Friday, July 20, 2007

Evangelicals bring 'idolatry' to a Wal-Mart near you

As a Catholic, one of the things you learn to deal with is Evangelical and fundamentalist Christians cracking on us devotees of Popery for "worshipping idols."

Statues of the Blessed Virgin and the saints in churches? Bad. Promotes praying to idols. There is only one God, and they ain't Him.

Statues of the Blessed Virgin and the saints in your front yard or flowerbed? BZZZZZZZZT! Idolatry alert! Idolatry alert! Cancel! Cancel!

AAAIIIIEEEEEEEE!

SO WHAT THE HELL is a Catholic boy like myself supposed to make of this development? Here's some of an article from USA TODAY about Tales of Glory toys:
Wal-Mart is about to bring religion to the toy aisle.

Early next month, 425 Wal-Mart stores nationwide will begin carrying faith-based toys from One2believe that target parents who would rather that their kids play with a Samson action figure than a Spider-Man action figure.

It's the first time the world's largest retailer has carried a full line of religious toys. "We're seeing interest from parents in faith-enriching toys," says Melissa O'Brien, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman.

Religious products have become a multibillion-dollar business, and the toy move comes as it targets a younger audience. Fox recently created FoxFaith, a 20th Century Fox unit to distribute family movies with Christian themes. In January, Universal Pictures will release The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything - A VeggieTales Movie, based on the spiritual characters by Big Idea.

But until now, most faith-based toys have sold successfully only in specialty religious stores, not at mass-market retailers, warns Jim Silver, editor of Toy Wishes magazine. "Once children turn 4, parents tend to get them what they want. And right now, kids are asking for Transformers."

About one-sixth of Wal-Mart's 3,300 stores will carry the One2believe line, which will get 2 feet of toy aisle shelf space, says O'Brien.

One way Wal-Mart decided where to carry them, she says: Stores that sell a lot of Bibles will carry the new line.

"We view this as an opportunity to reach that audience," she says.

But one religious leader does not consider Wal-Mart in the fold.

"They'll carry anything that sells," says David Croyle, president of FamilyLife, a non-denominational ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. "This simply signals intelligent buying within Wal-Mart."

For David Socha, CEO of One2believe, it's a dream come true. "Our goal is to give the faith-based community an alternative to Bratz dolls and Spider-Man," he says.

The toys are based on biblical stories. For example, there's a set of 3-inch figures based on Daniel in the lion's den for about $7. A 12-inch talking Jesus doll is about $15. And 14-inch Samson or Goliath action figures are about $20.

The toys target kids from pre-school to age 12, he says, and also are sold online at one2believe.com.
HMMMMMM. Well, then. Perhaps I'd better go to the one2believe website to get some more info:

This program represents a huge opportunity for the faith community as it is the first time a worldwide retailer has opened-up shelf-space for a strong Bible-based toy product, like Tales of Glory! However, this is only a test-run. In fact, Wal-Mart will only have Tales of Glory in about 500 stores and only for a limited time (August through January). They have temporarily made the product available, and are waiting to see the response from their consumers. The success of this program is up to us… we need to take advantage of this amazing opportunity!

This is a chance to let our voices be heard. By supporting this program we can send a message to other retailers and toy makers letting them know that we, as a Christian community, are truly concerned about the toys that our children play with! We are aware of the influence that toys have on our young children’s impressionable minds, so we would like to see more God-honoring options available. It’s a “Battle for the Toy Box”!
OK, SO IT'S NOT JUST little graven images encouraging the kiddies toward inappropriate worship -- There's even a MARY DOLL, for pity's sake! -- it's a crusade to save the chirren through "God-honoring" toys and show the Godless marketplace that We Mean Business.

So if selling this stuff at Wal-Mart, this shrunken religiious statuary with movable limbs, is both God-honoring and a weapon in the Culture Wars, whats's wrong with the stuff you can see in Catholic churches for free?

If I were a cynic, I'd say that good Evangelicals think such stuff is idolatrous only until they figure out how to make a buck off it.

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