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New TV Show “Black Jesus” Entertainment or Edgy Blasphemy!!

black jesus

The Christian Community is in mortified AWE about the TV show “Black Jesus” scheduled to air tonight on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.  But let’s discuss this…is this show entertainment or is it blasphemous to Jesus Christ.

I am sure we all have said something that used Jesus’ name in vain, not to mention the many 4 letter plus words with God at the forefront.  Don’t get me wrong I am guilty as well.  I’ll be the first to admit that I have not been on my best “Christian” behavior, however I will also say that now that I know better I do try to do better.  Wait…..this isn’t about me though!!

Because I have schooling in the Arts, I get that side of this but there is a fine line between “art” and “artless”.  Watching this show is not going to be one of my concerns but how many people are going to have the audacity to say that this show will be only way “some” people even acknowledge the very being of Jesus Christ.

Physical interpretations of Jesus I don’t have a problem with because several pastors use physical interpretations to drive the point home about the messages and blessings of Jesus Christ all the time.  It is a tool to help people truly grasp what the bible is saying.  Using foul language in the process of interpreting Jesus Christ is not something I personally an in agreement with.

Some people have a hard enough time in their spiritual walk as it is without having to “justify” the suppose to be funny antics that take place in the show.  The trailer alone has deterred me from watching it.  There’s a petition circulating to have the Cartoon Network pull the plug on the show.  I am only 1 person and there’s a saying that is often referenced in the entertainment industry; “you are ONLY as good as your ratings allow you to be.” 

I like to laugh just as much as anyone else, unfortunately this one does not seem very funny to me!!

Read about the controversy surrounding the show as reported by Communities Digital News:

black jesus

Aaron McGruder, the brain behind the infamous and candid satirical television show “The Boondocks,” is at it again. Upon his exit from the show’s fourth season on the evening cable network Adult Swim, McGruder raised more than a few eyebrows when he announced his latest satirical TV series for that network, provocatively entitled “Black Jesus.”

Just the show’s name alone should allude to McGruder’s keen penchant for troublemaking. Needless to say, after the release of the trailer, which can be seen below, many black Christians are not too happy about it.

To be completely honest, I knew that when this trailer was released, token black church leaders would soon be rubbing their hands like Birdman.

The old soapbox has been dragged out, dusted off, and mounted by the fresh gators of fancy pastors and reverends who’ve been condemning McGruder’s latest act of guerilla humor, in the name of Jesus, as blasphemy.

The New York Daily News reports:

Conservative Christian groups are outraged that Adult Swim is messing with their Messiah by giving him a filthy mouth and dropping him off in Compton, Calif.

… Aaron McGruder’s upcoming comedy TV series ‘Black Jesus’ features an African-American Jesus who tries to spread love and kindness through his neighborhood but ends up getting shot at, carjacked and punched in the face. His followers also accuse him of ‘smoking all the f—–g weed.’

Actor Gerald ‘Slink’ Johnson’s portrayal of the Christian deity doesn’t sit well with One Million Moms, a conservative Christian activist organization. The group has called for a boycott of the show and its advertisers, blasting ‘Black Jesus’ for making a ‘mockery of our Lord.’ They want to make sure the show is never aired.

‘The foul language used in the trailer, including using the Lord’s name in vain, is disgusting,’ the group writes on its website. ‘In addition, there is violence, gunfire and other inappropriate gestures which completely misrepresent Jesus. This is blasphemy!’

A conservative Christian pastor in Illinois followed suit with his own message for Turner Broadcasting, the company behind Adult Swim. ‘We, the Christian Community are vehemently opposed and violently offended at this upcoming program,’ writes Pastor David A. Rodgers of The House of Prayer For All Nations in Chicago. ‘There is no way that this show would be aimed at the Jewish or Muslim community. We are demanding an IMMEDIATE retraction of this show and a PUBLIC APOLOGY to the Christian Community at large.’

Rodgers says he plans to distribute his letter to ‘every church in America.’ The controversy has also inspired Change.org petitions and Facebook community groups.

All this was predictable, and I’m sure McGruder saw it coming a mile away.

You can’t talk about Jesus unless it’s in a love song, or as Christians call it, gospel music. His name is to be exalted and revered. Anything else is blasphemy. I get it.

I spent most of my formative years at West Angeles Christian Academy, lovingly known as WACA. It’s a black, conservative Christian school on Crenshaw Boulevard in LA, where I experienced first hand atrocities that would call into question whether or not the Bible was subject to interpretation.

While my observations regarding WACA are not the point of this article, they have given me important contextual clues as to how I view religion—namely Christianity—and black Christians as well.

For example, I distinctly remember being in class and asking a teacher, “What were we before we were Christians?”

I was promptly put in time-out for being a troublemaker.

I didn’t understand then why that was grounds for punishment. But one thing became crystal clear to me: You can’t talk about Jesus or Christianity like that, at least not in this environment.

You were supposed to read the Bible for guidance, pray for help and understanding, go to church, give an offering, and never ever, ever, ever take the Lord’s name in vain. Never question, never diverge from the Word, because it is the ultimate, the finite, the thing that keeps things in order in this world.

All of this makes it easy to see that, although “Black Jesus” is a satirical television show and not a documentary on the life and works of Jesus Christ, this makes no difference to many conservative black Christians who find even the concept behind it to be fundamentally offensive. The reason is that this implacable point of view is embedded in complex layers upon layers of black history, culture, identity, and spirituality that this article has not even begun to scratch the surface of.

McGruder knows this, and is using every one of these complex layers as material for the show, turning it into both a mirror on the culture and a reflective tool in order for society to see its true self, just like he did with “The Boondocks.” Only this time, it’s black Christians’ turn to see themselves reflected in it.

Then again, it may just be another TV show. Either way, I’ll be tuning in.

 

Source: Communities Digital News

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