Comedian Louis C.K. Jokes Twitter, Cell Phones Makes People Less Interested in Jesus
Just a joke, but could it be true?
From his famous rant about how society is so spoiled that instead of being in awe of the ability to fly in airplanes, people complain about being stuck on the runway for 40 minutes, or instead of being amazed that a cell phone sends signals to satellites in outer space, people complain if the call takes a moment to go through, comedian Louis C.K. does not believe technology makes people better.
However, recently during an appearance on the Conan O'Brien show, C.K. joked that people are so addicted to technology that they would not pay attention to Jesus if he was right in front of them.
Complaining that people do not pay attention to their surroundings and constantly using their phone to take pictures and video of whatever is happening around them.
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"Nobody takes in life unless it comes through this," C.K. said, referring to cell phones. "Like whenever I see a televised event that's a huge deal like the Olympics opening ceremony or Times Square at midnight on New Year's Eve, there's seas of people all looking at it through their phone. There's explosions and acrobats but they're looking at it through a little three-inch screen. I think of Jesus comes back and starts telling everyone everything, everybody's gonna just be twittering.
"'I am Christ and I...'" C.K. imagines Jesus saying, before impersonating a Twitter user, tweeting: "Oh my God, Jesus is right in front of me."
Jesus tries again to get the Twitter user's attention in C.K.'s monologue, but the comedian impersonates the Twitter user as unable to put down the cell phone: "I have a Twitpic of Jesus! Oh my God – Jesus is trending! Look! Jesus is trending!"
Although C.K. was simply telling a joke and not attempting to make a profound statement about technology's effects on religion, it I a question that has been on the minds of some religious thinkers, including, Patrick Cherry, a blogging pastor. In one of his blogs on the RelevantReverend, Cherry writes: "With technology comes vast amounts of information...more than we can handle. With technology comes increased communication, but does it really promote community or just give the impression of belonging?"
In C.K.'s monologue, the Twitter user was more concerned about tweeting a picture and communicating with "followers" instead of noticing Jesus was right in front of her, possibly suggesting that she was more interested in "belonging." Of course, nobody is suggesting that this would happen in real life, but does C.K.'s joke point to a real issue of people becoming so obsessed with technology and trends that they are becoming less interested in religion?
Rather than becoming less interested in religion, some experts have said that technology is changing how people interact with religion.
According to the Guardian, Dr. Paul Teusner of RMIT University in Melbourne , Australia said that technology has been "presented to religious societies wrapped with cultural values that compliment, challenge or repel religious attitudes." This has caused religions that are focused on ritual, like Catholicism and Islam to appear more dated than religions like evangelical Christianity, which has traditionally been a very vocal and adaptable religion. In effect, evangelicals have been more adept at "marketing" their religion than Catholics and Muslims.
"The web may have encouraged a lowest-common-denominator eclecticism and turned us into consumers of religion," Sister Catherine Wybourne, prioress of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Oxfordshire, told the Guardian.
Whatever technology's effect has been on religion, Louis C.K. was right about Jesus trending on Twitter. Recently, "Sorry, Jesus" was trending, prompting tweets of digital repentance from around the world.
"SORRY JESUS for all the forgotten prayers, sinful thoughts, rude words, pointless lies I've told, and anything else I've done wrong. Love U," wrote Idachong.
