In the world of the Landover Baptist Church, a kid can get a PlayStation 3 for his soul, book-burning is the norm, and practitioners are urged to circumcise themselves to take their faith into their own hands.
This and many more eerily hilarious details are all features of the book, "Welcome to Jesusland (Formerly the United States of America): Shocking Tales of Depravity, Sex, and Sin Uncovered by God's Favorite Church, Landover Baptist," recently written by Chris Harper, Andrew Bradley and Erik Walker.
If the name of the church sounds familiar, that's because, to the Internet geeks out there, it might be.
The book is a compilation of monthly newsletters from the popular Landover Baptist Web site, a religious spoof. Its main goal is to satirize the growing evangelical Christian presence in the country.
As the issue becomes more and more significant, the Web site's popularity must continue to grow.
"Jesusland" parodies the often myopic logic that it finds comes along with the extremist, fringe groups of Christianity.
One of its running themes is unfiltered racism. It's not unheard-of to see an Asian person called an "Oriental" in an article.
What makes it funny is the way in which the article glosses right over it as if nothing is wrong.
Another running gag throughout the book is the church's almost continual request for donations from the reader.
At one point, there's a "subliminal" message that reads, "If you really loved me, you'd tithe more." There are even instructions for children on how to order withdrawals over the phone from their parents' bank accounts.
To provide a proper rewarding scheme, there are levels for donations: the Platinum Level donators receive time at a spa and box seats in the church.
The book (and Web site) offer disclaimers at every opportunity; one of the first pages features a warning. In fact, it should be one that's well-heeded, as the book holds nothing back in its articles.
One of the funnier pieces is an expos?© done by members of the church that involved them going into a sex club to experience it.
The church members' actions are often suspicious. They'll think nothing of watching hundreds of hours of porn to examine the depths of its sin.
Through such actions, it becomes clear that their religion is just an opportunity for them to chastise others.
The book never really crosses the line from parody to mean-spiritedness.
The articles all have funny premises, and "Jesusland" recognizes its place as a comedic piece and doesn't try to become more in an age where everyone has a blog and political opinion.
If there are any reservations about the intentions of the writers, they make a point of citing most of their articles to biblical verse.
They're accurate for the most part; it's just that the members of Landover Baptist often choose to interpret their Bible citations in a questionable fashion.
If plot and continuity are important in determining a quality reading selection, don't pick up this one; this book is more of a coffee table read. It's peppered with pages of articles complete with digitally altered pictures to accompany them. The articles are usually short enough, and sometimes it suffices to just read their headlines.
The book, however, does not bring anything new to the table as a literary piece. All the articles in the book are on the Web site, and there's not any new content that would make it a worthwhile purchase.
The book, if anything, is something to have for posterity. It's really for fans of the Web site who want something they can show their friends. Regardless, if the idea of staring into a computer screen for hours isn't appealing, the book will provide a more eye-friendly way to pass some time.
