It would be a very lucky North American Christian who has never run into the Jesus Junk phenomena. You know what I mean: that cheap garbage which populates the shelves of your local Christian bookstore, stuff traditionally used as “prizes” in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School programs. Pencils, erasers, yo-yos, frisby-type toys, etc. Today, this nonsense extends to t-shirts, coffee-cups, and so much more (If you need a refresher, you can see some examples of Jesus Junk here).

Now, it seems to me that much (if not all) of this material is obviously empty of real spiritual value. Jeff Dunn has an excellent article on the subject over at the Internet Monk website. In addition to talking about Jesus kitsch, he discusses how many of the books (even Bibles) in Christian stores are similarly being emptied of their spiritual significance. You should go read his article. Now.

A friend of mine, who used to run the brilliant blogsite Credo Ut Intellegam (and who – just in case he’s reading this – should hurry up and resurrect it), once suggested that he and I should start a company to sell “Tetzel’s Pretzals” with catch-lines like “Salted with the Fires of Hell” and “Indulge Yourself.” Of course he was parodying the Jesus Junk phenomena. But the joke draws an important parallel – the sale of indulgences was a waste of money providing no real spiritual benefit. Too much of what is being sold in Christian stores today is similarly low on spiritual content. Put bluntly, it’s junk food. And a steady diet of Christian junk food will lead inevitably to spiritual malnourishment in churches across North America.

[A quick Google search reveals my friend and I, alas, weren’t the first to develop the idea of “Tetzel’s Pretzels.” On the plus side, that means you get to look at the nice shiny picture below. See the creator’s original post on Tetzel’s Pretzels here.]