While there is nothing wrong with being an attractive person, you are correct in feeling a bit uneasy with this use of carnal lure as if they worked at Hooters.

Bethcha can't guess which one I like most.

All kidding aside, it's a poor idea IMO. But then, my journey to Christ began with Carlos Casteneda's psychadelic "Don Juan" books, so you enver can tell what will plant the seed. And, I'm known to appreciate an attractive female, of course. But still, tying sexual attractiveness into a Christian spiritual message seems like a bad idea, since today's youth culture of "hook ups" is creating lifetimes of baggage for kids as it is.

Who would have thought I'd ever look back on the 70's as "more innocent times?"

WTF? Porn for 'good' Christians? Since when did God and Messiah need tits and ass to sell the 'product'?

Honestly, as a Pagan I'm offended by the needs to sell sex to get people to want to become a Christian. Cheapen the message? How about throw the message in the toilet!

I wonder if they're site gets hacked, or their 'church' burns down...will they know God is VERY, VERY PISSED???

I very nearly got engaged to a would-be/self-described "whore for Christ", so maybe I should recuse myself from this discussion...

Hmm. I didn't go through the entire site, but at least the overt message seemed to be aimed at workers in the sex industry, not at the solitary unsaved male. In which case, the pictures could be seen as "we could still be working, but aren't."

And I highly agree with this thought: "Really, your best sales line is not to raise questions but to offer simple answers." If all you need to do to get into heaven is to recite a prayer from the back of a Jack Crick cartoon, then why bother with complex theology?

I have spoken to a lot of evangelicals, dont undersetimate their understanding of theology, at least if they have been christian for a while. One old guy who handed out tracts in front of a flop house sat with me in a Waffle House and went on for two hours on Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and the difference between Theravada and maranatha Buhddism.

John, another exception to your scheme would be the unitarian/kumbaya branches of protestantism, along with the quakers and other quietist sects. They have little or no liturgical rigor, yet are not fundamentalist.

Also, the Eastern Orthodox churches are not fundamentalist, really - in the sense that a fundamentalist is usually trying to get rid of all the extra bits that have glommed onto a faith over the centuries and return to a "pure" version of the faith. Of course, that version in their head and the actual historical reality of said early church rarely if ever match.

Curiously, there is quite a lot of fundamentalist/apostolic/charismatic types who end up converting to Orthodoxy. Sometimes, whole churches all at once. It seems that almost everytime a fundy reads Acts and believes it, they go orthodox. Just met another one last Sunday.

Another odd thing your post made me think of - Catholics and Orhodox seem to always speak of "Christ" but the fundamentalists usually speak in terms of "Jesus." I wonder why that is.

A big problem with Christian art is that it emphasizes sincerity far more than talent. Look at the left behind books and movies. No fundamentalist church would ever hire a Michelangelo do do their art. It would have to be a no talent hack who was sincere in his belief in God. Not that these two are incompatible, always, but it does limit your options. U2 is not a Christian rock group, but a lot of their music makes extensive use of Christian themes.

Well, a rambling post deserves a rambling comment, I guess.

In general, the opposite is true in Jewish services - the more Reform the congregation, the quieter and more restrained the service.

Orthodox (Shabbat) services tend to have screaming kids running around in the back of the room, with lots of side conversations going on, such that occaisionally the Rabbi will slam his hand down on the podium (equivalent) and SHHH! the room.

Then there's the Hashkama (sp.?) Minyan, an early morning service (the time changes throughout the year, but it's likely to be 7:00 or so)where the service is conducted at breakneck speed, without ornamentation or a sermon. (The reasons for this have to do with the purpose and practice of communal prayer in an Orthodox community - it's a mode of worship that is, arguably, as far from Sunday Morning Megachurch attendance as is animal sacrifice.)

the Landover Baptist Church sight is a hoax. Thought you might want to know.

Matilda - of course it is. Did you read what I wrote?

"[E]asy-to-spot smart-assery of a Landover Baptist type of parody."

I'm not a Christian, so as James Lileks once wrote (in another context), "I don't have a God in this fight." JC's Girls are pretty tame compared to Kellie Everts, the "Stripper for Christ" in the 1970s. I don't know how effective an evangelist Ms. Everts was; I once caught her act and I don't recall thinking about Jesus once during the performance.