Sometimes cartoonists tackle seemingly trivial subjects, and sometimes they tackle the really big ones

"Oh, I know He works in mysterious ways, but
if I worked that mysteriously I'd get fired."

"If we're all wrong and God actually does exist, in my opinion He's going to turn out to be Jewish. At least, I certainly hope so, because if He is Jewish I figure He can take a joke."

-- New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff, in the
e-newsletter/blogpost "The Cosmology of Cartoonists"

"The idea of a god or gods doesn't hold for me -- but works great for cartoons."

-- New Yorker cartoonist Chris Weyant (see below)

by Ken

I've been meaning to get back to New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff's May 1 e-newsletter/blogposts, "The Cosmology of Cartoonists." It struck me that it had a lot to say about why I so prize New Yorker cartoons. In the process of being funny, their creators often bring amazing insight into the biggest issues. (I might add that even when they seem to be dealing with trivial matters, they often communicate why those matters aren't really so trivial.)

And it's one of the really big subjects Bob has in mind here. He explains:

In a post titled "Can Science Lead to Faith?," Gary Marcus writes, "Most scientists I know are nonbelievers, convinced that there is no deity, or at least there is no convincing evidence of one." On the other hand, practically all the politicians I know of claim to be believers, with "claim to be" as the operative phrase.

On this issue, I'll let my cartoons speak for themselves.

Atop this post I've placed one of the cartoons of his own which Bob offers on the subject. He goes on to explain:

Just to clear up any ambiguity, I'm not a believer, or even agnostic, I'm an atheist (denomination: Jewish). That means the God I don't believe in is different from the God you don't believe in if, for example, you're a Muslim atheist, a Catholic atheist, or a Protestant atheist. But if we're all wrong and God actually does exist, in my opinion He's going to turn out to be Jewish. At least, I certainly hope so, because if He is Jewish I figure He can take a joke.

Better still, Bob has taken "an informal poll" ("I couldn't find my tux for a formal one") of the team. I couldn't resist sharing a couple more of the poll findings. Among the poll-ees here are my favorites. (I can't believe I'm passing over Roz Chast!)


Frank Cotham

Frank tells Bob: "I think of myself as a believer, but without interference from a church."

"I wonder if we could allow women a greater
role in religion other than as sacrifices."

Jack Ziegler

"Hello? Beasts of the Field? This is Lou, over in Birds of
the Air. Anything funny going on over at your end?"

This is a cartoon we've already seen, back in February 2012 along with Jack's explanation of how it came to be his first New Yorker cartoon sale, back in 1973. Summoned into the office of then-cartoon editor Lee Lorenz --

I sat in the chair opposite him as he pulled my drawing from a fat pile of other people's work on his desk. It was a cartoon that had made me happy when I came up with the idea. Lee asked if I wouldn't mind if they bought it for the magazine, and if I'd be amenable to considering a few changes. It was my first exposure to the extremely polite ways of The New Yorker in conducting business with its contributors.

The caption and layout were fine, he said, but some adjustments would be required in the body of the drawing. Could I perhaps make the fellow on the phone older and a tad more Biblical? And the inner workings of the conveyer belt seemed, well, not quite mechanical enough. Just a few lines added onto the finished drawing should do it.

[Jack's complete first-cartoon-sale story appeared in a Mankoff blogpost, "The Journey of a Thousand Cartoons"]

Now in his religiosity "poll" response, Jack tells Bob:

Agnostic, I suppose, but it's not something I ever think about. Raised Catholic, but stopped at age thirteen, when I realized what a load it was. Don't like any religions at this point -- think they're all nuts to one degree or another. And they cause way too much trouble in the world -- as they always have.

Don’t get me started.

Chris Weyant

"Actually, the attraction wasn't freedom from religious
persecution but, rather, the all-you-can-eat buffet."

Chris, who you'll recall is currently on "Daily Cartoon" duty, tells Bob:

Since my mother is Jewish and my father is Catholic, it's too much guilt for me to go with atheist.

I'm an agnostic only in the pre-Big Bang sense that there had to be something that started it all -- even if the "it" was no more than collapsing quantum physics. The idea of a god or gods doesn't hold for me -- but works great for cartoons.

I'm humbled by the depth of wisdom encapsuled in these snapshots of religion. They make more sense than most anything I've read from supposedly more serious commentators.

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