Website Review: Ship-of-Fools.com

By Hwa Shi-Hsia

April Fool's day was last Saturday, so I'll be thematic. Ship of Fools is one of those websites you can spend hours on, giggling helplessly. I first heard about it in a BBC News article about its attempt to create a virtual church, the rather short-lived Church of Fools. Church of Fools was something in the nature of an MMORPG, except not so big, and survived for several months and even endured Satanic visits before being shut down due to logistical problems. The perfect church for people who can't get off the computer?

Ship of Fools calls itself "The Magazine of Christian Unrest" and certainly fills that description. The name of the site is taken from a 15th century German satire about a ship filled with people practicing various vices such as "Arrogance Toward God, Marrying for Money, and Noise in Church" (Das Narrenschiff, or Stultifera Navis in Latin).

With regard to the "noise in church" bit, if you've recently moved to a new town or are planning to visit another, have a look at the Mystery Worshiper page. This contains reviews of various churches around the globe by SoF readers who drop a calling card into the offering plate to let the pastors know that they've been inspected, since one of the goals is to help churches improve their welcome, not just to poke fun at them. Various aspects of the service are written up, ranging from the serious – "In a nutshell, what was the sermon about?" – to the frivolous – "How would you describe the after-service coffee?" To my surprise someone had reviewed a Malaysian church (Trinity Methodist PJ). Hm...maybe I should apply to be a MW for when I go home later this year.

What's interesting about this site is that although at first glance it appears to be simply taking the mickey on the stupid things religious people do, behind the jokes lies the question "what are Christians doing in this world?" Just as the original Ship of Fools used humour to make readers look critically at their hearts and actions, so does this website. Once you've laughed at something ridiculous that someone has done in God's name, for honesty's sake you must ask yourself if there is anything of yours worth that kind of derision. For readers who can't keep their mouths shut – and of an engaging website like this, there must be a lot – there's a bulletin board section which has its own Ten Commandments, including a board called "Hell" for particularly fiery discussions. There are also a few regular columnists who write more 'serious' essays.

Two particularly funny sections:

Signs and Blunders: The "Signs" part may not be as familiar, since the practice of putting up giant signboards with movable letters in front of churches is not as common in Malaysia as in the US, but that doesn't mean you can't laugh at announcements like "Holy Spirit Fire Sun. 10am followed by BBQ 2pm". The "Blunders" part reminds me of the time I had to edit a bulletin for my dad's church, didn't pay attention to the spell-check software and ended up with "Cupertino" instead of "cooperation". If you have Streamyx, the video of Pastor Blake Bergstrom's sermon on Lot is well worth watching.

Gadgets for God: This section puts me in mind of the reason Pa gave for not wanting a Jesus bumper sticker on our car – "I don't want to embarrass my God". It's devoted to odd religious merchandise such as the Martin Luther Bobble Head Doll and the iBelieve iPod cover. Since I've always been a staunch disbeliever in abstinence pledge movements like True Love Waits (we don't have an anti-coveting pledge, or an anti-liar support group, do we?), the comment on Wait Wear's chastity-themed underwear had me in stitches: "If You're Reading This, I've Changed My Mind About That Abstinence Thing."

And, as I said before, it's a great place to waste time online. Solomon and his cronies really should have written something about 'sluggards' and the Internet in the book of Proverbs.