A Commentary on Comedy | Part Five

Collective has kicked off its sermon series titled, Prophets of Comedy. It delves into the idea that comedians are modern day prophets. My job is to give my take on each sermon and featured comedic video. I promise to strive to avoid offense, ask good questions, articulate and explain my responses. I also promise to link the sermon video to the picture above... but we'll see how that goes.

Back to the bullshit department. This week we add George Carlin to the mix and he has something to say about religion holding the greatest bullshit story of all time.  If it had a title it would be something along the lines of "The Invisible Man and His Need for Money". 

Hypocrisy can be a prominent feature of the church. It is separate from religion but clergy often use religion as a hook to reel in things like money and volunteered labor. God stands for justice, love, and goodness, but when empty ritual is used to gain unnecessary benefits the hypocrisy is clear. 

There is something unnerving about the amount of hypocrisy that lies in these sacred foundations. As a little girl I wanted to believe that the church was everything I needed and nothing that would hurt me. As an adult I still want to believe that, but it is clear that this is not the case. Yes it takes money and effort to keep an organization running smoothly, but the church could afford to be clearer with that. The funds are not for God, they are for the doughnut and coffee social that will be held after mass. God does not need our money in order to influence our lives. God does not need air conditioning, snacks, new robes, a band, running water, clean bathrooms, and a preacher. But we do, and the fear that lies in religious organization to make this message clear is utter bullshit. 

Carlin describes God as violent and petulant, but he loves you! It is true. The world is difficult and violent and messy. The Bible focuses on violence in order to point out the the ridiculousness of such terrible acts and by allowing us to realize the cruelty we better ourselves and the Christian religion. If God is even remotely related to Jesus then he is non-violent. And if God is not violent then our excuse to be just that is no longer valid.