Take the Plastic Christ out of Christmas

This is too good to pass up commenting on. Toys for Tots has rejected a donation of 4,000 Jesus dolls. It's all over the news feeds today (Boston Herald, CNN). The Jesus doll retails for $20 and recites six different verses, bringing the good news to any child within hearing. See the doll for yourself in this video.

The charges are already flying. Robert Marley of the Coalition to Save Christmas in Massachusetts says, “This is just more proof that there’s a war on Christmas and Christianity in this country.” Obviously it's a conspiracy.

Bill Grein of Toys for Tots says they don't want to risk offending Jewish or Muslim families who might receive the doll. That makes sense.

This morning in class my students noticed immediately that this Jesus is very white and seems to be blue-eyed. Very astute.

Regardless of whether Jews and Muslims are offended, I can't understand why Christians aren't. This doesn't have anything to do with the Christ I want to keep in Christmas. This is just another plastic manifestation of a plastic faith passed off as a witnessing strategy.

 

Does anyone else think this looks like Val Kilmer?

Update: it appears that Toys for Tots is now going to accept the Jesus dolls saying the "issue has been resolved." My guess is that they'll hand them off to a Christian agency. Here's the article.

I still think this Jesus looks like Val Kilmer.

 

Comments

[Adam P. Newton]

No kidding. Val Kilmer as Jesus....

But you're right -- it's Christians who should be outraged that Jesus is portrayed in such an unBiblical light. Do we really need Jesus dolls out there to propogate our faith? And what verses does Plastic Jesus even speak? Are they in any kind of context?

Ugh.... At least I never had to sell this tripe when I worked in Christian retail. I sold enough crap to not have to deal with that. Blue eyes & tanless indeed....

[Joy]

Uggh. This fills me full of dread. To me it's just another step down the road that is turning Christianity into some sort of fashion statement amonst the religions of the world from which we're supposed to just 'pick one' to follow. I have a few non-Christian friends and I love them dearly but I can't help but hate it when they refer to my faith as 'whatever works for you'....

I agree with the point about him being made white with blue eyes - is this not just asking for trouble and isolating Christianity even more?

I don't know what's worse - this or British Airways banning its staff from wearing crucifixes.

[kent burgess]

It probably is a Val Kilmer doll that didn't sell. They had all of them taking up space in storage and thought: Hey, let's see if those Christians will buy it as Jesus? They fall for this stuff all the time.

[Linda]

What I really want to know is if it's a bobble head - cuz a bobble head makes all the difference. If it is, I'm there! Forget the verses. Don't we all need a hunky, caucasian savior-figure with a head that says "yes, yes" to everything we ask for? Heck yes! Oh wait, I forgot. That's who most of evangelical America believes in anyway.