Tacky! One2believe toys is now selling a talking Jesus doll at Wal-Mart. You know, great theological concepts apparently need to get transmitted by plastic landfill fodder.
Talking Jesus Doll Stirs Debate
Figure To Test How Religion, Retail MixPHOENIX -- Controversy is swirling over a foot-long, talking Jesus doll that Wal-Mart has put up for sale at more than 400 of its stores in at least 20 states, including some in the Valley.
It's the first time the world's largest retailer has carried a full line of religious toys.
The battery-powered, button-activated doll is able to recite a handful of different bible verses and the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes with five loaves and two fish. It also comes with a booklet giving parents tips on how to shape a child's faith.
So, would this be stocked next to the Last Supper tea set? Is there a villain doll for Judas Iscariot? Maybe a Golgotha playset to stage a battle at, with a secret door tomb or something?
Folks, some things just don't mix in a way that is attractive or appropriate. If children are learning about spirituality in a major way from some plastic toy that they got at a big box store, then that is pretty sad.
You wrote "If children are learning about spirituality in a major way from some plastic toy that they got at a big box store, then that is pretty sad."
What about sexuality ? Suppose a store sold a pair of same sex Barbie dolls as "domestic partners" ? Or a transvestite doll for children ? (Perhaps some already do....I'm not in the market for that sort of thing) How would you react to those who protested those products ? I suspect you'd be the first to denounce those folks as homophobes (or worse).
Um, I would suggest that for as long as human beings have been playing with dolls as children, they have been exploring gender roles and sexuality in its larger sense. And children have also been playing with toys in ways that adults might not have foreseen.
Certainly, Barbie and other dolls marketed to girls probably end up making certain statements about how females are supposed to act/look/etc. Probably most kids will conform to expectations - most of the time, but some will not.
Many a budding young drag queen got his start playing with Barbie dolls. I recall a childhood friend (who also later turned out to be gay) and I were playing with Bert and Ernie hand puppets, and on more than one occasion we dressed up Bert as a "Bertina" and staged a wedding for them. (I think my friend played the Wedding March, interspersed with the theme song to Gone With the Wind, and also the Can Can.)
So, regardless of original intention, there have doubtless already been same sex partner dolls (or some childhood equivalent) and definitely there have been dolls dressed in all kinds of things.
Personally, I think that trying to force children to adopt a specific ideology by playthings is a fairly silly idea. Kids will play with dolls and their clothing/accessories in all kinds of unanticipated ways and that is perfectly fine. So, domestic partner Barbies with a vegetarian entree for a potluck and wee Birkenstock sandals would just strike me as funny, and I would probably just roll my eyes, just as I am doing over the Jesus doll.
I try to save getting angry for the big stuff. And kids should be allowed to be kids without adults invading play time to force some idea down their throat. Sure, sometimes have a broad array of toys can make a statement. I recall seeing dolls that had various disabilities (i.e. had dark glasses and a cane, and a ballerina with hearing aids), which struck me as a cool way to let kids know that there are different sorts of people out there. I just wouldn't expect them to necessarily play "Let's celebrate the anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disability Act" with them.
Seriously, does anyone think that kids are going to quietly and respectfully play with a Jesus doll and then go study some scripture? You don't think that some kids aren't going to play something like Jesus and Barbie go on a date, have mac and cheese and then go with Leo the Polka Dot Lion to Mars? Or Jesus goes sky-diving from the top of the stairs? Do you really want the central figure of your faith used in all of the wonderfully wild and creative ways that children play with their toys? Toys are supposed to be fun, and not serious/reverential. (But hey, what do I know?)