“Going to be wild if the banning of the Babylon Bee ends up being a turning point in western civilization.” That’s what Auron MacIntyre tweeted following Elon Musk’s official acquisition of Twitter in late October 2022. It seems that, since the right-wing conservative Christian satire website’s reinstatement after being banned for a controversial post, a large portion of Christians (and conservatives alike) have doubled down on a notion contrary to their own moral standards.
You might find that many modern Christians abide by Jesus’ command, with one word substituted: “they will know us by our sarcasm.”
Sarcasm and satire are woven into American culture. The political cartoon is its own op-ed, read by millions to carry the weight of profound truth. Websites like The Babylon Bee—which was suspended from March–November for hate speech—thrive on sarcasm for the sake of sharing a buzz-message, one almost always at the expense of others. Late-night shows like Saturday Night Live! make sketches intent on pointing out absurdities in right-wing political circles. Sarcasm, satire, and finger-pointing are mainstreamed into our culture; they’re both intrinsic and trendy in America.
Sarcasm, satire, and finger-pointing are mainstreamed into our culture; they’re both intrinsic and trendy in America.
If Christians are to be loving and honor Christ as the Lord we claim, we must realize the danger of sarcasm to evangelism: sarcasm almost always succeeds at the expense of someone else and the abandonment of love.
The Bible rarely addresses sarcasm, but its teachings on how to love expel much reason for using it. Christians enjoying the Babylon Bee’s triumph of free speech must consider two verses:
“Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I am only joking!” (Prov. 26:18–19)
“Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Eph. 4:15–16)
The Bible’s emphasis on love and its condemnation of liars joking at the expense of others is blatantly serious—yet many right-wing Christians and supporters of the Babylon Bee do not treat it as such. The truth doesn’t need to be filtered to be spoken in love. It is, however, seriously marred when spoken with belligerence and pride. Truth edifies; unloving debate divides. A stark example of harmful opinion is the Babylon Bee’s article calling Rachel Levine “Man of the Year.” This is supposedly truth-sharing, dressed up in sarcastic rhetoric with a blatant disregard (perhaps even hatred toward) the LGBTQ+ Community.
While sarcasm itself is not sinful, much of its application is. The birth of sarcasm is the death of humility and civility in conversation. It’s insincere, lazy, and dangerous. It slightly claims the truth, but its goal is calling its recipient stupid. Sarcasm eliminates any possibility of sincere evangelism.
I believe people who frequently employ sarcasm as a method for truth-sharing (or perhaps as their only method) have lost the perspective of truth. “Truth,” as Christians typically argue, being that God is the creator of the universe (Isa. 57:15; Gen. 1:1), mankind is sinful, deserving of punishment (Rom. 3:23; Rom. 6:23), and Jesus is the Son of God, sent to take away the sins of the world (Jn. 1:29). This is not some debate point to make in triumph over others, but rather a point of urgency, driving Christians to lovingly share the Gospel in hopes of showing people Christ (Eph. 4:15).
Jesus’s primary concern was not to win arguments, but to win souls.
These things, when spoken in sarcasm rather than humbly and lovingly, are tainted and misrepresent the goal and nature of a gentle savior (Matt. 11:29). The straightforward, bold Jesus did not primarily use his perfection to show that people are stupid, but rather that they are redeemable. Jesus’s primary concern was not to win arguments, but to win souls.
The theologically astute, the politically conservative, and the general church-goer must learn to lovingly share their thoughts and opinions with civility. Publications like the Babylon Bee often rely on a moral stooping, a hideous degradation to try to convey a point contrary to the Bible they claim for themselves. If any significant Christian influence is to come from such platforms, it must be done in love—not sarcastic hatred.
It requires humility and adherence to their own religion’s standards of boldness, love, compassion, gentleness, patience, and peace.