Christian Satire: Is Sarcasm a Sin?

No. Sarcasm is not a sin. I’m pretty sure of this for a lot of ethical reasons, but it’s also worth noting that Elijah, Isaiah, and others used sarcasm pretty heavily sometimes (Elijah decides the reason Baal isn’t showing up is probably because he’s on the toilet, Isaiah 44 makes fun of people who take a block of wood and worship half of it and use the other half to cook dinner).

Can you sin by using sarcasm? Yep. You certainly can. Since I’m a writer, I’m going to approach this from the angle of satire, a written form of sarcasm used to make a point. But you can apply it to just about anything, from Facebook posts to witty comebacks. You see, the danger of satire or sarcasm isn’t really that people might misunderstand you.

The real danger is that you might start caring more about your image than other people.

Well, that escalated quickly.

It's your lucky day!

Let me explain why being good at satire can feed a writer's (or, you know, just a normal human being's) already-well-developed narcissism. (Keep in mind that this is a few days after I posted a satire post on the evils of letter-writing. So I can say things like that.)

7 Tips and Tricks for Not Being a Jerk

So, you have a criticism to make about a person, group, political structure, or entire worldview? Think in order to present your opinion in a strong and convincing way that you must abandon all tact? Or, on the other extreme, think being gracious means hedging all of your sentences and using ridiculously politically correct language?

Think again.

See last week's post for more context. Or this one, specifically about how to have arguments/debates/discussions without being a jerk. Or this one, about general conversations and not being a jerk.

As you can see, I’m a big proponent of not being a jerk. Probably because I tend to be a jerk from time to time.

• Don’t say “with all due respect” and then follow it with something outrageously disrespectful. “With all due respect” is meant to put emphasis on the fact that you’re trying to be fair and gracious while still criticizing something. It’s meant so the reader will hear your words in a certain tone. It’s not meant to justify throwing around insults, personal slams, or exaggerations made for emotional effect. (This also applies to “Bless her heart” “I love him, but….” or “Just sayin’.”)

• Pretend to be a reasonably open-minded member of the group you’re criticizing, listening to what you have to say. Would your reaction be, “Ouch. That’s interesting. That person might have a point”? Good. Would their reaction be, “Who does she think she is? That isn’t even close to the intent behind what we’re doing. She completely misrepresented us”? Not so good. Would their reaction be bursting into tears because you were so pointed and personal in your attack? Really not good.