The Fredösphere

They wanted to get our attention as we drove Interstate 75 through southern Ohio.  They succeeded.  With his head thrown back, this jumbo Jesus may be drawing inspiration from the regrettable laughing Jesus that showed up everywhere back in the 80s.  These people really need to ask themselves a couple of questions before they begin depicting such a touchy subject:  What message am I trying to send here?  What message will I actually end up sending?  With the 10X Jesus in Monroe, Ohio, the unintended message is, "my followers will have more money than taste, and their neighbors will be the losers."  With the laughing Jesus, the message is, "I just saw the Apostle Peter fall right on his butt -- haw, haw, haw!"  Or in the case of the church sign my wife spotted in a more rural part of southern Ohio (it read, "make your eternal reservations today:  smoking or non-smoking") the real message is, "some of my followers will say anything to get attention."

Don't miss the previous installments of The Varieties of Religious Art:  Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI.

Labels: VarietiesOfReligiousArt