Freedom from Oppression, Freedom for Joy: Humor as a Liberative Spiritual Practice

Humor has long been used as a nonviolent tool in resisting oppression and fighting for freedom. This paper explores how humor can also serve as a liberating Christian spiritual practice, examining the work of Desmond Tutu and his collaborators both in struggling against apartheid and, more recently, in promoting an interfaith spirituality of joy. The first speaker, who worked against apartheid in South Africa, will analyze how activists like Tutu and Allan Boesak used humor to express and pursue freedom, both external and internal, despite hardship and suffering. The second speaker will consider humor as a spiritual practice in a wider, global context, particularly as shown in Tutu’s later interfaith work with the Dalai Lama and Douglas Abrams. Through Tutu’s collaborative work, humor emerges not just as a tool for political resistance, but as a spiritual practice that can sustain joy, freedom, and communal flourishing.