The first is a very funny cartoon, the second is a very funny comedian, and the third is Senatorial candidate who is a laughingstock - the subject, the source, of many very funny jokes.
Homer Simpson was recently in the news because he was incorrectly identified by the Vatican media as being Roman Catholic, and the animation program in which he appears was applauded for how it reflects catholic views. That surprised me, because on the show, and according to the show's creators, Homer Simpson is a fictional religion, Presbyterian-Lutheran - or Presbylutheran - a sort of comic generic protestantism. Clearly, Homer - and Bart - are colors within lines made to appear to move, with an actor providing the voice and writers providing the dialog. To claim either is an adherent of a religion, or for a religion to endorse children watching, seemed to me to be a bit of a stretch, and also very funny.
Stephen Colbert, in the course of promoting a rally in conjunction with Jon Stewart, The Rally for Sanity and/or Fear (Colbert is the 'fear' presenter) was interviewed this week on the ABC program "the View", indicating that he is a lifelong Roman Catholic, including serving in his church as a Sunday School Teacher. Slipping in and out of his 'Colbert Report' character, he was very funny, giving an example of the things he taught in Sunday School, "don't chew the communion wafer, it makes the angels cry". Over the years I have watched Colbert on his show, and occasionally performing in other venues, despite his remaining in character, he has impressed me with his sincerity regarding his wife and kids, and his religion. So while I laugh at his attempts to be humorous, I would make an aside her to comment on the respect I have for how his faith appears to direct his real life.
Christine O'Donnell now claims to be an evangelical christian, although she was originally Roman Catholic before seeking a more extreme religion to go with her attempts at making a living from being a conservative, exploiting the support for conservative causes to pay her bills. O'Donnell has embraced evangelical religion, and then reconverted to Roman Catholicism. It would be probably the most accurate claim to describe her religion as confused. O'Donnell now represents an ugly attempt to make this nation into a theocracy, as evidenced by the recent debate with Chris Coons in front of the Widener University Law School, where she drew laughter at her ignorance of First Amendment provisions relating to religion. O'Donnell's campaign later tried to rescue her position, claiming O'Donnell supported a minority held view on the separation of church and state, but O'Donnell clearly did not understand the laughter was at her, not with her. She messed up on a few other Constitutional Amendments as well - the 14th and the 16th, making her claims to be some sort of a constitutional scholar from taking an 8 day course at the Claremont Institute, where she is alleged to have misrepresented her academic credentials.
For anyone looking for a better representation of the First Amendment than I have presented here, I would refer you to the excellent site, First Amendment Center.org for an expansion on the Amendment's history.
If Stephen Colbert represents the best of religion and politics, Christine O'Donnell represents some of the worst. Unlike Stephen Colbert and the less devout cartoon character of Homer Simpson, she is only accidentally funny, and far scarier than Colbert's rally for fear.
Dog gone, I shy away from the Catholic progressive vs. Catholic traditionalist thing because it is steeped in ethnic and class identity.
ReplyDeleteI am a Lutheran, BTW, so I don't have any skin in the game.
If you will allow me to snipe from my Lutheran tower, most "liberal" Catholics disagree with the Church on doctrinal issues, so they really should just quit the Cathlics and join the Anglicans. Or the ELCA.
I'm NOT a fan of Ms. O'Donnell. I think she is an example of why the Tea Party is a good idea gone bad.. (i.e. I support their right to be mad at the government.. I think that their recruitment of idiots to run is bad for their cause)
ReplyDeleteI am a Liberal Catholic. I disagree with official doctrine on several issues, but generally tend to agree with many of the fundamentals of the faith.
Lutherans are free to snipe from their tower if they wish. However, I have found that many Lutherans, especially in ELCA, are more conservative than even "moderate" Catholic. Perhaps its not really a religious issue, versus a control issue?
That probably is a discussion for another day.
Terry, always good to see you here, whether in your Lutheran tower or from an observatory overlooking a volcano.
ReplyDeleteToE, as another Lutheran here along with Terry, I can vouch personally for many Lutherans - and other protestant denominations - having adherents who are more conservative than many Catholics.
I hope that all of the Penigma readers found the notion of cartoon character Homer Simpson being any specific religion as funny as I found it.
I hope that all of the RC readers also appreciated that I noted Stephen Colbert as a person of faith for whom I had tremendous respect as regards his faith, despite the superficially silly aspect he sometimes presented regarding religion.
I also note that O'Donnell is a sort of half and half protestant / Roman Catholic, who seems to be - at least to my eye - exploiting religion, and extremes of religion for her personal and political gain, not sincere faith.
I have to admit ToE, I was hoping when I wrote it to see you comment more on the Constitutional law aspects (big grin) of her comments...
I am so thoroughly nauseated by the elections this year in the US, including the rather tepid, lame democratic efforts, that I tend to not read or hear much about Ms. O'Donnell. I've made my thoughts on Tea Party constitutional ideas known elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteI often hear the suggestion that where religion is concerned, we must "love it (all) or leave it." While I am willing to concede that religion's social role is to slow social change - to be always on the conservative side of most social issues - an anchor as it were, I believe it must be a sea anchor (You may have to look that up.), not one bound up in the rocks on the floor of the ocean. That means religions must move. They must be allowed to change. How will change ever happen if everyone who is pushing for it is invited to leave? No. Like or not, religious people must stay the course in order to promote change in their religions.
ReplyDeleteI say that from my lowly Catholic pew...where I advocate for a lot of change.
Leslie I am delighted you advocate for change, but I am hopeful that you do not feel I have been disrespectful of your faith when you write "from my lowly Catholic pew".
ReplyDeleteDog Gone,
ReplyDeleteNo problem. I see much that must be changed in the Catholic Church, so I am often accused of being disrespectful myself.
I was just adding a bit of humor to Terry's "lofty" post.