Christofascists Go Berserk Over Black Jesus

Adult's Swim's new Black Jesus series has sent many a Christofascist berserk, including the hateful bitches at "One Million Moms."  Ostensibly, these folks claim that it is “the foul language used in the trailer, including using the Lord’s name in vain, is disgusting. In addition, there is violence, gunfire and other inappropriate gestures which completely misrepresent Jesus.”  The real issue?  That Jesus is depicted as black because in the minds of these racists - racism and conservative Christianity always seem to go hand in hand, especially in Virginia - only white conservatives are real Christian/real Americans, so Jesus cannot be anything but a fair skinned Caucasian.  Never mind the historic reality that, if Jesus was born in Palestine, he was almost guaranteed NOT to look like the depictions we see so frequently (nor, if the Gospel stories are true, did he hang around the "godly folks" of his day).  The Daily Beast looks at the furor.  Here are highlights:

Black Jesus will be immortalized in a new Adult Swim show of the same name, but He existed long before Aaron McGruder thought him up. The idea of a dark-skinned, possibly woolly-haired lord and savior is a stark contrast to the blond-haired and blue-eyed depiction that is the accepted, if inaccurate, frontman of Christianity, but it has existed at least since the 19th century. Historians, forensic scientists, and Biblical scholars have long suggested that Jesus, whose racial appearance was not specified by the Bible, was unlikely to have had porcelain-hued skin and long, flowing hair; rather, that rendering was the result of a lengthy and complex racist mission.

But, in recent decades, black Jesus has crept his way into pop culture as a shape-shifting rebuke to the whitewashing of history. He has been referenced in television, film, and music, sometimes simply as a cultural flashpoint, other times as a liberator. In most instances, he serves as a response to the fallacy of white Jesus.

Unsurprisingly, it has not been without its criticisms. Conservative Christian group One Million Moms, for instance, has objected to Black Jesus on the grounds that “the foul language used in the trailer, including using the Lord’s name in vain, is disgusting. In addition, there is violence, gunfire and other inappropriate gestures which completely misrepresent Jesus.”

Is a critique of church and of the broader fallibility of organized religion forthcoming? Does he intend to use the racial tropes the show’s characters are based on to make a larger point? Is subversion on the horizon or will Black Jesus sacrifice a historically political concept for the sake of a stoner comedy? Only God knows.