An irreverent Christian Web site is attempting to test the limits of its readers' tolerance with an appeal for the best and potentially most offensive religious jokes.
Concerned at the wording of the religious hatred bill going through the British parliament, which would outlaw material that incites hatred of a particular faith, the editors of the Ship of Fools Web site (shipoffools.com) invited its readers to do their worst. The results, 10 of which will be shortlisted next week, go far beyond anything the bishop and the actress might have conceived between them.
"We were talking about the religious hatred bill and the impact it could possibly have on free speech," said Stephen Tomkins, author of A Short History of Christianity and an editor for the site, which collects tasteless examples of Christian memorabilia and employs "mystery worshippers" to rate the quality of sermons.
"We may find that we come under the banner of religious hatred and we wanted to find out where people wanted to draw the line."
The comedian Rowan Atkinson has criticized the bill, arguing that it will mean those who poke fun at religion will risk prosecution.
The jokes range from an esoteric dig at Anglican theologians to jokes about pedophile priests and humor at the Pope's expense.
"What do you give a pedophile who has everything?" asks one shortlisted entry. "A bigger parish." Another describes Jesus walking into a motel, throwing a bag of nails on the counter and saying, "Can you put me up for the night?"
Members of the Ship of Fools community were asked to assess the jokes and explain whether, and why, they found them offensive.
Catholicism proved a rich source of comic material, according to Tomkins, who cites the Monty Python film The Life of Brian as "the pinnacle" of religious humor. The secrets of the confessional and the Vatican made frequent appearances among the nominated jokes, although evangelicals also feature occasionally. Tomkins admitted that some topics -- particularly pedophile priests and Christ suffering on the cross -- were considered off-limits by many of his readers.
Another joke, which describes a priest unbuttoning his cassock after finding a newly orphaned girl alone on a cliff, was too cruel an image to be amusing, according to Austen Ivereigh, the director of public affairs for the Archbishop of Westminster: "It's unfunny because it's just so unconscionably cruel that it's completely off the radar."
Stephen Goddard, a Ship of Fools editor, said he "wanted to get away from the stained glass Jesus who can't be laughed at or with ... The whole thing is a voyage of discovery for us. We are a conversation, not a campaign."
He said that he hoped the Christian church could learn from the Jewish tradition of humorous self-deprecation.
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