Can We Joke about God?

If we can’t use the Lord’s name in vain, can we joke about God? Fr.
Mike makes the case that there is room for humor about God in the
context of love. No one in the universe or beyond it deserves more
honor, respect, and reverence than God, and we jeopardize our souls
if we fail to see this. At the same time, though, Jesus called us
his friends (John 15:15). Friends can joke about each other because
they know there is mutual love and respect there. It goes even
deeper than that though, Fr. Mike argues. God is calling us to a
whole different kind of relationship, a whole different kind of
intimacy, through his son Jesus. If we enter into that relationship
and nurture it, we may discover that God does indeed have a sense
of humor, a whole new sense of humor we didn’t even think was
possible. Catechism paragraph on the Second Commandment: “Blasphemy
is directly opposed to the second commandment. It consists in
uttering against God - inwardly or outwardly - words of hatred,
reproach, or defiance; in speaking ill of God; in failing in
respect toward him in one's speech; in misusing God's name. St.
James condemns those "who blaspheme that honorable name [of Jesus]
by which you are called" (James 2:7). The prohibition of blasphemy
extends to language against Christ's Church, the saints, and sacred
things. It is also blasphemous to make use of God's name to cover
up criminal practices, to reduce peoples to servitude, to torture
persons or put them to death. The misuse of God's name to commit a
crime can provoke others to repudiate religion” (CCC 2148)