A Christian Satirist Talks The Babylon Bee

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3 • 622 Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2019

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last month, Snopes fact-checked an article from the satire site The Babylon Bee. On its website, Snopes explained its rationale:The Babylon Bee has managed to confuse readers with its brand of satire in the past. This particular story was especially puzzling for some readers, however, as it closely mirrored the events of a genuine news story, with the big exception of the website’s changing the location. We found dozens of instances of social media users who were puzzled by this article.Meanwhile, The Bee’s CEO told Fox News that Snopes running its fact-check could end up deeming the website as “fake news” and make it harder to share its stories on social media sites. The Bee may be the first Christian satirical piece that Snopes has examined, but it’s hardly the first satirical site that organization has fact-checked. That’s partially because humorous fake news can get anyone, says Bob Darden, the former editor of the late Christian satire magazine, The Wittenburg Door.“ On the cover, we had a statement that said, ‘The world's pretty much only religious humor and satire magazine,’” said Darden, explaining The Door’s method for trying to prevent people from taking its articles too seriously. “That was our tip to anyone who read The Door. When articles or things got picked up by various outlets, we always insisted that we had that little tagline.” Darden joined digital media producer Morgan Lee and editorial director Ted Olsen to discuss what makes satire Christian, how politics changes humor, and why the best parodies make it clear that the subjects are also things the writer loves. What is “ Quick to Listen”? Read more Subscribe to Quick to Listen on Apple Podcasts Follow the podcast on Twitter Follow our hosts on Twitter: Morgan Lee and Ted Olsen Read Politico’s How Trump Turned Liberal Comedians Conservative Music by Sweeps Quick to Listen is produced by Morgan Lee and Matt Lindor This episode of Quick to Listen is brought to you in part by Fearfully and Wonderfully: The Marvel of Bearing God's Image, a newly updated and combined book by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey, from InterVarsity Press. For 40% off and free US shipping on this book and any other IVP title, visit ivpress.com and use promo code POD19. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.
0:11.1	Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.
0:14.5	Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at Ap apologetics guy.com.
0:37.6	It is Wednesday, August 21st, and you're listening to Quick to Listen, where we go be on hashtags and hot takes discuss a major cultural event.
0:52.4	I'm Morgan Lee, digital media producer here at Christianity today, and I'm with Ted Olson, our editorial director.
0:56.8	Hey, Morgan. I'm excited to be back at Quick to Listen. I'm excited that you're here at Christianity today and I'm with Ted Olson, our editorial director. Hey, Morgan. I'm excited to be back at Quick to listen. I'm excited that you're back and as I just said a couple minutes ago to you, I'm excited that
1:01.5	you're back specifically for this actually pretty hot button topic. Yeah, I like hot buttons.
1:07.1	So I actually don't think that the intro is going to get people. It's not that much of a hot, but Morgan, this is, you're building it up too much. Our listeners are going to be like, what are they? Well, they've already seen what we're going to talk about right? Because they've clicked on the podcast. Okay. So just tell them who our guest is. Our guest today, I'm very excited about this because he is one of my favorite writers for CT and for other places is Bob Darden. He's a professor in the
1:28.0	Department of Journalism, Public Relations, and New Media. You could stack, you could fill a small
1:33.2	library with all of the books and magazine articles that he has done. He is also a director of
1:38.5	Baylor's Black Gospel Music Restoration Project. Definitely one of the world's foremost experts on
1:44.0	black sacred music and especially gospel music. You can read a one of the world's foremost experts on black sacred music and
1:45.1	especially gospel music you can read a number of pieces he's written on that subject in c t's archives
1:51.0	but this is not a podcast episode about gospel music this is a podcast about religious satire
1:57.7	and the reason we have bob darden with us today is one of the things I know him
2:02.3	best for, and that is that he was an editor. He was actually the editor of the Wittenberg door from
2:07.8	1987 until 2007. He did great work there under multiple, two different ownerships and many
2:16.5	multiples of issues, including two title changes
2:19.8	from the Wittenberg door to the door. I would say I grew up, but, you know, my formative
2:24.3	Christian years as a teen and college student and 20s were satirically shaped.
2:29.7	Were shaped by Bob's work at the door. So I'm thrilled to have them here.
2:34.0	Delighted to be here. Delighted to be here.
	...

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