The Los Angeles Times interviews Harold Ramis who directs the upcoming film “Year One” starring Jack Black and Michael Cera. Ramis, who was behind comedic hits like “Groundhog Day” and “Ghostbusters”,  explains how he is (hopefully) avoiding offending Christians, Jews, and Muslims in a slapstick Old Testament road-trip film.

“Post-9/11, religious differences were tearing the world apart. Every religion preaches tolerance, yet people were destroying [one another] wholesale,” said Ramis, who co-wrote the script. But how to go about making his point about religious extremism without alienating audiences? “I started thinking, ‘You can’t attack Christianity, Islam or Judaism. But nobody cares if you go after a dead pagan religion.’ “

Now, obviously Ramis may just be joking here, he is a comedian after all. But later in the interview Ramis does take care to mention that he’s getting the film screened by the Anti-Defamation League before it’s released in theatres.

Aware his irreverent take might irk some who take the Old Testament at its word — particularly certain of its promises — Ramis said with some trepidation the Anti-Defamation League would be having a peek soon. “I’m Jewish; that gives me a lot of room to play. Liberal Jews tend to enjoy self-mockery. All it’s saying is that this notion of being chosen or being given land by God is a hard one for people to swallow,” he said. “So the circumcision jokes, I know they’ll be able to take. I think the land joke is the one that might be more offensive.” Ramis is careful to point out the movie is “not an attack on religion; it’s an attack on mindless fundamentalism.” He relates an exchange as it was scripted in an early draft: ” ‘You burn virgins so it rains?’ ‘Duh. Where do you think rain comes from? Clouds?’ “

You see? Attacking the “mindless fundamentalism” of “pagans” who “burn virgins” is funny stuff! Monotheist claims that God granted them certain lands? Not so much. Or at least you have to be sure you couch it in a disclaimer and run it by an anti-defamation group first.

Now, I’m not getting bent out of shape about this, religion (and the human foibles attached to religion) has been a comedy goldmine since the days of Lucius Apuleius Platonicus. Only humourless extremists can’t laugh about their faith, or tolerate a joke told by someone else about your belief system, so don’t expect any calls to protest or complain about “Year One” from me (heck, considering some of the talent involved, I may go see it in the theatres). But I do think it is extremely telling that we have reached a point where certain segments of the dominant monotheisms are so insecure and reactionary that film-makers wanting to skewer the Bible have to deflect barbs onto pre-Christian religions in order to avoid controversy. As I’ve said before, modern Pagans (who look to the pre-Christian religions that Ramis satirizes) should fight genuine hate-speech but avoid the tone-deaf excesses of some “rights” groups.

“…the last thing I want to see is for Pagans to adopt the tactics of groups like the Catholic League. Constantly scanning the news looking for the next outrage, the next rallying cry for those who believe some great religious conflict is brewing. I don’t want us to become unable to laugh off something stupid, I don’t want us to become unable to tell the difference between an innocuous trifle, and real anti-Pagan hate speech.”

Ancient pagan religions may be easy to joke about, but let’s hope Ramis doesn’t use that as an excuse to de-fang his Biblical satire in “Year One”. After all, the only safe way to avoid offending a specific group in comedy is to be an equal-opportunity offender.

Tags: Bible, comedy, film, Harold Ramis, Jack Black, monotheism, movies, Paganism, Year One