Ship of Fools,'The Magazine of Christian Unrest', existed first in print from 1977-1983, died dead and returned to life in 1993 with the Internet. "The ship sails under the flag of orthodox Christianity, but on a buccaneering voyage", claim the creators. The "magazine" features serious editorial articles about modern Christianity, without shying away from criticism and even ridicule, and uses humor liberally while examining Christianity's bumpy interactions with marketing, media and politics. The website is veritably jam-packed with content, and includes a very active forum community, so I'm having a beastly time examining it in three pages. No lie, SoF is my favorite religious community online, and you all ought to check them out immediately. Here are highlights from site content.
The Laugh Judgement, the recap of a forum/panel discussion regarding the top ten funniest and top ten most offensive religious jokes. The panel stared taboos right in the face and decided that they ought to stay right where they are. Verdict? Pedophilia is just unfunny. But schism and public beatings are fine!
The Mystery Worshipper. Mostly UK and NZ-based, MWs go to unfamiliar churches and review the building, choir, congregation, service, etc. A surprising variable set of views, as well as churches. Makes my snarky preference of one Appleton church (smart homilys, no crying children) over another ("family-oriented", full of clapping and singing...) seem more legit. This seems to be the most faithfully-updated area of the website -- the humor pages and the serious columns are more sporadic.
Caption Contest. Where the forum community and the online newsletter meet -- no one gets away with looking ludicrous.
The Forum divided into sections as "Heaven" "Purgatory" and "Hell" (referring to how hot the debate is allowed to get) is the powerhouse of SoF.
The Ark. Slightly confusing to understand, but it seems as it was going on, The Ark was a virtual comedy/game show, where prominent SoF forum members played Biblical characters, (yes, including God), interacting over a 40-day period and "voting off" their fellows as though it were "Big Brother". Once you read the episode transcripts, though, it all becomes clear -- check out John Baptist struggling through sacrifice and situational ethics with a chatty God in the Crow's Nest. Now the players are all bots in a virtual Ark environment, at least until the next season...
Lord, I have no idea how I'm going to 'review' this monster...
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