Your Own Personal Jesus… for only €95,00.
As we all know, Google collects data. They do that to characterize your individual interests, in order to more effectively display advertisement which suits those interests. If you’re familiar with my blog, you may have noticed that some of my main interests are alternative medicine, mythology and religion – unfortunately, the Google-ad-machinery does not distinguish between those who are interested in mythology in order to practice it, and those who are interested in it in order to debunk it. As a result of this insufficiently discriminatory process, people who are as ferociously anti-religious as me get to see ads like “Holy Land Pilgrimage – explore the origins of your faith”, “ChristianDating – Find true happiness with a partner who shares your faith” and so on.
Today, I one of these ads actually managed to catch my attention. Behold “FreeJee – the snuggle cross”:
The product statement from the company’s homepage (My translation from the German original) is pure comedy gold:
With the subtly provocative project FreeJee I would like to offer a new approach to the christian symbol of suffering and a way to break the acquired shyness of touching Jesus on the cross. If you try and touch one of these handmade objects you will feel the pleasant and almost peaceful effect. Religion to touch…
…and to reconsider?
Maybe it’s even possible, through the pleasant touch of the SnuggleCross, to get closer to your “own cross” – meaning the earthly everyday challenge of the individual. FreeJee wants to be a dissenting object, liberated from suffering, with its place in everyday life – be it in your hand, on the couch or on the wall.
These bizarre things sell at 95 EUR a piece (that’s about 130 USD), 24 EUR of which are donated to charity, which is laudable, even though a bit obscure because the charities remain unnamed. We are assured that it will be charities that focus mainly on providing medical care and education for children. Neat.
The whole project is still pretty fucking creepy. It seems to be in utter disregard of the very essence of the cross: It is an instrument of torture. There is a body on it with nails through hands and feet. Being unwilling to touch it does not speak of an “acquired shyness”, it is quite simply respect for the dead, or revulsion at viewing a body that has been slowly tortured to death. It is the natural reaction of a mentally healthy human being, and I’m not sure “breaking through” that “shyness” is a cause worth supporting.
EDIT August 1st, 2011: The developer of FreeJee commented on this post correctly pointing out that, contrary to what I have written, the name of the charitable organizations to which he donates some of the profit are listed on the project’s homepage. I seem to have missed that the first time around – I stand corrected, and apologize for my mistake.
He also points out that the statement that I translated doesn’t exist any more in its original form. That too is true, but as the statement used to be on that homepage exactly as I translated it above, I see no reason to change anything about this post.
I sincerely thank the developer of FreeJee for taking the time to comment here in such a kind and open-minded manner.
Just a Little Common Sense 
The third message from heaven…
If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Patmos Pete
September 28, 2010 at 22:04
Yeah, whatever. You know, I have a bible on my shelf and about 40 churches in my neighborhood. I’ve heard it all before, and I can hear it again easily, should I ever feel the need to. Your brainless babble and reciting verses is not needed here.
Ochiudo
October 10, 2010 at 09:24
dear author,
thanks for the thoughts about my project.
the charities remain unnamed? no: http://www.freejee.de/fspende.html if you could translate for the others… round about 700,- euros helped children from the contaminated area around tchernobyl already to recover their health.
strange project? yes of course. but with positive and negative feedback from religious people and non-religious people. great discussions. and it generates questions. questions about faith, the cross, receiption of the cross. and thats the main topic of the project.
the crucifix is the symbol of death – yes. and its worth to think about why the church uses THIS torture-tool as its symbol. why? tell me ;-)
i am not religoius. but christianity is the root of our western society. so why not asking questions about our roots in this way?
if i would be religious i would think: god gave me life. and if so, the project would also be made by god, right?
by the way: i changed the text of the project because the project is living.
njoy and have a nice day!
the developer of freejee
developer
July 31, 2011 at 03:48
hi again,
thank you for adding the charitable organizations-thing. And yes, you are right: The text you translated was the first published text. Maybe thats why you posted no charity-organization because in the beginning I simply had no. I tried in the beginning of the project to get well known children-charity-organizations – also because of transperency and to show that I really mean it seriously. The reaction was from all (over 20): Yes, we will take the money but we don’t want to be connected with this project because of the way I work with the cross – they had fear to be connected with such a – you can say critical – interpretation.
I hope its ok for you: I listed this article at the project-site. Ok?
Wish you a nice weekend
Ralf
developer
August 5, 2011 at 23:07