Should Religion Be Morose

Perhaps a better title would have been, "Does God Have a Sense of Humor." Considering the history of religion with its long trail of wars, inquisitions, burning of heretics, and the like, it is easy to envision religion as a sober, serious, and sanctimonious enterprise. Recently, I read in the newspaper that a man wanted to leave his religion and adopt something else, and he was informed that he would be killed if he did so. Even more recently, an abortion doctor was killed in the vestibule of his church by an alleged anti-abortion fanatic. Its stories like this that make it hard to treat religion as a matter of humor; yet, humor belongs in religion just as it belongs in life. Deepak Chopra wrote a book called "Why is God Laughing?" I read it as a story of a comedian finding gnosis. I don't know if Deepak Chopra had that in mind, but since I bought the book and paid the price asked for by the book store, I have a right to read into it what I see. I like the main point of the book. The subtitle is "The Path to Joy and Spiritual Optimism." That's a pretty good pathway in my opinion; one that we all ought to contemplate walking on. A good place to start is to buy his book and read it. The next step is to put humor and optimism in your religion, whatever it might be. To do this you will have to shed the past and all of its grim compulsions. In my opinion, that's a good step to take for any reason you might have. But what if you bring joy and spiritual optimism into your world? Is that a bad thing? If God truly has a sense of humor, what better way to get to know Him?