This post is written in response to the recent dreadful massacre of cartoonists/satirists in Paris. It's my initial thoughts. I can't claim to know much about Islam… Heck, I don't know very much about my own religion, let alone anyone else's! So these musings are very much a lay Christian's thoughts, which may not be of any great weight or importance.
In my limited understanding, and leaving aside the how of humans coming into being, but thinking about the what and why, we are made (however it happened - direct creation or evolution) in some way to be like God - the bible says we are created 'in His image' - i.e. we have some (or many?) of the same characteristics… Or we did, until we rebelled against Him. That mucked things up a bit, but didn't, I think, change that fundamental likeness.
Now, I have a keen sense of humour, as do most folks I know. Is that 'sinful' - i.e. part of our rebellion against God? It could be sinful, or it could be part of 'being made in the image of God' - pretty much has to be one or t'other. I submit that God, terrifying though he can be sometimes, has a sense of humour. If asked, my kids would tell you that, when they were small, I could be pretty terrifying sometimes - but also that I do have a sense of humour, so being terrifying at times doesn't, clearly, preclude it.
Jesus, whom Christians believe to be God in human form, clearly had a sense of humour. I've probably quoted this before, but it bears repeating in this instance:
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Matthew 7: 3-5
It's a story with a serious point, like all Jesus' recorded stories, but it also contains a really absurd image - that of a man trying to get a speck of dust out his friend's eye, whilst there's a bloomin' great plank sticking out of his own eye - how daft is that? I'll bet it made his audience laugh - and remember the point he was making.
So, I don't think God is po-faced and humourless.
I can understand people who think that any 'poking fun' at religion is blasphemous - a decade or two ago, I'd probably have thought the same - and I don't suppose I ever noticed the absurdity of the image presented by Jesus in his story above. But I think I've 'lightened up a bit' since then. I've also changed my mind about something quite fundamental concerned with religious thought and practice…
It used to be that we thought of the UK as 'a Christian country', where most folk would call themselves Christian, and there was, perhaps, then a reason to expect everyone to have respect for God and not to 'take his name in vain':
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. Exodus 20:10
It is no longer so clearly the case that everyone respects the ten commandments (of which this is the fourth). And I no longer think that we Christians have any right to impose our beliefs and expectations of behaviour on those who do not believe what we believe. We might believe that it isn't wise for people to poke fun at God - there may well be consequences to such actions at a later date - if you believe in an all-powerful God and a final judgement. But that doesn't mean that we should try to stop people - let alone start some sort of 'war' over it, in which people end up getting killed and injured.
I'm not offended by people making fun of my God. That is, by and large, between them and God. I am sometimes upset by the vehemence and intolerance of some of the 'anti-theists', and by people using His name as a swear word, but when it comes to humour, I'm fine with it - carry on. Personally, I wouldn't poke fun at God… But I would (and do, at times) poke fun at the practice of religion… Us religious people do such daft things, and have such daft practices - we're asking to be laughed at. For instance why should Christian priests wear dresses when they're officiating?