I sat down today to write the most hilarious April Fool’s post ever. I had thought about it yesterday and was giggling as I thought about all of the possibilities. But somehow, when I sat down and started typing, it just didn’t work. It was really anything but funny. It was going to be a satirical peek at a segment of evangelicalism. It was ripe with possibilities (or is the proper phrase “rife with possibilities”?). But it just didn’t happen. Maybe it’s just too difficult to create humor on command. So then…
˙ɹǝɥʇıǝ ʎuunɟ ʎɹǝʌ ʇ,usɐʍ ʇɐɥʇ ʇnq˙˙˙uʍop ǝpısdn ƃuıɥʇʎɹǝʌǝ ƃuıʇsod ɟo ʇɥƃnoɥʇ ı˙˙˙
As I struggled and eventually gave up, I though of a quote I read just a couple of days ago in The Courage To Be Protestant, the forthcoming [and utterly brilliant] book by David Wells. I think Wells pretty well nailed it for me:
This co-opting of showbiz, this transformation of Christianity into entertainment, is rapidly becoming the norm today, not the exception. Pastor are straining to outdo each other in becoming as chic and slick as any show in Las Vegas.
I pity satirists who might be tempted to try to tweak these segments of the evangelical world. Theirs is a mission impossible. It can no longer be done. No matter how indelicately they might exaggerate, no matter how much they might embellish to make a point, no matter how many descriptions they might offer of the tasteless things that are happening, it will most likely be met with only a yawn and a bored question: “So … ?” Nothing seems improbable. None of it, in fact, ever seems exaggerated and none of it seems improper. It has now become impossible to insult some evangelicals. How the Wittenburg Door stays in business, I do not know.
Maybe next year I’ll come up with something. In the meantime, you can content yourself with A Blockbuster Deal or A Theo-Doping Scandal. And you may also wish to read the review of Instructing a Child’s Heart I just posted.
