Buddy Christ: Our Personal Jesus

In last week's lecture, we had the privilege of being able to watch a full episode of the Simpsons. In the episode, entitled "Homer the Heretic", Homer decides to give up attending Sunday mass. While at home, he has the best day ever and decides that from that point onwards he will not be going back to church. On the other hand, his family is stuck in a freezing cold church listening to the monotone-style sermon of Reverend Lovejoy.

Later on in the episode, God appears to Homer and agrees with him that staying in and worshipping God from home is perfectly acceptable. This is what I wish to focus on.

Before this class, I had never really considered the image of Jesus portrayed in typical American culture. When Prof. Harris brought him to light as "buddy Christ", it served as an a-ha! moment for me. All of a sudden I could think of a number of different shows portraying Jesus as a "buddy" or friend.

It is obvious that American culture has changed drastically since the early days of TV. When this idea was introduced in lecture, I wondered why everyone seemed to want Jesus to be their friend. As a society, our morals may not always be the most sound, and many do not always have the right intentions. The unknown is feared, especially when it comes to the prospect of life after death. We are afraid to face the consequences of our worldly actions in the afterlife, and thus play with the idea that Jesus or God is our friend and would be forgiving and understanding towards the sins we may have committed. We look for acceptance from our God; as acceptance is one of our human needs, as implicated in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. We need to feel like we belong and we are loved, and the media plays on that need and thus creates the image of Jesus as a friend. The depiction of Jesus as a friend acts as a reminder that we shouldn't be afraid, as Jesus is our friend and will grant our every wish-- almost like a genie in a bottle, which leads me to my next clip:

I found this video clip from another popular comedic cartoon, which all of you may know and love: Family Guy. In the clip, Jesus comes to dinner with the Griffins and is telling him about his last weekend when he was betrayed and crucified, then raised from the dead, and when asked to perform a miracle, he grants everyone with ice cream sundays. I feel as though this is the perfect satirical depiction of "buddy Christ" as he seems almost too good to be true (especially when he grants Peter's "wish"). He is there simply to meet the every wish of the Griffin family and serves no real religious purpose, except to enforce the notion that we can do whatever we like and we will always be forgiven and accepted by God.