A FEW WEEKS ago, a couple cartoonists at The Cavalier Daily decided to return to the familiar punching bag of Christianity. One of the TCB cartoons featured Jesus performing stand-up comedy to a booing audience, with Jesus jesting, "What's the deal with these crosses? Was there a sale on T's at the letter store?" And no, the cartoon was not any funnier in print. TCB on the following Friday then depicted God and the Virgin Mary in a post-coital argument, with God smoking a cigarette and wearing sunglasses. The flare-up from Christian conservatives was as predictable as the cartoons were crass and simply not funny.
Especially in the context of Mr. Jefferson's University, the Managing Board of The Cavalier Daily made the wise decision to allow the cartoons to be published. In secular society, freedom of expression and freedom of the press are sacrosanct. No matter how much the Managing Board apologized for offending hypersensitive Christians, censoring the cartoon was just not going to happen, never will and never should.
The more interesting aspect of the cartoon was not the rude content of it but the mentalities of the artists behind it and the reaction of offended Christians the cartoon provoked. Once again, secular liberals mocked Christianity as irrational and prudish. Once again, many Christians paused from their lives of turning the other cheek to either condemn these college cartoon artists to hell or to write condescending, holier-than-thou letters to the editors. In this country that is so fundamentally infused with the traditions and legacies of Christianity, secular liberals must learn to respect people of the faith, and in turn, Christians must do a better job of living up to the principles they espouse.
Especially as members of the most prominent religion in America today, Christians should not so quickly take the bait of cartoonists such as these. They simply feed the stereotypes of being a prudish, irrational bunch. A facile cartoon should cause thoughtful Christians to do little more than shake their heads at such callous disrespect. I promise you, God and Jesus will survive TCB. The faith has endured much worse throughout history. Imagine how taken aback the cartoonists would have been if instead of feverishly writing letters to the editor demanding a retraction of the cartoon, offended Christians simply called down to the offices of the paper and invited the TCB artists to church. After all, Holy Week was conveniently just around the corner.
In turn, although secular liberals are free to disbelieve in a higher power, they do themselves a great disservice by failing to take seriously a faith that millions around the world follow. The University offers one of the top ranked departments of religious studies in the country. University students such as the TCB artists should take a class or two on the faith, and regardless of whether or not their hearts change, their level of respect for the faith and for its followers would surely rise. At the very least, the comics would be wittier.
The continual cartoon controversies at the University provide a wonderful case study to this national problem of secular liberals and Christians talking past one another. Many credit John Kerry's failed presidential bid to his woefully inept approach to discussing religion and his campaign's conscious decision to not reach out, at all, to white Christians. One of his campaign aides, in response to why they didn't have much outreach to the religious communities, literally said, "We don't do white churches." Staffers routinely referred to Christians as "wackos." And somehow, the Kerry campaign was surprised when they lost the Catholic vote in crucial states like Ohio, even while running a Catholic candidate. The Bush campaign, on the other hand, developed a comprehensive nation-wide plan to mobilize the millions of Christians in the United States. If secular liberals ever want to win an election, they don't have to get religion. But they do have to respect it.
It's not just about winning elections, though. In the land of Jonathan Edwards (the one who wrote "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", not the golden boy Democratic candidate), of the Protestant work ethic, of Martin Luther King, Jr, of painful wooden pews, of Billy Graham, America simply cannot be fathomed without understanding the religion that pulses through the plains and the back country roads and the noisy urban streets of this country. It may be easy to satirize the faith, to caricature its followers, to paint every Christian as an ignorant Jerry Falwell. And to be sure, many of the religious talking heads provide great fodder for snarky cartoons. But to casually dismiss Christianity is to dismiss a faith that has informed, inspired and guided millions of Americans throughout history.
Marta Cook's column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at mcook@cavalierdaily.com.
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