Subject: On discussions of religion, jokes, and comfort.
Author:
Posted on: 2020-06-26 06:10:04 UTC

We've had some discussions on the Discord about religion and the types of comments made about it. The issue at hand is mostly when, if at all, joking about religion is okay.

On one hand, making people feel unwelcome is never something we want to do. It's really easy to make people feel insulted with topics like religion, and insulting entire groups of people is obviously unacceptable.

On the other hand, discussion of serious topics is allowed. People on the server have both criticisms of Christianity and jokes they want to make. We've made jokes about politics and other serious topics before, so it is ok to do the same with religion? Part of the argument I've seen made and have made myself is that jokes about religious topics can be pretty cathartic if the person in question has had bad experiences with it.

So my main goal with this thread is to ask: is it possible to be non-alienating and sufficiently respectful while making jokes about something? How can a topic like this be discussed/joked about without making people uncomfortable?

I am somewhat out of my depth here. Thus, the thread. Apologies for the brevity of my summary.

Reply Return to messages

  • Hear, Hear! by on 2020-06-27 13:56:40 UTC Reply

    Seconding all of this. ^

  • My take by on 2020-06-26 12:06:23 UTC Reply

    As a frequent joker about christianity, I adhere to the same general rule as "the straights are at it again" jokes: there is a difference between the majority, who are just trying to live their lives, and The Majority(tm), who are nffholes about it. Said distinction is implicit in jokes at the expense of The Majority(tm), and no offense to the majority is intended. (I hope that makes some kind of sense, I just woke up.)

    If I was ever unclear about this I really do apologize.