Justice & Jesus Junk

The late Keith Green called it "Jesus Junk"--the WWJD pencil holders, Bible covers, figurines and platitudes on plaques, the artifacts of an insular subculture that are often found in Christian bookstores. I've often heard these trinkets poked fun at for their tackiness and irrelevance in the wider Western culture, but the problem goes way beyond aesthetics to basic justice and morality, as I discovered again today.

I was chatting with some friends working among a people group in Mexico with nearly 100,000 members--only 2 percent of whom are literate. This couple is creating literacy resources and teaching members of this tribe how to read so that they can understand the Bible--as well as get jobs and better provide for their families. This couple has contacted publishers in the US, asking permission to translate or adapt existing English resources, such as graphic Bibles, Christian books, animated videos, etc., to help teach the people to read in their own language. At every turn, they have been told "no." Copyrights. Royalties. Intellectual property.

As a subset of the Christian "product" industry, the English-language Christian book industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry that makes many people wealthy. Christian bookstores and the religion section at Barnes & Noble are loaded with books--from self-help to Christian romance to niche Bibles like the Chicken Soup for the Soul Bible.

Yet there are still languages with no Bible. There are people who don't know how to read for lack of resources in their own language. There are pastors in developing nations who lead their entire congregations with a tattered New Testament that is not even in their own language. If the American church thinks for a minute that it will not be judged for this appalling narcissism and hoarding of God's resources, it has another thing coming.