Milton Jones: comedians and Christians are dealing with the same stuff

Good interview with comedian Milton Jones at the very excellent LICC website:

Comedians are well-known for mocking religion; do you think Christianity and comedy can happily coexist?

It’s easy to see the church as a sort of bullied boy in the playground that won’t fight back. But God is big enough to take criticism or take a joke. There’s something pretty insecure about feeling the need to do God’s work or protect him. I did do a video a little while ago about the weirdness of Christianity, but honestly within comedy people don’t actually hate Christianity. They hate two-dimensional reactionary Christianity, but there’s actually quite a softness towards ‘thinking’ Christianity. Comedy is full of people who used to go to church but couldn’t quite go along with the whole package because it was too jingoistic. I know a heck of a lot of people in comedy whose parents were clergy or missionaries. Ultimately a lot of comedy is dealing with the truth, about life and what it’s all about. The same is true of faith.

Russell Brand visits a food bank, falls in love with a Christian

In a warehouse in a retail park Christians and sixth formers assemble bags of what would rightly be considered “staples” in a kinder world. Tins of food and packets of biscuits and it’s good that we’re near to the “White Cliffs of Dover” because it feels like there’s a war on and the livid coloured packaging goes sepia in my mind as Dame Vera scores the melancholy scene.

The Christians are as Christians are, kind and optimistic. The donations come from ordinary local folk “We get more from the poorer people” says Martin, a quick deputy in a cuddly jumper. “More from Asda shoppers than Waitrose.” As I contemplate cancelling my Ocado (or whatever it’s called) order Chrissy, the lady who runs the scheme says that this year people who received packages previously have now donated themselves. Previous recipients often volunteer an all. Here older folk and the students diligently box off the nosh and I determine to give them and their heartening endeavor a shout out on the show and my writhing, nervous gut begins to settle.

Chrissy explains how the Canterbury Food Bank has brought people together, not just those it feeds but those who volunteer. “It seemed like a good way to worship Christ” she says. Martin, who I am starting to gently fall in love with, observes that supermarkets profit from the enterprise as Food Bank campaigns encourage their customers to spend more there. “Do you think there’s an obligation for the state to feed people?” I ask “or room for a bit more Jesus kicking the money lenders out of the temple type stuff?”

They smile.

....The Britain of the future will be born of alliances between ordinary, self-governing people, organised locally, communicating globally. Built on principles that are found in traditions like Christianity; community, altruism, kindness, love.

from RB's reflections on last nights Question Time. 

Milton Jones on faith, comedy and atheism

I stumbled across this Milton Jones interview whilst looking for something else on Youtube, like you do. A couple of interesting snippets about how he sees his faith and comedians who trash Christianity. I like what he says about the church as a gym at the end of the first clip: not a place to stay in and show off to the other members, but to get you ready to go out and do something.

David Mitchell on Faith, Atheism, & Agnosticism

A lot of sense in a short clip. Ht Cookies Days. Would be fascinating to hear Mitchell and his wife in conversation on this.

Update: written piece by Mitchell on why agnosticism makes more sense than atheism quoted here.

"At the very least, read it" Lee Mack on the Bible

Lee Mack, on Desert Island Discs, musing on having the Bible to read on his Desert Island: 

"I'm glad you get the Bible, because I would read the Bible. I think it's quite odd that people like myself, in their forties, quite happy to dismiss the Bible, but I've never read it. I always think that if an alien came down and you were the only person they met, and they said, 'What's life about? What's earth about? Tell us everything,' and you said, 'Well, there's a book here that purports to tell you everything. Some people believe it to be true; some people [do] not believe it [to be] true.' 'Wow, what's it like?' and you go, 'I don't know, I've never read it.' It would be an odd thing wouldn't it? So, at the very least, read it."

Ht The Blue Fish Project

The prospect of alien encounter as an incentive to read the Bible? It's a new one, but it might be worth a try...

Does God Exist?

I think this is pretty conclusive.



any relation to how certain parts of the media normally play this question is purely coincidental.

Review: Marcus Brigstocke 'God Collar'

Comedian Marcus Brigstocke is now well into his God Collar tour, a 1 man show with 1 main topic. As a preacher who struggles to hold people's attention for 10 minutes, I'm repeatedly struck how, through the medium of comedy, we're happy to listen to ideas and arguments being developed for a couple of hours. As long as there's a regular punchline, audiences can still think. Well over 2 hours of Brigstocke on Sunday night in Yeovil was a good workout for both the mind and the diaphragm.

And Brigstocke has certainly been thinking. "I have a God-shaped hole, but none of the available deities seem to fit." Much of the routine is about reasons not to believe - religious wars ("religion and war are like Ant and Dec, you never see them apart."), misogyny, obsession with rules, and so on. But at the same time Brigstocke is very honest about his desire to believe, and his conviction that there's something more to life than just reason ("sometimes I'd rather be happy than right"). The second half is quite personal, talking about his experience of family, children and bereavement, and the encore turned into a 30 minute Q&A session with the audience, giving Brigstocke the chance to land some precise blows on global warming and Top Gear.

It's an excellent show, if you can cope with a few crude bits. Along the way there is a pop at everyone from IPhone users to Nestle. Brigstocke is nothing if not even handed, from Muslims - "bags are for things, not people, grow up!" - to atheists "you're not cleverer than everybody else", there's something to annoy just about everyone. He points out the weirdness of agnostics who haven't really given the massive question of God any thought, and gives a superb summary of the difference between Protestants and Catholics.

There was plenty of challenging material. Noahs Ark, that famous childrens story, provided the lead in to a discussion of how many people in the Bible get killed by God. As for the rainbow as a reminder to God not to destroy the earth "if there's one thing worse than a murderous deity, it's a scatterbrained murderous deity." This is one Christians have wrestled with for centuries, ever since Marcion carved up the Bible in the second century to leave out the nasty bits.

More positively, Brigstocke spoke about 'Goodbye' (= 'God be with you') being a 'beautiful' thing, and how things like children and death are times when the God-shaped hole is more obvious. Talking of the death of his grandfather, and his best friend, Brigstocke muses on how comforting the idea of an afterlife would be, and then reminds us that this is exactly the same idea behind 9/11. Coincidentally, the comfort of an (imaginary?) afterlife is also at the root of Ricky Gervais's plot in The Invention of Lying.

Lots of other good stuff, I'm tempted to quote lots of the jokes but that would spoil it for anyone who might be tempted to catch him. I'd recommend it. It made me laugh, made me think, and makes me glad that the man behind We Are History is still going. The fact he's prepared to ruthlessly skewer Richard Dawkins probably helped! He'd done his homework on the local area too - which might have something to do with the fact he went to school in Bruton. On the downside, some pretty crude sexual references, and I'm not entirely sure that a bloke who habitually exposed himself to others is anything to admire.

As a Christian, I felt he was pretty fair about Christianity, with one or two exceptions, and most of his jokes about it were ones I wished I'd thought of first ("Christians are more obessed about gays than gays are"). He talked of having Christian friends and plenty of conversations with them, and I could believe it. This is the kind of atheist I'd be happy to have a pint with. Intelligent, fair, honest, questioning.

Ricky Gervais on God etc.

5 minute interview with Ricky Gervais here, connected to his film 'The Invention of Lying'. The film is about a society where no-one can lie (like Liar Liar in negative), and Gervais's character tells the first lie. He goes on to invent a Man in the Sky - the film is an atheist polemic as well as a comedy. Hoping to catch it next week - anyone seen it?

Interesting what he says about God, heaven etc. - "I wish there was a God" "Do you think there is a possibility that there is a God" "No." ....."I think there's a logical, a biological explanation for everything."

Comedians on God 6: Mr Bean goes to Church

Come on, admit it, this is your church isn't it?



By the way, don't expect anything learned from me this week, Holiday Clubs are a bit all consuming....

Love the vicary voice in the background. Vaguely familiar...

Comedians on God 5: Rowan Atkinson on Hell

Not quite the same as the others, but this is a classic.

Comedians on God 4: Marcus Brigstocke

Probably my favourite of the 4, I don't remotely buy what he says about religions not being interested in truth, but unfortunately that's how some of our more high profile adherents come across.



"withouth the audience to prop it up, both Heat magazine and religious fundamentalism would go away."

However....

There are a lot of easy targets and caricatures in all this comic material. The science and faith issue comes up again and again, without recognising that for a lot of people, scientists included, there is no conflict between them. I also imagine that Brigstocke would want to raise any children of his own with particular values and ways of life, so how he can deny the same things to believing parents doesn't really add up.

I've posted these videos because, though sometimes they're uncomfortable, the best way to engage with atheists is to, um, listen to what they're saying. Sorry if that sounds like egg-sucking class for grandma, but it's quite surprising how often we miss that step out.

Follow the 'comedians on God' tag for the other 3

Comedians on God 3: Eddie Izzard

Izzard does loads of stuff about Christianity, God, and Bible stories in his live shows. Like Gervais, he cites the Genesis account as one of the reasons for him rejecting faith as illogical. However, this is the only clip I can find without lots of swearing....



3 of 4. Follow the Comedians on God tag for the other clips

Comedians on God 2: Ricky Gervais on becoming an atheist

"I wish there was a God, it'd be great"



As it happens Comment is Free is running a series on agnosticism/atheism this week, new article each day.

2 of 4, follow the 'Comedians on God' tag for the others.

Comedians on God 1: Penn and the Prayer Test

Since our politicians are all down at the hairshirt convenience story, comedians are now the only people left who we'll allow to speak uninterrupted for more than 2 minutes without switching channels. Quite a few of them have thought about faith, with varying results - I remember being struck by Peter Kay's account of his Catholic upbringing in 'The Sound of Laughter'.

Here is Penn, of Penn & Teller, on prayer. At the start he refers to another of his videos on evangelism, where he commends a Christian for trying to share his faith, which you can see here.



Ht Derren Browns blog

If you prefer reading to watching, Ruth Gledhill's latest is worth a read on faith, secularism, and whether God is on the way out, the way in, or whether God is where he's always been and it's us who don't know if we're coming or going.

This weeks Start the Week, on Radio 4, also explores whether 'God is back', on the back of a new book by John Micklethwait, the editor of the Economist, by the same title. He makes an interesting argument that the US Constitution, by separating church from state, created a 'free market' in religion which forced the various Christian streams to 'compete' for souls, which gives more vigour to US religion compared to established churches in other places. Spiritual capitalism... Worth a listen.