Fashionable syncretism
The Roman Catholic Church has a long tradition of co-opting other traditions. Counterfeit Chic highlights the latest.
July 02, 2008
June 27, 2008
Body and Soul in Italy
Catholicism has a rich tradition of integrating sensory experience with religious worship. This Italian ad campaign, however, looks to a more Eastern tradition for its holistic imagery.
June 26, 2008
Muslim shutter shades
Via Animal, neo-Jesus Kanye West's shutter shades go ecumenical in the latest issue of Islamic trendmag Elan.
June 24, 2008
Iraq's lost golden age
This morning on my walk to work I noticed that the demolition of an office building had exposed a church to public view--and not just any church, but Manhattan's first Roman Catholic parish. Drawn by the sight I decided to do a walk-through. The ornamentation, the altars, the markers commemorating the history of building and craft--the place was a vivid reminder of a visual style in some ways alien to life today, but at the same time its direct antecedent.
The blend of sensory richness and spirituality reminded me of this recent article on the goldsmiths of Iraq. Gold as an expression of transformative identity has a long history there, a tradition evident not just in the Bible but in the diffusion of its iconic values throughout the globe. Which is just one more why the plight of Iraq's goldsmiths is so tragic--it's not just that the invasion led to the pillaging of ancient art; Iraq is losing the very artists whose work help gives life meaning.
Even more disturbing--the role of religious conflict in this spiritual implosion. For more on that check out the whole article; for now, a poignant reminder of one family's lost golden age:
For Walid, goldsmithing is more than a business, it is a family tradition too important to abandon.
His grandfather worked on the golden-domed Kadhimiya shrine, where Imam Musa al Kadhim and his grandson, Muhammad Taqi, revered by Shiite Muslims, are said to be buried.
His father made jewelry for the Iraqi royal family.
A faded photograph hanging above Walid's counter shows his father with the portable wooden box he used to display his wares before he opened a store in 1934 in Baghdad's most famous gold bazaar, which fills the winding alleys leading to the shrine. . . .
The jewelry sold in the Kadhimiya district is especially prized by Iraq's majority Shiites, who consider it to be a blessing from the imams buried there.
Before U.S.-led forces invaded the country in 2003, the shopkeepers say, as many as 3,000 Iranians also visited the shrine every day. After offering a prayer to the imams, the pilgrims would join the bustling throngs to shop for gold.
June 17, 2008
Christian Sex in the City
A Christian single woman reviews Sex in the City for CT, but it's not just the obligatory condemnation of New York's Babylonian perversion. Particularly noteworthy: the reviewer's lament for the lack of the acknowledgment of single women's sexuality by the Church. It's a fascinating window into America's evangelical subculture, one seldom provided by PR for True Love Waits:
[Li]ike the TV series, the film offers much that will resonate with singles—and yes, even Christians—who see themselves not just as a demographic in a Barna poll but as sexual beings who wrestle with balancing loneliness and a desire for romantic love with a commitment to purity and platitudes like "true love waits." (And waits. And waits.)
Though many viewers were no doubt drawn by the sex or the sisterhood or the shoes, it was Carrie's thought-provoking, vulnerable, and relatable wrestling with life that made the show not just popular, but a pop-culture phenomenon.
And a phenomenon even for many Christians. For years, good churchgoing friends of mine secretly raved about Sex and the City. They told me that I, a 30-something single woman (and a singles columnist to boot), would appreciate the randy little show. I was a late adopter only because I didn't have cable. When the somewhat sanitized version showed up on WGN, I was intrigued. I could've done without the "man-izing" and definitely without the nudity, when I rented the original version. But it was refreshing to have a single woman's sexuality acknowledged. In stark contrast, the last time anyone in a Christian setting spoke to the fact that I'm a sexual human being was in a college church group, where I was blithely instructed that "true love waits." Well, 15 years later, it's still waiting. And it ain't so blithely simple.
Most of the few Christian voices speaking to the growing single segment of the population offer ten easy steps to find our soulmate. As if it's that wondrously simple. Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda, however, show how challenging it really can be for intelligent, accomplished, and admittedly neurotic women to find lasting love. They, unlike many Christians, don't insult my intelligence. Instead they speak to the complexities of relationships in a postmodern age—addressing baby lust, the mommy wars, sexual temptation, dating outside your "class," commitment-phobia, the reluctant desire to be rescued by a man, and the simultaneous fear that you'll lose your own hard-won identity in the process. Yes, materialism and hedonism abound. But so does a messy wrestling with complex new realities of life that I wish I saw more of in Christian circles.
June 14, 2008
Sign of the times
Above: the sign outside the Church of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane. Whether it's a directive aimed at tour group guides or a broader statement about the relation between reason and religion I'll leave up to you.
For more on the latter theme, check out A Religious Case Against Belief, reviewed by Pico Iyer in the 6/26/2008 New York Review of Books.
An interesting study in cross-generational rhetorical contrast: A Religious Case, written by a professor emeritus, makes the case that belief has corrupted religion. Conversely, Gen-X filmmaker Kevin Smith's cult film Dogma argues that religion has corrupted belief.
June 03, 2008
Babeland's Nativibraty scene
NYC's Babeland has received a considerable amount of press for its efforts at integrating socially responsible sex ed with the sex toy biz. Gothamist features this interview with co-owner Claire Cavanah on the occasion of the opening of Babeland's first Brooklyn store; me, well, since everyone else has the scoop on all the education stuff, I'm featuring the shop's vibrator creche.
May 25, 2008
Baby Jesus Butt Plug and the religious dildo creche
A voice from the ethereal realm has called unto to me to feature Divine Interventions, an inspired example of commercial "religious obscenity." DI's products are primarily from the Christian tradition, tho they also include Moses and the Buddha--but not Muhammad.
Davey & Goliath co-creator Dick Sutcliffe meets his Maker
When I was a burbling tyke, one of the shows I had to watch--in the sense of must-see TV absolutely wanted to watch--was Davey and Goliath. As you can see from the recent Mountain Dew (licensed) parody above, a lot of other kids watched it too.
It's easy to make fun of the simplistic religious moralism of the D&G films, although as a kid who mainlined South Park's Butters I have to confess that thought never occurred to me. But the truth is, these shows were genius. Not just because they snuck in controversial social commentary--the whole idea required a leap of thought that is far from typical in do-gooding, let alone religious media strategy.
On one level, you see in Davey and Goliath an ur-text for Calvin and Hobbes, right down to sledding.
More fundamentally, you see a creator who looked at one medium--television--and saw that the traditional mode of communication in another medium--church--would not fit:
Mr. Sutcliffe was director of Lutheran radio and television ministry in New York when he was approached by church leaders about using television to reach young people, said his daughter, J.T. Sutcliffe of Dallas.
"They wanted to do a little sermonette sort of thing, and Dad said, 'In the television medium, people aren't going to put up with that.' "
He proposed a format that would offer sound theology while being entertaining, his daughter said.
Marshall McLuhan generalized this insight in his observation that a new medium initially repeats prior patterns--TV shows plays and symphonies; people post static pages to the web--until the form of the new medium reshapes how we communicate. In the electronic environment, McLuhan argued, if you don't see that education is also entertainment you understand neither.
Sutcliffe saw that merely replicating old content wasn't enough; fun iconic scenes were the wave of the future. And as we can see by all the Youtube links here, he was right.
Below, a landmark avant-garde parody of D&G: He Was Once by Mary Hestand with Todd Haynes.
May 23, 2008
Women are property t-shirts
Via GetReligion, a Wait Wear tee promoting traditional marriage, when daughters were property managed by their fathers.
John Hagee, John McCain and Christian jewelry
Texas Pastor John Hagee has been in the news recently thanks to his on-again, off-again endorsement of Republican presidential candidate John McCain. The most recent controversy: Hagee's assertion, not all that unusual in certain conservative Christian circles, that God sent Hitler as a "hunter" to force the Jews to go back to Israel.
While the news understandably focuses on Hagee's sermons and books, it's less well known that he also sells Christian jewelry. Pictured here: the Hagee prayer-box necklace, riffing on Jewish phylacteries. It's part of his wife Diana Hagee's King's Daughter Collection, which also includes a branded apron, tote bag and myrrh anointing oil.
An interesting bit of info about Diana Hagee: "She was presented the prestigious Lion of Judah award by the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston for the long-standing work she and Pastor Hagee do within Israel."
May 21, 2008
Jesus & Gravity & Barber Bart
I remember when this was filmed & Bart's wondering whether he'd make the cut. Turns out he did, starting at 2:08-11 and several times afterwards.
Most people wouldn't associate a Dolly Parton song about Jesus with downtown Manhattan, but she works with an excellent avant-garde filmmaker who happens to be based here:
Resurrection matrix
Students of comparative theology have long been aware of resurrection motifs in religion before Christ. James Tabor points to an even more direct antecedent in Judaism, as a new scholarly paper offers textual evidence of the sufffering-messiah-resurrected-after-three-days motif in Judaism circulating shortly before Jesus' crucifixion.
May 20, 2008
Christian folk art radio ad
The following signs with a Howard Finster vibe have popped up in my neighborhood, and Animal has the pics.
May 17, 2008
Digital habit
Faith, Hope and Computer
Via vintage tech blog Modern Mechanix, the story of how the Catholic Church invented modern customized direct marketing.
May 15, 2008
"Jesus Christ is not a weapon"
In case you, like Hurley on Lost, want to whomp intruders with a Jesus statue, here's a gold-plated one so you can do it in style.
Stolen hotel Bible collection
Just one of the digital collections available on Public Collectors, via the Groundswell Collective.
Every time Philip von Zweck found a Bible in his hotel room, he nicked it. The one pictured above has my favorite caption: "The first wedding I got to perform as a rev."
May 14, 2008
The Joan of Arc car
You're crazy to buy it? It ends up in flames?
Nude model Erica Campbell quits after converting to Christianity
AVN has the story; Erica Campbell's website explains her decision. Two things are particularly interesting: the sense that her charity work (animal rescue) was not enough, and the social network that emerged as she communicated with the men who paid for her pics. An excerpt below; for a different POV, including an intriguing comparison of working in porn with wearing a head scarf, check out this NOW discussion with Nina Hartley.
Here's Erica Campbell:
I love helping people, I love befriending people, I love animal rescue and rehab. I care a GREAT deal for my friends and family and ALWAYS do whatever I can to care for them and make sure that they are ok. For a long time I THOUGHT that I was doing the right thing.....and doing my personal best......well...I was wrong...dead wrong. . . .
The past few years have been very difficult for me. That is no secret to anyone that knows anything about me. I have been working my tail off to support myself, my farm, my rescues, my family, and the list goes on. No matter how hard I worked.....no matter how many people or creatures I helped I STILL had that void inside of my heart and my soul. Connecting with person after person through my site as REAL FRIENDS. I understood the loneliness of the people that I would talk to...because I myself was so lonely. The more I shot...the deeper my darkness got.....the more I understood the pain of others. My friends and my fan. There is ONE common thread to so many of us online here.....the need to be loved, accepted, cared for, the need to have SOMEONE understand you and connect with you. At the end of so many of these emails was that loneliness. SO many men have asked me what they were doing wrong, how to find a special girl like me for THEM. How to fill that "void" in their hearts...in their souls.
Nip Tuck Golden Ratio Facebook app
The divine proportion has been a making a mark in the beauty industry, as plastic surgeons have been using it to persuade people to use their services to express God's ideal of beauty. Now the hit TV show Nip Tuck makes it possible for everyone to fuel their insecurities by analyzing their photos on Facebook.
Of course, not everyone is sure that God approves of plastic surgery . . . well, except for the work that they need done.
May 12, 2008
The right cleavage for church
Playtex has made a bid--literally; it's clear they've paid for a prime YouTube placement--for viral video status by posting an ad called "Nightclub . . . Church", in which women discuss how they put on their bra and arrange their breasts. The strategic inclusion of the church reference serves a few purposes, such as roping in a significant demographic and providing a hook.
It's clear, though, that that the marketers at Playtex don't quite get how the medium works, since they've disabled embedding. After all, in a viral video the goal is not to drive people to your site but to disseminate your message--something the network-savvy Christian movement understood quite well when it went viral centuries ago!
Although come to think of it, showing cleavage but not embedding would be appropriate for GodTube . . .
May 11, 2008
Rubik's Cube Icon (Russian Orthodox edition)
Perfect for the devout Russian parent who wants to keep their kid entertained in a devout way through two-to-three hour--standing up!--church services. Via GetReligion.
May 09, 2008
Sporty and sexy, La Resistance lives on
The Resistance is a fundamentalist Christian group in the news for its attack on the revived classic Starbucks mermaid logo:
The Starbucks logo has a naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute, explains Mark Dice, founder of the group. Need I say more? It's extremely poor taste, and the company might as well call themselves, Slutbucks.
The all-brown logo is a replica of the one the chain used when it opened its first store in Pike Place in Seattle in 1971. The woman is actually a siren, not a mermaid, which in Greek mythology lures people to them with their beautiful songs, and then kills them, explains Dice.
The Resistance . . . also demanded that Duke University change the name of their Blue Devils sports team to something not offensive to the Christian community.
If this rigorous standard of moral purity appeals to you, you might not want to purchase this official The Resistance tank top from the group's Cafe Press shop. After all, it's bringing sexy back!
May 07, 2008
The God Internet bubble
Social enterprise as a movement trends toward the secular, but the big money has always been in religion. Via Libby Purves, check out the $30 million investment on $150 million valuation for GodTube, the YouTube knockoff that sports a full-on CSR agenda:
The great God Internet bubble rises and rises...Religion is probably as big as pornography on the net, if not bigger. Godtube - the minivideo site for the religiously minded - has raised $30 million at a $150 million valuation from GLG Partners, a hedge fund. The site started with $ 300 and last September became one of the top thousand sites worldwide. Its mission statement, incidentally, is strict: it gives a platform, so it claims, only to socially responsible faith-based organizations . . . 'Security and moral integrity are exceptionally important to the family at GodTube, and we take great pains to protect you and your loved ones. GodTube is family-friendly and is great for all Christians alike, including Christian children.'
To illustrate what a difference a social mission makes, one family has attracted millions of viewers by filming two versions of their daughter and placing one on each site. Here's the girl on GodTube:
And in her secular YouTube incarnation:
May 06, 2008
TARDIS coffin
The beer can coffin reminds me of this classic from 2004--the Doctor Who-inspired TARDIS coffin designed for artist Tim Haws, a fan who died of cancer at age 43.
And according to this recent conference in the UK, having more Doctor Who references in church could be a path toward spiritual revival. From the London Telegraph, here's The Church is Ailing--Send for Dr. Who:
The number of under-16s attending Church of England services fell by almost 20 per cent between 2000 and 2006, but the Church believes that improving communication can reverse that trend.
Andrew Wooding, a spokesman for the Church Army, which organised the conference, said that its intention was to give vicars new ideas for conveying their message.
"There are countless examples of Christian symbolism in Doctor Who, which we can use to get across ideas that can otherwise be difficult to explain."
"Clergy shouldn't be afraid to engage with popular culture as for many young people television plays a large role in their thinking," he said.
Street art lost and found in Turkey
By lakormis. Brilliant.
May 05, 2008
Amy Winehouse rosary
Via Oh No They Didn't:
Amy Winehouse has has abandoned her Jewish roots to embrace Catholicism as a show of unity towards her incarcerated husband Blake Fielder-Civil.
The troubled singer, 24, has started wearing rosary beads and has turned to the Roman Catholic faith in a show of solidarity with Blake — who’s locked up in London’s Pentonville prison accused of assault and conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
May 04, 2008
Family Circus Saint Santa collectors' plate
A sacred relic preserved for eternity by the Comics Curmudgeon
May 01, 2008
Atheist billboard kills business for popular restaurant
This billboard appeared like a thief in the night, and a popular seafood restaurant that usually advertised in this spot saw its business drop by two-thirds.
More on Gawker.
April 30, 2008
Drive-around church
Marshall McLuhan observed that new media initially adopt old forms, such as TV showing stage plays and symphonies or web pages mimicking paper. Above: a Baptist church on wheels, complete with a twelve-foot high belfrey.
I wonder if any of these still survive?
Jesus is for suckers
And chocolate and jelly beans and mints . . .
April 29, 2008
Gay porn director's death note on life, sex and the cross
Jan Daniel Cadinot was a famous director of gay porn. The following post appeared on his blog on April 23rd, the day he died of a heart attack:
Dear friends, critics and others,
If you're reading these words I will have put down my camera, switched off the lights, drawn the curtains and taken my final bow. May all the efforts and work of a whole life, the quest for the moment of pure truth in the sublime communion of two beings under the spell of the undefinable desire for the other, inspire those who inherit my heart.
The human being is made such that it only remembers the good and the beautiful, therefore I leave you with a free mind and a head overflowing with a myriad of young men, sometimes strong and vigorous, sometimes fragile and sensitive. All of them gave me these unforgettable moments of their most tender intimacy, moments that only a few really know but which I made in to images to allow you to admire them over and over again.
Never were success or personal fortune my creed. You offered me gratitude, and I thank you for that because I wanted nothing else. Cadinot salutes you. Remember a kindly fellow, an extreme observer given to rages and contradiction but who listened to others and was full of love.
"An erect phallus is a symbol of life, a cross a symbol of death."
April 24, 2008
Technocrucifiction--Wooden cross USB memory strap
A sign that the constant work & 5 a.m. nights are getting to me: I saw this and thought, what if this were worn by the natives of the Land of the Giants and Jesus had been on the Spindrift? And what if Jesus were crucified there and had to carry this USB port . . .
Order here. And don't worry--it's small on our planet.
April 18, 2008
Selling the virtual pope
A local report in the NY Times tells of a Bronx man whose image of the Pope draws people to his shop selling stuff emblazoned with the papal likeness. It's Baudrillard meets social enterprise.
Judged by the reactions of passers-by, it pleases many people with no tickets to any pope-related events this weekend. They speak to the pope’s likeness or genuflect or stop and pay their respects, on this block next to the many Italian restaurants and bakeries on Arthur Avenue.
“For a lot of people, it’s as close as they’re going to come to meeting the pope,” Mr. Fusco said.
“Everyone wants a piece of the pope while he’s here,” he added.
Aside from communing with the life-size cutout, one can also connect with the pope by stepping inside the shop and picking up a memento of the pope’s visit.
Mr. Fusco is selling “Property of Pope Benedict” T-shirts and “I Love Pope Benedict” bumper stickers, as well as coffee mugs and aromatic “Pope-Pourri” pillows bearing the pope’s likeness. The stuff has been going like hotcakes, he said. It is a perfect example of how the pope offers spiritual guidance but also lets his followers with their livelihoods.
“He’s really providing for us,” Mr. Fusco said.
Pop iconic Catholic Andy Warhol would no doubt approve.
April 16, 2008
Buff naked draped Jesus greets Pope
The tradition of thinly repressed Christian homoeroticism continues with the--yes--"unveiling" of this official portrait of Pope Benedict XVI and friend. Explanation + more close-ups follow in the video interview with artist Igor Babailov.
April 11, 2008
Inked--a sermon series on tattoos
The pastor: preaching about the virtue of tattoos. His wife: a tattooed massage therapist.
If you want to understand why old-school Christian fundamentalists are fading, this article, via Needled, is not a bad place to start.
April 07, 2008
Knockers crucifix
Continuing the theme of yesterday's post, here's a detail from Terence Healy's "Tit Crucifixion #18," via Naked City
April 06, 2008
April 05, 2008
Marketing Jesus
April 01, 2008
Jesus Christ, Superman
Over at UncivilSociety and now Blog@Newsarama, I've been writing about the intellectual property issues raised by the recent court ruling in which the family of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel regained copyright in the Superman material in Action Comics #1.
Below: a couple religious t-shirts and a poster appropriating the Superman trademark. You will believe a God can fly . . .
March 31, 2008
$2500 crystal skull t-shirt
Suddenly those ten-buck Christian ad slogan knockoffs are looking a bit more appealing, at least from an economic perspective . . .
March 26, 2008
The devil and Doctor Who
Here's a fact about yours truly that might not be obvious from this site: when I was high school & college, I became an uber-strict fundamentalist. As in, not tolerating anything remotely connected to worldliness, which included, well, basically most of my pop culture obsessions. Star Trek espoused evolution. Star Wars--the Force, which was obviously (to the folks I listened to, anyway) satanic. Non-Christian comics likewise were deemed to be pure evil.
Which is why I refused invitations to go see Star Trek III & Return of the Jedi, which in retrospect wasn't as bad a couple of omissions as they felt at the time. Perhaps the most painful thing was getting rid of my rather sizable comic collection and all my 1st edition Complete EC Library sets, a series to which I was an original subscriber.
Y'know, that comic collection had a complete run of Batman and Detective going back into the early 1950s. Sold those for 200 bucks to buy tracts. To see how I feel about that transaction now, watch this video.
This experience came to mind today when I read the story making the rounds re Simon White, the guy in the UK who is selling his extensive Doctor Who collection now that he's a Christian. A few excerpts from the story below--although before he gets rid of everything, he may want to attend the Spirituality and Doctor Who conference in Sheffield on April 19.
By the by, did you note how I said "most of my pop culture obsessions?" That's because even when I was separating from everything that wasn't fundamentalist, the one thing that stayed was Doctor Who.
As a counterpoint to what is clearly my spiritual Achilles Heel, here's the confession of Simon White:
Dr Who and his materialistic obsession with it represents the "greatest lie that Satan ever told" according to Mr White.
He said: "I loved science fiction as a kid. It was the Tardis that did it for me. You could get in that box and go anywhere.
"I started collecting Dr Who stuff starting with the Dalek, which I got from an old exhibition in Brighton.
"Me and a friend spent two years making the Tardis and I became obsessed. I made a model of K-9, then a full size Cyberman with authentic Dr Who parts. I couldn't stop.
"I had to retire early from my job as a nurse at the Royal United Hospital in Bath in 1998 because I was suffering from bipolar disorder.
"I turned to drink and became an alcoholic and the Dr Who obsession was the only thing that kept me going. I wouldn't have given it up if you'd have put a gun to my head."
Having discovered Christianity Mr Smith has renounced his old life and is putting the whole collection up for sale in local trade magazines and on eBay.
He said: "God delivered me from the evil that is Dr Who, materialism and alcoholism.
"Through my relationship with Jesus I saw that none of this was making me happy and I was born again like Lazarus.
"It's a timely tale as we come up to Easter. I wanted to tell others that no matter what trouble you are in God can deliver you from the evil. If you are prepared to have a relationship with him then God can help. I have been resurrected. My old life is dead, my new life is alive."
March 23, 2008
Bikini Bible-chan vs. Zombie 1/2
In keeping with the Easter theme of victory over death, here's a stylized illustration from designer Paul Robertson. I think it's a line-for-line copy of a stained glass window in a nineteenth-century Melbourne cathedral, but don't quote me on that:
March 22, 2008
Careers for Christian Youth (a la 1956)
Note what's in the center and what's waaaaaaayyyy down in the lower-left blind spot:
March 21, 2008
The Lost Island and Jesus
In last night's episode of Lost, a gun jammed at a crucial time--an action attributed to the inexorable will of the mysterious Island in that individual's life. Coincidentally, a few hours later a gun jammed again in New York City--as a mugger tried to steal this guy's $8,000 diamond-studded gold Jesus pendant:
A thug trying to steal a religious necklace off a man's neck in the East Village shoved a gun into the petrified victim's cheek and repeatedly pulled the trigger - but the gun kept jamming.
Rafael Nuñez - who was beaten and pistol-whipped - feels like the heavens were on his side after the midnight attack on East 13th Street near Avenue B.
It seemed like his time was up when the gunman - urged on by his accomplice, who kept screaming, "Just shoot him!" - shoved the weapon under his left eye.
"I heard him press the trigger twice," said Nuñez, 27.
Funny, I thought I saw Nunez get on the Staten Island Ferry this morning . . . except he insisted his name was really Kevin Johnson.
Jesus Jeans reveal Christ was an outie
From 1976, via Jezebel
March 19, 2008
Stuck on a bumper
Uhhhhhhhhh . . . ummmmmm . . . via.
What type of wine is the blood of Christ?
A Cab, it seems.
March 18, 2008
Secret identity crucifix by Joel-Peter Witkin
March 09, 2008
The medievals really need a better PR agency
March 06, 2008
Jesus sparkled
March 05, 2008
Saul Bass cathedrals
Via Design Sponge
The elements of faith
A sacrificial zinc anode dies so steel ships can live. And as a bonus, the cross on this example makes it a perfect candidate for an inspirational poem to accompany a line of branded Christian merch. Or maybe the ASA could open a gift shop . . .
Via the inerrant and ineffable Science Fair!
March 04, 2008
Angel phone
It's like the hamburger phone from Juno, but scarier.
Will Sikhs give pope the shiv . . .
. . . because he took theirs away?
March 03, 2008
Liberation theology
Global warming is coming! Global warming is coming!
Paul Revere's church goes green.
The headlights of the world
Here are a couple of ads for togetherchristian.com that appeared on this site thanks to the Google algorithm. Draw your own conclusions from the photos:
February 29, 2008
The gospel according to Diablo Cody
From Oscar-winning Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody's blog response to the supposed scandal of (partially) nude photos from her past. You can buy a variation of this and other "Twisted Religious Shirts" at FoulMouthShirts.com
February 27, 2008
Holy infringement, Batman!
There's long been speculation that Dick Grayson is an evangelical Christian, but Batman? Graphic Novelties posts a tract portraying Batman as a caped crusading evangelist. The source? Verily, not DC Comics:
Decatur, Ala., City Councilman Ray Metzger, who owns a not-quite-authentic reproduction Batmobile, has been handing out come-to-Jesus pamphlets featuring everyone's favorite Dark Knight.
Pray to pay
A 'prayer cafe' is being run by a local church in Croatia, to keep the kids coming in. At the Jedno cafe you pay for your food and drink with prayers. . . .
Parents and church leaders donate the food and drink. Three Our Fathers buy you a coffee (four for a cappuccino), a Coke is five Hail Marys and a Glory be.