Jesus has a Homepage
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Jesus has a Homepage
He has a Web site, "The Jesus Homepage!" which is introduced with a
Melvillean flourish worthy of Moby-Dick. "My name is Jesus Christ.
Welcome to My homepage. In my 9-to-5 job, I work as the messiah for a
major world religion.... However, when I'm not at work I like to
'surf the Net.'"
The site offers "personal stuff," like a links page, which is a
"roadmap" to Jesus-related attractions on the Web such as "Jesus vs.
Elvis" and "Jesus vs. Win[dows] 95."
There's a wondrous photo album: "Yes it's a 'baby picture' of
Me. That's my Mom and stepfather. (Hi Mom!) ... Here I am heading to
Golgotha. Needless to say I was not in a very good mood when this one
was taken."
A bio page lists Jesus' hobbies - carpentry, fishing, catering for
weddings; you can visit his friends, the Pope and Billy Graham; and
there are other related links: the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Shroud of
Turin, a Dilbert page ("Everybody's gotta have Dilbert, right?").
Appropriately, there's an interactive membership feature: "Yes, I
would like to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior. Sign me up!"
or "No, I do not want to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior at
this time."
The membership boxes conveniently adjoin an "Online Baptism" location,
which makes ritual simple: "A glass of water, a PPP connection, and
your own head are all you'll need. It's quick and easy! (Remember - no
water on the keyboard!)"
That the site is wonderfully funny is almost beside the point. There
are few other media where this could exist in so candid a form. It's
impossible to browse it without remembering that through almost all of
human history, publication of something like this would - and did -
mean the author's decapitation, loss of entrails and fingers or, if he
or she were lucky, a quick trip to the stake. If those martyrs of free
thought are hovering somewhere up there in cyberspace, they will
surely smile down on The Jesus Homepage! and perhaps take a bit of
comfort from it.
The page's mix of graphics, links, self-mockery, and humor is nearly
flawlessly executed.
The creator goes by the name Solomon Tunt. Even on the Web, free
speech is bounded by convention in America. "I wouldn't feel safe
using my real name, considering some of the nasty email I've
received," he says. The site went up in February, and has received
more than 6,000 visits, according to the spiritual visitor counter on
display.
The site works on many levels. It reminds us that in most media,
approaching a subject like this with irreverence or satire is beyond
conception. Reporters who would bellow impertinent questions at the
president wouldn't dare do anything like this.
The Jesus Homepage is neither timid nor overdone. It's funny without
being offensive; good-humored, but not pointlessly blasphemous. It
makes the reader think about religion, dogma, art, ritual, history,
and imagery. It takes nothing away from worship, nor from Jesus
Christ; in fact, it makes both Christ and worship more approachable,
less forbidding.
The imagining of Jesus on the Web is a great creative stroke, the
Web's own equivalent of spirituality.
Reactions, displayed in "The Jesus Mailbag," vary widely, from the
delighted and bemused ("humorous ... blasphemous but humorous") to the
bursting of digital blood vessels.
Web pilgrims, journey there and bow your heads. Sign up if the Spirit
moves you.
Jesus' Homepage
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Entered on: 06/06/1998
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A little digging found this...
A Link to Jesus
Media Rant
by Jon Katz
St. Mediaville, 13 May
http://www.hotwired.com/netizen/96/20/katz1a.html
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