How do you feel about religious humor in Second Life?

[Dhyaanee]

An elderly lady was well-known for her faith and for her boldness in talking about it. She would stand on her front porch and shout “PRAISE THE LORD!”

 

Next door to her lived an atheist who would get so angry at her proclamations he would shout, “There ain’t no Lord!!”

Hard times set in on the elderly lady, and she prayed for GOD to send her some assistance. She stood on her porch and shouted “PRAISE THE LORD. GOD I NEED FOOD!! I AM HAVING A HARD TIME. PLEASE LORD, SEND ME SOME GROCERIES!!”

The next morning the lady went out on her porch and noted a large bag of groceries and shouted, “PRAISE THE LORD.”

The neighbor jumped from behind a bush and said, “Aha! I told you there was no Lord. I bought those groceries, God didn’t.”

The lady started jumping up and down and clapping her hands and said, “PRAISE THE LORD. He not only sent me groceries, but He made the devil pay for them. Praise the Lord!”

Edited May 23, 2020 by Dhyaanee

[kiramanell]

25 minutes ago, Dhyaanee said:

too true

* It saddens me though, that they are reacting against a misinterpretation of spirituality being expressed in stages 1 & 2.

 

I don't think it's the spirituality per se they react against; more the organization itself. Like the Catholic Church is very hierarchical (among other things...). And threating fire and brimstone (in most all Churches) have been tools to force ppl into compliance. If I were God (ahem), I would rather have someone truly choose me. Like this prayer:

 

“Lord, if I love You out of fear of hell, cast me into hell!

If I love you out of hope of Heaven, close its gates to me!

But if I love you for the sake of loving you, do not deny yourself to me!"

Edited May 23, 2020 by kiramanell

[Prokofy Neva]

Most but not all people in SL are not religious, i.e. they do not participate regularly in organized religion.

But there are more religious believers than this secularized society imagines, and many people who yearn for some spiritual aspect to their lives in some form. It might be an old-fashioned religion that ends up attracting them or they might search among pagan, wiccan, etc. belief systems some of which are actually ancient and others of which are "neo" in ways that are worse than organized religions "of the book".

This I can see from the enormous number of people who visit the sacred places I maintain, and all the others, which I cover with a regularly updated server. Some of these places have lasted as long as Second Life because people like to go to them. Others die, because they can't pay the tier or even the RL person dies, but others are born in their place. There is more religion in SL than the forums regs and the secularist geeks are prepared to admit.

Twenty percent of Americans are Catholic, and that includes me. That's a lot of religious people who went to Catholic school, even if today, this cohort is down from 25% and many no longer go to Catholic church or espouse the beliefs and practices of the religion with which they continue to identify.

There are a fair number of Muslims in SL which you can find not only by seeing various Islamic sites in SL, and even a "Ramadan 50% off Sale" but by seeing that every day, there are multiple visitors to a mosque which I maintain in Ross as part of a sim with a Moroccan theme. Same for the Tibetan monastery and the Catholic and Protestant churches.

So when a top SL designer, around Easter time, makes a wearable item which is the Crown of Thorns in the form of french fries, I think this is blasphemous -- and PS just stupid and in poor taste. I wonder how many people bought it.

When another designer makes a gatcha item called "Holy Toasties" depicting toast with the image of Jesus, I think it's funny, because that's an artifact of other people's religion.

The tolerance for humour usually ends at the door of your own religion, I suppose.

Recently I had to make an item for a game tied to an event and the permissions system was so frustrating and crazy-making that we dropped an item that I was going to supply from an ancient religion (which by now would be seen as cultural, not religious) and I substituted a poster I put in a run-down cafe build in the mountains, "In God We Trust All Others Pay Cash". Then it occurred to me that there might be some born-agains who would be offended, or -- more likely -- some literalists who thought this was a religious sign that violated the event's rules against religious and political propaganda (which many events, including the SL Birthday, have as a restriction).

 

 

Edited May 23, 2020 by Prokofy Neva

[Dhyaanee]

10 minutes ago, kiramanell said:

35 minutes ago, Dhyaanee said:

too true

* It saddens me though, that they are reacting against a misinterpretation of spirituality being expressed in stages 1 & 2.

 

I don't think it's the spirituality per se they react against; more the organization itself. Like the Catholic Church is very hierarchical (among other things...). And threating fire and brimstone (in most all Churches) have been tools to force ppl into compliance. If I were God (ahem), I would rather have someone truly choose me

“Lord, if I love You out of fear of hell, cast me into hell!if I love you out of hope of Heaven, close its gates to me!

... to me; but if I love you for the sake of loving you, do not deny yourself to me!

The road to knowing what love is...it's a very long one.

Yes I agree with what you're saying here, about what they're truly rebelling against. What saddens me is if they don't look deeper due to the original misinterpretations. They could stay in the defensive position forever unfortunately.

 

 

Edited May 23, 2020 by Dhyaanee

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

IMHO, the more oppressive a system (religious, governing, or otherwise) is, the more it deserves to be mocked. Unfortunately, more oppressive systems oppress mockery more effectively too.

[Gatogateau]

39 minutes ago, Dhyaanee said:

My experience is that when you tell people they are doing something 'too much', they just do it more    

/me hangs head sheepishly

Corollary: "You can't do that" often brings about the "watch me" response.

That's not always bad. For example, when I was studying clinical massage, the current "traditional wisdom" said, "You can't safely practice massage on anyone with cancer, any cancer." I thought that sounded fishy. It was pure BS. There are many things you have to learn (many) in order to do it safely and well, but it has a huge benefit when done by a trained practitioner. It ended up guiding my professional career (that one), where that was my primary focus. It then branched to Parkinson's. So sometimes, it isn't a bad thing.

Other times it just gets you more of

 

[Dhyaanee]

1 minute ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

IMHO, the more oppressive a system (religious, governing, or otherwise) is, the more it deserves to be mocked. Unfortunately, more oppressive systems oppress mockery more effectively too.

Unless we know someone well though we can't know if they are sincerely trying to become more loving through their practice, or if they are only wanting to feel superior to those outside their beliefs and could only connect with them if another would 'convert' and be just like them.  So we do need to be careful.

[FairreLilette]

49 minutes ago, Dhyaanee said:

My experience is that when you tell people they are doing something 'too much', they just do it more    

Yeah, but that's okay too...that's their freedom of expression but my freedom is to ignore it.  I only said I had those on ignore so they would know why I'm not responding.  If I wanted that much Taylor Swift stuff, I'd join her fanclub on FB.  I don't mean to not respond to people, it just feels like spam.  The people have every right to expression themselves however they need to within TOS, so if it's more, that's okay too.  But, I still need to ignore it for a bit.  

I don't mean to be ignoring a person...it's the Taylor Swift stuff I am ignoring.  If it was any one other particular individual over and over, I think I'd feel the same way about the overkill no matter what it was.  

And, that's 'nuff said.  

Fair enough?  

Edited May 23, 2020 by FairreLilette

[Silent Mistwalker]

8 hours ago, Dano Seale said:

Fairre took the "living person" portion the wrong way is all. If you'd have put " ....in RL Jesus would have had.....", it might have been clearer? No need for people to gang up on her for that, especially considering you yourself seem to have a problem with my last post which I think was pretty simple to understand. Anyway, not picking sides here, just have a problem with people taking things the wrong way when it wasn't meant that way! ( and yes, it's because it's usually me on the recieving end! lol ).

Concerning your quote above....I remember many moons ago, while preparing to go into a verbal war with the Mormon and Jehovahs witnesses door knockers, I decided to read up on their history to get some ammunition etc. I forget which it was now (book of Mormon maybe?) and to cut a long story short (mainly because I've forgotten most of it), Jesus turned up in present day "some state" and decided to stay and invent "America"!
So, according to whichever gang's history it was/is, it's possible Jesus would have been light skinned....possibly blond (dyed), with an earring and a skateboard under his arm!

All of which just goes to show that "Religion" should'nt become a topic of conversation....ANYWHERE!  (Much the same as Taylor Swift!).

What the heck is wrong with people? I haven't "ganged up" on anyone. When it became obvious she would never understand what I was saying I moved on because I didn't want to get caught in that trap. I'm not going down the being accused of racism. anti-Semitism and all the other that goes with all that. She didn't need to message me to try to stir the pot.

Yes, I've heard all the indigenous stories about that. No, I don't buy it. Yes, I am indigenous.

I do mostly agree with your last statement. 

[Dhyaanee]

1 minute ago, FairreLilette said:

50 minutes ago, Dhyaanee said:

My experience is that when you tell people they are doing something 'too much', they just do it more    

Yeah, but that's okay too...that's their freedom of expression but my freedom is to ignore it.  I only said I had those on ignore so they would know why I'm not responding.  If I wanted that much Taylor Swift stuff, I'd join her fanclub on FB.  I don't mean to not respond to people, it just feels like spam.  The people have every right to expression themselves however they need to so within TOS, so if it's more, that's okay too.  But, I still need to ignore it for a bit.  

I don't mean to be ignoring a person...it's the Taylor Swift stuff I am ignoring.  If it was any one other particular individual over and over, I think I'd feel the same way about the overkill no matter what it was.  

And, that's 'nuff said.  

Fair enough?  

Ahh ok...yeah I totally agree that all should be free to express when they feel something is overkill.

You do have to be prepared for the pushback though, and sometimes dealing with that reaction is simply not worth it. So myself, I pick my battles wisely and even when I feel something is overkill quite often I don't express that.

[Dhyaanee]

tea time

[FairreLilette]

28 minutes ago, Dhyaanee said:

Ahh ok...yeah I totally agree that all should be free to express when they feel something is overkill.

You do have to be prepared for the pushback though, and sometimes dealing with that reaction is simply not worth it. So myself, I pick my battles wisely and even when I feel something is overkill quite often I don't express that.

Yeah, but I can't scroll over it too easily because it's a video.  Typed stuff much easier to scroll over.  I just didn't feel it right to not explain why I might not be responding.  It's not the person; it's the Taylor Swift video formatted stuff - it's not easy to scroll over...it's kind of right in your face kind of thing - can't scroll over it and it's a flashing video gif.  

Edited May 23, 2020 by FairreLilette

[kali Wylder]

3 hours ago, Ceka Cianci said:

Mine wasn't about making fun of a religion..Even though there is room for humor in just about anything when done right..

It was about guy frustrated, still trying to do his job from home.

If it were about those that walked into the bar, we would have found out what happened..

 

someone walks into a bar is about as common as knock knock..

I just decided to put a spin on it and make it about the observer rather than those walking into the bar..

 

 

walked into a bar and said "Ouch!"

it was an iron bar....

[Gatogateau]

8 minutes ago, FairreLilette said:

 I only said I had those on ignore so they would know why I'm not responding. 

My opinion: No one needs to know who or why someone blocks another and frankly, 99% just don't care to know, whether they are on the list or not.

Next thing you know some a55hole is posting a screenshot of his block list.

[Beth Macbain]

Making fun of religion is not the same as making fun of a person. Stop conflating the two. I don't make fun of individuals for their beliefs. I may ask them about them out of genuine curiosity because it was never a part of my life and I honestly don't understand why people feel like they need it. Some of my favorite people in the entire world are devoutly religious and don't mind a bit when I ask questions and want to discuss it. They are secure enough in their faith to not be offended by having it questioned. 

When a religion takes their religion out in public, it's open for debate, questioning, and mockery. When religious groups become lobbying groups and stuff the pockets of politicians with cash, it's open season as far as I'm concerned. The creepy pledge of allegiance in the US says, and no, it wasn't there originally, "One nation under god." No, I'm sorry, we're not. I am not under god. The license plates in my state used to say "In god we trust." No, we don't. I don't. Legally my car has to have a license plate. I could have paid more to get a vanity plate, buy why should I have to pay more money to be excluded from religion when it comes to something the government says I have to have?

Religion is inescapable. One can't simply scroll past it in the real world. It's freaking everywhere, especially in my neck of the woods with Christianity due to that whole "spread the word of the Lord" thing. Keep it to yourselves, or don't be surprised or offended when I spread my beliefs right back. 

And the mocking goes both ways. There have been hundreds of times in my life growing up in Kentucky where I've been told I'm going to hell because I don't accept Jesus Christ as my lord and savior. How many people have told me they are praying for me? I do consider that a mockery of my beliefs. I don't want, need, or ask for them, and they do absolutely nothing to help or comfort me. It's selfish of them to pretend they are doing anything for me. 

Also, as long as I have to scroll past numerous explanations of what dinkie is, others can scroll right past a freaking Taylor Swift gif. 

So yes, as long as religion is out in the open anywhere, be it SL for RL, it's open to religious humor as well. 

 

[FairreLilette]

1 hour ago, Dhyaanee said:

An elderly lady was well-known for her faith and for her boldness in talking about it. She would stand on her front porch and shout “PRAISE THE LORD!”

 

Next door to her lived an atheist who would get so angry at her proclamations he would shout, “There ain’t no Lord!!”

Hard times set in on the elderly lady, and she prayed for GOD to send her some assistance. She stood on her porch and shouted “PRAISE THE LORD. GOD I NEED FOOD!! I AM HAVING A HARD TIME. PLEASE LORD, SEND ME SOME GROCERIES!!”

The next morning the lady went out on her porch and noted a large bag of groceries and shouted, “PRAISE THE LORD.”

The neighbor jumped from behind a bush and said, “Aha! I told you there was no Lord. I bought those groceries, God didn’t.”

The lady started jumping up and down and clapping her hands and said, “PRAISE THE LORD. He not only sent me groceries, but He made the devil pay for them. Praise the Lord!”

Now this one I thought was funny and had some cleverness about it.  

Sounds like one my Dad might have written.  My father was a professional comedian, although his humor was based around impersonations.  He did impersonate the Maharishi Yogi of India which was very cleaver and my Dad always held a real flower.  He made a long sack cloth out of sheets.  I used to get such a laugh at his long messed up hair wig he'd wear and the things he'd bless us all with were amazing and funny at the same time.  My father was an agnostic, however but I think he really liked the Maharishi. 

Putting in a picture of the Maharishi Yogi - this is what my Dad looked like.  My Dad always was kind though regarding his humor.  Always kind.    

Edited May 23, 2020 by FairreLilette

[kiramanell]

And speaking of religion, what's up with this hatred for bringing Taylor Swift into things?! Like constant bickering and fighting, and threads getting locked, is much better.  It's all just in good fun, to lighten the mood. So, she's gonna stay just a teensy bit longer, k?

 

 

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

(I'm THISCLOSE to putting Taylor in my sig line, so she'll appear on everything I post....)

[Fauve Aeon]

I think you unless you’re on a personal friendship basis with people it’s good to stick to the “three things you don’t discuss “rule and add a fourth.

1. politics
2. religion
3. money
4. health

of course everyone is free to do as they like, but those topics avoided equals four things you absolutely will not get in a fight with someone about, which is really very nice! Highly underrated-rated pleasant-ness can occur freely in conversations just by leaving these alone. Many people with different views about these big 4 can find a lot of common ground otherwise and I like testing that out. 
Once you get to know someone of course are bets are off between friends but until, this.

[Orwar]

2 minutes ago, Fauve Aeon said:

• politics
• religion
• money
• health

   Then what is there to talk about? 

[Beth Macbain]

10 minutes ago, Orwar said:

   Then what is there to talk about? 

Sex.

[Orwar]

8 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

Sex.

   Well, yes .. But you can only talk about it so much before you want to go over to practical exercises. 

[Fauve Aeon]

30 minutes ago, Orwar said:

   Then what is there to talk about? 

Anything under the sun but those 4 things. I consider it a sort of trial of someone’s rudimentary social skills...can they hold a decent and interesting initial conversation without relying on one of these to poke the buttons of others...and will they? 

[Kerrianne Wheatcliffe]

As a Christian, all I will say is that making fun of the habits of the faith is not degrading the faith.

Let me help you, in some churches, they may not replace 50 year old lightbulbs because they are resistant to change.

That is very different from trying to argue with another that what they believe is wrong, dead, or attacking someone for what they believe.

I think we should exercise some good judgment and make good choices about being considerate to others.  If you don't have something good to say, just don't say it.