves and their faiths?
I don’t thin it’s a matter of religion. I think ideologues of ANY type tend to be humorless and angry.
That is, I’ve never seen a rabid atheist, environmentalist or communist with a sense of humor, either. Frankly, I have a MUCH easier time picturing Fred Phelps laughing hysterically than I can Ralph Nader or Noam Chomsky. Those guys never so much as crack a smile!
If you believe in a cause, ANY cause, with all your heart, it can be hard to see anything remotely funny about it.
The people who go for big, outward shows of faith do seem to be pretty humorless in my experience. John Ashcroft is a lot of things, but he’s NOT a funny man.
Most public figures take themselves too seriously in general, I think.
I’ll disagree here, not just for myself, but for Douglas Adams. I do positively agree with your point, though.
Is John Ashcroft a religious man? I’ve never seen that side of him.
A sense of humor is one of those things that I’ll take where I can get it. I know some hard-core bible thumpers who are a freakin’ hoot. Whenever I see questions about who has sense of humor, I always - and don’t ask me why - think of the Vonnegut line: “He had a tremendous wang, incidentally, you never know who will get one.”
That just sort of sums up the idea that even when you have plenty of information about a person, they might have a something surprising going for them.
Dogface, maybe it’s just that many people who have spiritual depth are also emotionally intelligent. I would think that part of emotional intelligence would be the ability to laugh at yourself and at life’s absurdities. Also, maybe many of those who get wired into the circular reasoning traps just aren’t all that clever to begin with and it reflects in their senses of humor. There are so many exceptions on both sides though.
One of my friends was a humorist. He lived downeast and restaurants used to pay him to sit on the front porch near the entrance and just be humorous for the tourists. Wickedly funny man! Then he fell in with a particular group of Christians who display really cultish behavior. The last time I saw him, some of his wit was still there, but he was actually trying to repress it because he believed that because a sense of humor wasn’t listed in the Bible as a “gift of the spirit,” then he must sacrifice that part of his personality. Eventually he disappeared with this group. The last I heard, he was living on an island and hadn’t been in touch with his family in years. Damn! What a waste! I still miss him after twenty-four years.
I’ve noticed this too. It’s easily explainable, I think. If you’re the kind of person who clings to an idea like Tom Hanks to a volleyball, you’re not going to accept other views, joking and joshing about your view, or anything else that threatens your stable little world. If, on the other hand, you’re simply happy to hold your view, you’re not so easily threatened and can take a joke or two at your expense.
For example I take pride in being a hard-ass skeptic, but this strip cracked me up. To understand it, you’ll have to know that the guy in the dark glasses has fallen and is dying, and his ghost is talking to the ghosts of Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan.
By the way, if you like that one, go into the archives, start at April 1st 2002 and work your way forwards for two weeks. It’s hilarious.
J.C. said, "Is John Ashcroft a religious man? I’ve never seen that side of him. "
Golly! That’s the ONLY side I see of him. Other than politically oppressive.
An atheist, environmentalist and communist walk into a bar…
I can see Fred Phelps laughing, but it’s usually laughter of the insane variety.
Eh. Sounds like a blatant stereotype to me. One need only listen to the likes of Greg Laurie, Chuck Smith, Chondra Pierce, Alistair Begg, Raul Ries, Mike MacIntosh and John MacArthur, to see that there are many well-known (and extremely vocal!) religious folks who delight greatly in humor and laughter.
Does Father Guido Sarducci count?
The current pastor in our church (unfortunately only an interim one) is deeply spiritual and has a terrific sense of humor and razor wit. He finds joy and laughter in life while keeping his faith to be a very serious thing. Not a lot of pastors will have fun with the gospel like Luke 24 by having the ressurected lord catch the scent of “fish on the barbie” and asking for something to nosh. Like any good Lutheran his home town stories have morphed into bits from [I}Prairie Home Companion* and he refers to his hometownof Lake Woebegon with a straight face.
Apparently you have never heard him sing.
I meant intentionally funny.
I object to the comments made in this thread! I strongly believe that John Ashcroft is a very funny man.
Of course, that’s “funny” as in “funny-strange,” not “funny-ha-ha”…
actually, John Ashcroft is a fan of… get ready, sit down…
THE SIMPSONS
I don’t have the cite but a year or two ago, it was his birthday & he was happy about receiving the latest batch on DVD
I have found in my lifetime, that most religious persons are stuffy hardcores when it comes to their religion but OTHER religions now… they are free game. Talk about two-faced. I am an ordained minister and I ALWAYS crack jokes about my OWN religion. I don’t crack on the others because I’m not comfortable STARTING the joke but I’ll darn sure laugh if it’s funny!! 
That’s hardly unique- nobody knows more Pope jokes than the average parish priest, and nobody knows more Jewish jokes that the local rabbi.
But of course, BEFORE telling a Pope joke, the priest has to ask “Is everyone here Catholic?” Because devout Catholics don’t mind mocking their own beliefs and icons among themselves, but they’ll circle the wagons if NON-Catholics try to tell the same jokes.
Similarly, I’ve often heard Jews tell jokes they’d certainly regard as anti-semitic if they heard a Goy tell them. But they only tell such jokes when they’re pretty sure the audience is all-Jewish (I’ve gotten the privilege of hearing such things because, while I’m not Jewish, my last name SOUNDS Jewish… so the joke tellers have assumed I was!).
Big deal, everyone’s a fan of The Simpsons at this point. You might as well said he’s a fan of Gilligan’s Island and get the same effect.
Now, tell me John Ashcroft is a fan of The Boondocks, then we’ll talk…
Is anyone here not an ordained minister of some sort?
What’s that darn church that ordains people over the web?
Myself, I’m a Pope, but that’s neither here, there, or behind me.
(Five bucks if you can name the religion.)