A Rabbi, A Priest, and a Minister . . .: Ecumenical Humor in Midcentury “Judeo-Christian” America, 1945–65

The early Cold War years have typically been seen as a period of increased religious interest in the United States. Religious and political leaders promoted interreligious cooperation among American Protestants, Catholics, and Jews amid an existential conflict against “godless communism.” This article shows how popular comedy helped realize this project of ecumenical sociability by renegotiating the boundaries of proper and improper humorous speech with respect to religion. Moreover, it argues that humor—in supernatural comedy films, religious comic strips, and clergy joke cycles—served as a vehicle for propagating a popular theology intended to appeal across denominational divides and to bolster mainstream religious authorities.