Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 8, 1995 TAG: 9510070006
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROY RIVENBURG LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Wandering the floor of the Colorado Convention Center, he would have been able to buy a Christian boomerang (``Love always returns''), chomp a Scripture fortune cookie and sniff a balm called Fragrance of Jesus.
All told, he could have explored six football fields' worth of religious merchandise on display at the 46th annual convention of the Christian Booksellers Association.
What would Jesus think of this melding of commerce and Christianity?
It's a $3 billion-a-year question, though hardly a new one. Almost since the Crucifixion, believers have been wrestling with the issue.
And today, with religious retailing booming - and secular companies swallowing up Christian ones - some say it's hard to tell whether the Gospel is something sacred or just another brand name.
Indeed, with the exception of furniture and major appliances, it's possible to outfit an entire home in Christian products - bird feeders to body lotions, luggage to lamps.
CBA President Bill Anderson says such goods are so effective for evangelizing that if Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount today, he'd have the disciples hawking merchandise on the sidelines.
Shoppers say the products help them stay focused on God in an increasingly secularized society.
But others find the flood of goods troubling.
``This desire to spiritualize everything reflects an unwillingness to take God's creation at face value,'' argued evangelical author Michael Horton, a former pastor. ``God doesn't stamp John 3:16 on sequoias, so why should I have it on my lamp?''
In a small office littered with items such as St. Ignatius liquid soap and Gummi candy Nativity figures, religion historian Colleen McDannell discussed the quirks and controversies of Christian merchandising.
It is a phenomenon, she said, with strong roots in the 1800s, an era of suitcase-sized Bibles and apostle teakettles.
McDannell, a University of Utah professor who studies and writes on the subject, says such items offer a treasure of insights into American spirituality.
``Everyone laughs at this stuff or calls it terrible, but nobody asks why people buy it,'' she said.
McDannell contends that all believers need devotional objects to keep their faith alive:
``It's tough to [sustain] religious sentiment just in your head. People need to touch, taste and see [the divine] to make it real.''
But lately that need has been playing out in increasingly far-fetched ways. And even the merchants seem a little uneasy about it. At CBA, some refer to the plethora of goods as ``Jesus junk'' or ``holy hardware.''
Part of the discomfort comes from the age-old chasm between the sacred and the profane. Any attempt to combine the two inevitably sounds jarring.
Consider, for example, the mission statement of religious publishing conglomerate Thomas Nelson Inc.: to ``produce and market products that honor God and serve humanity, and to enhance shareholder value.''
And then there are the products themselves: auto sun visors that say ``Jesus Is Lord'' on one side and ``Need Help! Please Call Police'' on the reverse; neckties in patterns of ``angel paisley'' or ``burning bush,'' and Heavenly Touch, ``spiritually inspired messages'' for your answering machine.
``It's all based on marketing and having something new,'' said McDannell, whose book, ``Material Christianity,'' is due out this winter. ``The more you try to search for something new, the wackier your stuff gets.''
But Horton fumed: ``If this were done on `David Letterman,' Christians would write to protest that God was being trivialized and made fun of. Instead, we're doing it to ourselves.''
As absurd as some of the items might sound, they do serve some critical purposes, observers say. One is expressing identity.
``Forty years ago, everyone assumed you were a Christian unless you spoke out and said otherwise, so people were more private with their faith,'' said Linda Riedmann, an employee at the Pink Lady Christian bookstore in Orange, Calif. ``Now, society has changed. [To] take a stand, you put on a [Christian] bumper sticker or you [use Christian products].''
Objects also can keep believers inspired and focused on God. ``It's getting tough out there,'' said David McNabb of Dicksons Inspirational Gifts. ``We really do need reminders of our faith.''
Another aim - one that has caused a rift among Christians - is to convert lost souls.
The products range from Scripture-tagged checks (``Let God use your check-writing to open doors for sharing'') to watches (one has a solitary ``11'' on the face, so if anybody asks the time, a brochure advises replying: ``You see, it really doesn't matter what time it is; we're in the 11th hour. Would you like to know Jesus and prepare for His coming?'').
Here's where the debate starts.
Critics say slogan evangelizing is a turnoff to nonbelievers. ``Instead of sitting down and talking to people and listening to them, a T-shirt allows you to just say what you want and walk away,'' said Eric Casteel of Celebration Christian Bookstore in Costa Mesa, Calif.
But others say that's OK. Even if someone rejects or laughs at the message, he still has to process a thought about Jesus, said Karen Gibson of Joy Bells Bible Bookstore in Garden Grove, Calif.
Not good enough, replied Horton, president of Anaheim, Calif.-based Christians United for Reformation, a nationwide group pushing for a rediscovery of the ideas of Martin Luther and John Calvin. ``We don't want people to have just any kind of thought about Christianity. We'd like them to hear an argument and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of it.''
With about 5,000 Christian stores dotting the land, religious retailing has burgeoned into a $3 billion-a-year enterprise, triple what it was 15 years ago.
Gift items and music have overtaken book and Bible sales, and the industry shows no signs of a slowdown. Baby boomers are displaying increased interest in spiritual matters. And the rise of Christian men's groups such as Promise Keepers is luring new customers to a market that has been 90 percent female.
Not surprisingly, chains such as Wal-Mart and Target have begun stocking religious products. CBA itself, which drew a meager 279 people to its first convention in 1949, now pulls 12,000.
But the convergence of capitalism and Christianity poses some thorny theological issues.
One is ``mega-corporations buying Christian companies,'' McDannell said. ``Christian executives are having to explain things like why it's OK for Zondervan Press [which publishes the top-selling New International Version of the Bible] to be owned by Rupert Murdoch's HarperCollins, which produces `The New Joy of Gay Sex' - or for Time Alliance [a Christian music company] to be owned by Time-Warner, which published Madonna's `Sex' book ...
``For the most part, suppliers and retailers try not to look too deeply into associations,'' she said.
But some offer a defense.
When Charisma & Christian Life magazine was knocked for running ads from Waldenbooks, considered by some evangelicals to be ``one of the [nation's] largest distributors of pornographic materials,'' its publisher responded: ``Lighting a lamp in the darkness is more effective than screaming about the darkness.''
And companies such as Sparrow music, now owned by EMI, argue that involvement with secular companies gives them access to a wider audience to promote the Gospel.
So what would Jesus say?
Philip Yancey, a columnist for Christianity Today magazine, said the question is impossible to answer: ``He lived in such a pretechnological environment. It's hard to project'' what he would do today.
Others are unsettled by the idea. At CBA, the story of Christ throwing the money-changers out of the temple comes up often.
Some believe he would do the same here. Some think he would be pleased. Steve Fowler, who markets Christian art at CBA, said, ``There's a very fine line between ministry and exploitation. You don't want to be hasty to judge anyone. But I'll guarantee you this: God will judge them.''
by CNB