God’s Comics: Religious Humour in Contemporary Evangelical Christian and Mormon Comedy

Abstract

In the contemporary western world, humour has become not only a popular means of entertainment but a way in which an individual or community expresses their identity and values. Often it is thought that religion and humour are incompatible. This dissertation argues that this notion is mistaken. It demonstrates that religious people embrace their sense of humour and actively produce and consciously consume comic entertainment that reflects their own experiences, including religious experiences. However, this process is not without conflict. The inherent ambiguity of humour plays with the established norms and beliefs of any community, and when humour intersects with questions of ultimate concern such as religion, the risk of misinterpretation and offense can be high. As a result, religious humourists must constantly negotiate the relationship between their religious beliefs and their sense of humour. This dissertation considers that negotiation through discourse analysis of religious humour found in examples of popular comedy collected from American evangelical Christian and Latter-day Saint (Mormon) communities. While humour in religious communities operates in similar ways to humour in general, this thesis argues that there are specific characteristics that indicate a unique kind of humour that may be called religious humour. This study considers both mainstream and conservative religious humour as well as subversive reactions to that mainstream. Methodologically, this study is a multidisciplinary exploration that contributes to the disciplines of religious studies, humour studies and cultural studies. It aims to redress the gaps in religious studies about humour and in humour studies about religion. Incorporating literature from these areas as well as original data from textual analysis and field research this thesis critically analyses the experiences of believers who appreciate that their faith is not necessarily a barrier to their laughter.