Anal-retentive for Christ? laughing at disparaging humor...
Submitted by d on September 13 1999 at 18:19:01
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Earlier this month I was at a church retreat for singles. Almost everyone there was Southern Babtist (a fairly conservative, evangelical denomination). We divided into groups and did skits. At least one of the skits that I saw was made fun of drag queens. Later, at a Hawiian-themed dinner, the hula dance was perfomed by men pretending to be women. Now the issue: Both skits were funny. Funny if I forgot they were making fun of another group. Half of me wanted to laugh, half kept thinking of the early-20th-century vaudville skits of people in blackface (many of these would be funny also if they weren't making fun of a *real* group of *real* people). If I see this kind of thing going on next year, should I raise the issue? Is that being anal-retentive? Is NOT raising the issue hurting God's mission? And a side-issue: I'm not sure everyone picked up on the disparagement that was going on. Several years ago, prior to making deliberate contact with gay people and paying more attention to this kind of thing, I would not have picked up on it. Life is not black and white. -David ("d", wondering "what would Jesus do") |