Does humor belongs in religion ?

Jestor wrote on another topic :

Its not that the "religion" itself (...) is intolerant, but rather individuals who follow the religion

How right you are !
We unfortunately experimented this intolerance from individuals here in France last week, I think you've heard about it.
I still don't know what to think about it, it's very confusing.
I don't know if you, my transatlantic friends, know what Charlie Hebdo really is. Of course it's a satirical magazine, but I don't think there is an equivalent in the USA, even in UK. Charlie are so disrespectful, even shocking. But they did bang on every religions, political parties and french and international personalities in the crudest (and funniest) way.

Hey ! that's the point ! Charlie is made to be funny !
What the heck were the three terrorists thinking ? People like Charlie don't bend and Charlie's disrespect for religions and authority is a trait of french people. By french people, I don't mean french of origin (which I'm not), but the plurality of french people.
This week end, I had a feeling that I never felt while in France : I was french ! yes ! don't laugh about it. You know, there is a big difference between basic french people and for instance, american people. Americans are patriotic. Most of frenchies are not. They have to live in a foreign country to feel french. But this week end, it was different.
It has been said on TV, we all are Charlie, of course, but we all are jews, in memory of the victims in the casher grocer's shop. I only heard one person (Jean d'Ormesson, french philosopher) saying that we all were muslims too.
Yes, we are all that.
But what's next ? Emotion, yet what ?
Unfortunately, I think I know my compatriots enough to say that this unite won't last. Politicians will play their game, haters of any edge will play their too...and Charlie Hebdo will be there to point their excesses and laugh on them, that's why I paraphrased Frank Zappa for the title of this topic. (Does humor belongs in music ?)

20 people have joined the Force (17 victims and, yes, 3 terrorists) so let's have a prayer for all of them.


P.S. : You may have noticed that I'm french so please excuse the mistakes I could have made while writing these words.

yes

I wrote :

there is a big difference between basic french people and for instance, american people. Americans are patriotic. Most of frenchies are not.

Arcade made me noticing that there was a bit reducing, and I totally agree with him but I was using archetypes to simplify my subject.

There is a difference between american football and basketball. There is a difference between boxing and ping-pong. If you say "sports" you could mean any, all or none of these and I couldn't tell outside of a sufficiently clear context or your clarification. Not all religions are created equal. I would say that any ideology that is established on no reason and protected against reason is problematic at one point or another and to swallow it without reservation, let alone taking it to its extreme is foolish and eventually dangerous to the individual, the society and by extension mankind at large.

However, not every religion is equally successful and not all of them are quite equal in what they teach. As Sam Harris put it, the problem with Islamic fundamentalists are the fundamentals of Islam. If a religion is so made that somebody who takes it seriously becomes a danger to his neighbors, there is no less wrong with the religion itself than with the people who do take it seriously.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfKLV6rmLxE

As tends to be the case very often, it is impossible to separate the idea from the people. You cannot discuss religion without also discussing the religious.

Lighthearted or humorous people will find humor in religion. I, for one, find the story of Noah's Ark actually pretty hilarious when you think about it. Imagine the litter box they needed on that boat! :laugh:

On the other hand, violent people will find religious justification for violence.

The difference from one religion to another, as Gisteron pointed out, is that it is much easier to find the justification for violence in some, and easier to find the humor in others.

When religious mythology is taken literally, or treated as historical fact, it can become dangerous in the hands of someone predisposed to violence. Steamboat summed it up well in a conversation I shared with him recently... "The value of a myth is not in its historicity, but rather in what it reveals about ourselves." It is not the religion (IDEA), it is how the person utilizes it to achieve their means.

I believe everyone is shocked by what happened, here in Brazil many people are shocked.
I think the mood is likely to be employed in religion, there are endless blogs on the subject; the real problem is extremism, everywhere there are extreme and these are harmful, so I believe we Jedis have to find a path of light, but balanced. It's a shame what happened, the cartoonist Ziraldo here in Brazil says he always wanted to address some issues, but did not for fear of extremism. I hope nothing bad happens to anyone else.

yes. Humor belongs everywhere.
Its a tool. It has its place. As long as the honor maintains the sanctity of the moment.

Some say that it is good to cultivate the awareness of ones impending demise

In other words to remind oneself frequently of ones death and of the awareness that any moment may truely be ones last

It is said that this is good to do so that one doesnot waste ones time with pettiness and frivolty

When looking at things in this manner, there is a risk of strong sense of the morose and the morbid, and i have heard that constant humour is the counter balance to the heaviness of mortality and morbidity

The moment you start taking your beliefs so seriously that you are offended by those making fun of it- you've got issues. All you gotta do is:

Oh and i dont interest in debating it at tis time but i feel that those who say islam is more violent by nature than christianity are 99.9% talking out of their arse
even if what they say is true
i feel they usually believe it and say it because they WANT to believe it and they WANT to say it and would do so evennif it were most obviously not true

I support that with the observation that right about 99.9% of thebpeople who say this havnot in fact read a quran for themselves nor have they applied any significant effort into an honest study of the various cultural historical social issues relevant to the topic of muslim or even just arab violence which is usually what they really mean