Deconstructing Comics

The Jesus Comics – Cedar  Cultural Center, 7/26/2019

I worked volunteer cleanup at a long comedic sermon by two Jesus / spiritual comics – Science Mike and Michael Gungor.  I’d never heard of them. They pitch themselves as the “Liturgists – the Tabs & Wafers Tour’ which is based on their podcasts.  The audience was mostly young white suburbanites from what I could tell.  The ‘tabs’ are psilocybin.  The ‘wafers’ are an obsession with communion wafers.  Very oral stuff. 

The Ultimate Superhero

The audience was mildly enthusiastic.  I’m an atheist so this was some weird and sad shit. Evidently religion is having a hard time getting young people into the pews.  So these late 30s, early 40s comics swear, talk about sex, take ‘shrooms’ and have oneness experiences, bare their chests, talk about playing guitar (cool!) and make lots of jokes.  Hey they even dabbled in atheism for a time!  Edgy but safe.

These are former fundies, then episodic Dawkins’ atheists, now renewed spiritualists and hip Christians.  ‘Science Mike,’ a misnomer, used to be a Southern Baptist from Tallahassee Florida who worked in advertising.  The other Michael flew around the country for his job (white collar I wager).  He talked about his psilocybin trip.  He can’t explain what his mushroom trip was like, but it was mind-bending and ego-reducing and you should believe in God too.  Whatever God is, that is.

Politics lurked.  They revealed themselves to be Clinton backers.  They oppose gay-phobia and support women’s rights.  They castigate fundies for their opposition to both and for their Biblical literalism.  Well duh.  But they don’t talk about class or economics, just ‘love.’  This, however, might be news to their audience.  Perhaps they are some kind of weird transmission belt for youth recovering from fundamentalist derangement syndrome.  They call it deconstruction.  Just don’t stay atheist!

Of most import was a long story by Science Mike about his heart attack.  He was given a choice by his doctor – die in 6 months or change your lifestyle.  So he went on a plant-based diet and lost 20 pounds.  Hence the hairy chest baring.  But he accrued a $48,000 medical bill.  Mike was not scientific enough to tell us if he was on the ACA.  But he did say that the ‘Christlike’ donators to his GoFundMe page saved his bank balance.  He is a C-list celebrity in the Christian world after all.  What he did not say is that Single Payer/Medicare For All might prevent issues like this.  In other words, charity for celebrities – a Republican tactic – solves our medical problems.  Good work, Mike.  Fuck you too.

Mushroom Mike is a familiar figure – meditates, dabbles in eastern religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism and is probably into mindfulness, yoga and white tea.  He thinks only people who meditate would help him unload his van in Los Angeles, where they both hauled their wives and children to start their careers anew.  Before that he handed out flowers and pamphlets in the streets, similar to the Jesus freaks or Jesus people you’d meet in the 1970s.  Mushroom Mike has a Down’s syndrome child and her disability plays an endearing role in Science Mike’s search for a church.

Another Super Hero for Adult Children

Science Mike was obsessed with finding the right church – not too hip, not too big, not to anti-gay, not hostile to Down’s syndrome - just right.  And Goldilocks found one and dragged his family to it.  The focus on church seems to be a non-understanding among people who have spent too much time in religious institutions.  The only community they know is a church.  That is very true for the South, which basically concentrates on church or family - and Science Mike is from Florida.  But as the rest of us know, there are MANY other communities out there – and even the biggest, the working classes.  Mike's dilemma reflects the isolation so many people experience due to the mass alienation that is U.S. capitalism.  Which is why some seek out church. 

So after the jokes it all led to a semi-sermon about something.  I’m not quite sure what.  But ‘love’ was in there and so was ‘oneness.’  Now ‘love’ is not a political program, nor does it rise above a cliché at this point in history.  But people continue to use it as if it means something other than being really, really vague.  Which is the point.  Virtue signaling without content.  ‘Oneness’ is also a magical idea where the oppressors and the oppressed lie down together like lambs and lions. Ain’t going to happen.  Preaching class peace pays though.

I have to say after about 2.5 hours, this was not really about love or Down’s syndrome  or Jesus or psilocybin or god – it was all about Science Mike and Mushroom Michael.

Where’s George Carlin when you need him?  Where are the Christian Socialists even?

Other reviews on religion below.  Use blog search box, upper left:  “The Rise of the Nones,” “God is Not Great,” “Libertarian Atheism versus Liberal Religionism,” “Female Genital Mutilation,” “Annihilation of Caste,” “Jude the Obscure,” “The DaVinci Code,” “The Dark Side of Christian History,” “To Serve God and Wal-mart,” “The God Market,” "Love or the Alternative."

The Cultural Marxist

July 30, 2019