Satire is one of the most potent forms of non-violent protest. Its unique strength lies in its ability to enable those with limited power to voice dissent and spotlight problematic issues in an engaging, humorous, and effective manner, all while remaining relatively non-threatening to those in power. To my reckoning, nobody has visually satirized right-wing, orthodox, literalist Christianity better than Steve Moseley through his “Patience Bottles.”

These meticulously crafted pieces are amusing and critical commentaries on the dogmatic interpretations and practices embraced by conservative Christians. Moseley encases small, intricate scenes lampooning these Christians within empty bourbon bottles, à la the way ships in bottles are displayed.

The bottles become a compelling visual metaphor for the restrictions imposed by unyielding, literal interpretations and accompanying political ideologies. His work challenges viewers to consider the absurdity of Biblical literalism as complex and deeply meaningful allegories are literally bottled up and marketed as overly simplified, superficial and downright goofy constructs.

In the 18^th Century, someone constructed the first model ship in an empty bottle. Through laborious and detailed work, it was possible to create this type of mind-boggling visual paradox. It required an immense amount of self-control and an appropriately tranquil or even trancelike or superhuman state of mind to do this. In so doing the viewer could only marvel at such a seemingly impossible deed. Somewhere, somehow, Moseley got the idea to begin creating little satirical dioramas within empty bourbon bottles.

So why create these scenes in bourbon bottles? Well, Moseley is originally from the South, and he could be equating the absurdity in the bottles to the inebriating potency of this very Southern liquor. Bourbon is part of the culture of the deep, White, conservative South, and one could say that Biblical literalism is absorbed as easily as bourbon down there.

The scenes in the bottles can be a surrogate experience for the dulling effects of this liquor. Bourbon is a completely and unabashedly American intoxicant, like right-wing extremist Christianity.

So if the bottle literally held an important aspect of Southern culture, it becomes the perfect means by which to present satirical versions of that culture, and especially its religious life. You ingest the intoxicant and then you get your satirical diorama in its place. In lampooning the literal approach to the Bible, he is also attacking the culture of Southern denial which can be represented by the bourbon.

Moseley’s use of satire employs a medium that is visually arresting while also being rich in meaning. The intensive effort required to create a “Patience Bottle” can be thought to approximate the obsessive nature of holding steadfastly to a ridiculous religious orthodoxy. The time and effort devoted to maintaining such rigid beliefs is reflected in the time-consuming process of creating the scenes in the bottles.

In regard to the patience bottles, it is not so much that Mosely is attacking the Christian religion as he is attacking what some people have done to the Christian religion. Just a few examples of his work follow (some of which are reproduced in this article). You can see more of Moseley’s work here: Patience Bottles | Whimsical ideas of the world – in a bottle!

We have The Last McSupper, in which Jesus and his demon-thrashing, healing crew are pigging out on some fast food the night before the crucifixion. Did Judas make his phone call to the Pharisees as Jesus ate some hashbrowns? Probably not, as the supper was at night. Showing Jesus at a last McSupper robs the story of any gravitas. The melodrama and mawkishness of literalist religion just fall apart. The Last Craps Game also removes a sense of solemnity and loftiness to Jesus’ final hours. What if He went out gambling with his buddies the night before his arrest?

In I’m Bored, Me Too Moseley mocks the conservative concept of heaven as a couple guys in white robes and wings just stand there wondering what they can do. Just what are we supposed to be doing in heaven? If everyone is already pure, what can I do? How can I be good if there are no challenges to be otherwise? We also have Sticks in the Mud for Christ, which shows how boring and lackluster a life devoted to the ideals of religious conservativism can be.

Jesus H. Christ: The Teen Years is inspired by the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, a Gnostic text where the youthful Jesus is portrayed as a youthful Jesus. In this bottle, a teenage Jesus is miraculously giving girls breast enlargements. Moseley is mocking how the right-wing Christian can always find ways to mold Jesus around conservative values. Here, Jesus embraces the objectification and sexualization of women.

Jesus Has Two Daddies, showing Jesus with Mr. Yahweh and Joseph plays upon the fears conservative Christians have in regard to gay and lesbian folks. King James Was a Homosexual also attacks conservative homophobia as one of the chief proponents of spreading the Gospel in the English language was, possibly, gay.

In Get a Haircut, a conservative preacher scolds Jesus for his unkempt appearance, while a church official in Don’t You Have Nicer Clothes to Wear? scolds Jesus for not looking sharp. These pieces point to the fact that if Jesus walked into many Christian churches these days, he, his lifestyle and his values would be rejected.

We have a bottle in which Adam hands a box of dishwashing powder to Eve in the Garden of Eden to represent a conservative orientation to the relationship between the sexes, as if inequality between the sexes comes from the origin of humanity and is justified through a holy book. In Did Cavemen Have Souls? we get a child asking an uncomfortable question to a conservative preacher who would deny human evolution altogether and not even deal with the question of when hominids became capable of spiritual development.     

What is interesting to me is that wine is very symbolic in the Christian religious tradition. When one drinks wine, one becomes elevated, one becomes more tolerant, loving, social, forgiving. Wine became a perfect symbol for rising as a human being to a higher nature. Wine was the symbolic blood of God that changed us for the better, as our encounter with Jesus would.

Indeed, there is literature about the parallels between Jesus and the ancient Greek wine god Bacchus. Jesus was the “true vine,” and one drank wine to remember Him. Bourbon, on the other hand, with its ties to Southern culture and history, seems to represent a corrupter of God’s true word.

By the way, Jesus loved satire, too. For example, he called the Pharisees a bunch of “whited sepulchers”: pretty on the outside but concealing death and corruption inside. That was pretty good – it made me laugh out loud. Maybe my next article will be about Jesus the satirist or Jesus the stand-up comedian. This might also make a nice diorama in one of Moseley’s bourbon bottles.

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About the Author

Daniel Gauss is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Columbia University. He has been published on numerous platforms dealing with art and culture and has been working in the field of education for over 20 years. He currently teaches in Shenzhen, China.