Priest finds religion worth laughing about

Three priests -- a Dominican, a Franciscan and a Jesuit -- walk into a bar.

According to the Rev. James Martin, its not only the opening to a good joke, but quite possibly the saving grace of religion.

Martin's new book, "Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life," says religious people would be a lot happier -- and holier -- if they lightened up and took themselves less seriously.

"Joy, as a number of spiritual writers have said, is the surest sign of the Holy Spirit," the Jesuit priest said at a recent gig at Georgetown University. But, he continued, "there are certain Roman Catholics who seem to think that being religious means being deadly serious all the time."

Although Martin, the culture editor of the Jesuit magazine America and the unofficial chaplain to Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," uses his Catholic faith most frequently in his examples, his argument extends to other faiths, he said.

Martin said humor -- especially self-deprecating humor -- is "essential for interfaith dialogue" because it relaxes the discussion.

"It humanizes you, and it also reminds people that ... you take your faith seriously, but you don't take yourself too seriously," he said.

"The best jokes are the ones that poke fun at yourself. So I can tell jokes about Catholics, Jesuits and priests, because I'm all three," he said.

His favorite thing to poke fun at when it comes to Jesuits is their perceived worldliness, at least compared with other religious orders.

Martin said he "would never and could never" make a joke out of something like the sexual abuse scandals in the church. Humor about the pope is OK, he said, especially if the pope invites it.

"Even better are jokes that the popes themselves tell," he said, referring to one time when Pope John XXIII was asked how many people worked in the Vatican; the pope replied, "about half."