Jesus Among the Porn Stars

Perhaps you’ve heard of XXXchurch.com, which bills itself as the “#1 Christian porn site.” No — pastors Mike Foster and Craig Goss don’t sell porn; instead, they’re using an attention-getting approach to communicate what they perceive as the dangers of pornography.

Foster and Goss most recently stirred up controversy by printing Bibles with a cover page that read “JESUS LOVES PORN STARS.” As Time reports:

XXXchurch’s strategy isn’t good news to all Christians. The American Bible Society, the first publisher it approached, backed the mission but rejected the cover as “misleading and inappropriate.” With NavPress, XXXchurch was preaching to the choir; the publisher slapped the provocative words on copies of The Message, a modern paraphrase of the New Testament. “This is a Bible written for people who aren’t perfect,” says NavPress vice president Lauren Libby. “But who among us is?”

Amen, Lauren.

One of the frustrating things about many fundamentalist Christians is how they revel in their moral superiority. If Jesus’ words in the Bible communicate anything, it is that we’re all the same in God’s eyes, we all make mistakes, and we should all love one another despite our flaws.

That makes “JESUS LOVES PORN STARS” a perfect title.

Which reminds us of two current controversies involving schoolteachers — which demonstrate the kind of intolerance and hypocrisy that drives us nuts.

Case #1: A teacher in Kentucky is considering what to do about being fired from her job after officials learned she appeared in an adult movie more than 10 years ago.

Case #2: A photo spread [of teacher Erica Chevillar, 25] on the USA National Bikini Team’s Web site has become the talk of West Boca Raton High School …The photos were taken before she was a teacher … The photo spread concerned West Boca Raton High Principal Fran Giblin, who said Wednesday that it’s important for teachers to set the “highest standards for students.” More here.

Who wants to cast the first stone?

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