Bishop James Mathes has written an essay for Daily Episcopalian about the quality or lack thereof of the comments here on Episcopal Cafe. In a similar vein, Father Tim Schenck asks in a recent blog post whether snark is unChristian, and concludes that it is not. He says, in part:
Christians with a predilection for online snark occasionally encounter pushback from those who don’t think it’s appropriate. The best snark comes right up to the line without crossing over it and that can push people’s buttons who expect more positive output from their clergy and lay leaders. This all begs the question: Is snark un-Christian?
If you get back to the original definition of “sarcastic,” I don’t think you have to look much further than Jesus himself for validation. While it’s rarely put this way, Jesus had a wicked sense of humor that made extensive use of both hyperbole and sarcasm. If Jesus was Tweeting I’m pretty confident he’d be a master of the medium (though I doubt he’d have as many followers as Justin Bieber).
Here are some examples:
1. “Let the dead bury the dead.” (Matthew 8:21-22)
2. “How can you say to your neighbour, “Let me take the speck out of your eye”, while the log is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:4)
There are more examples
What do you think? Is snark unChristian (I hope not, or I am in trouble) and are clergy particularly adept at snarkiness?