"Jesus is My Homeboy" T-shirts

Ever since I was little, every Sunday morning has been dedicated to going to church with my family. I was baptized when I was 10 years old and have continued to follow my faith while I am at school, even though I don’t have the ability to attend church every Sunday. I wouldn’t consider myself extremely religious, I don’t go around telling everyone I’m religious, but I do believe in God and try to follow the values of a Christian. When I see people wearing these shirts, whom I know are religious, I can see their reason behind wearing the shirt. They want to speak to everyone and tell him or her how much Christ means to them. However, when I see kids wearing these shirts and not acting very Christianly, it makes me wonder whether they are just wearing these shirts because they think they are funny or are their intentions good? That’s where my problem with these shirts arises. I feel like kids and teenagers are buying these shirts to make fun of religion, not because they are trying to tell people how much they love Christ. I do see these shirts as a way of mocking religion because, now, it is seen just as a fashion trend. For instance, Ronald Frasch, the chief merchant of Saks, said “we bought it as a fashion item, not as a moral statement,” (qtd. in La Ferla 321). If this is the thinking behind the buying and selling of religious merchandize, then I do believe the shirts are a parody of religion.
In Paul Mitchell’s article, he writes about how he believes the new fashion statement of wearing spoof Christian t-shirts is wrong. He writes, “in the end, Christianity is not a brand—it’s a relationship whose depth can’t be reduced to slogans,” (Mitchell 325). If he can make a statement like that, then how can he write in the beginning of his article about him wearing a t-shirt of the crucifixion to an alternative rock fest? He is being a hypocrite because, although, in the end he says, “t-shirts…reduced to slogans”, the t-shirt he wore to the concert is still a t-shirt. He said in at end that Christianity couldn’t be communicated to everyone by wearing a t-shirt, but rather through love. So, by him telling us the story about his wearing of a Christian t-shirt to a rock concert, he isn’t making his theory of these spoof t-shirts too credible.
If these t-shirts only contained text, I think they would still be the same because when I see these t-shirts, the words are really the only thing I see. I don’t pay attention to the photo on the t-shirt because the words are always so bold. The black and white shirt makes the picture of Jesus very similar to how he is described in movies and other pictures. The designer is making the picture of Jesus hold the words “Jesus is my Homeboy”, so I think it is trying to say Jesus supports this idea. The white and red shirt, on the other hand, has Jesus dressed in jeans and a hoodie, with his hands in a peace sign. The black and white shirt isn’t as offensive as the white and red shirt because it has God in the form as described in the Bible. However, in the white and red shirt, I wouldn’t have even known the person was supposed to be God. It doesn’t look like God, and I think it is offensive to the idea of God as a heavenly body. I still don’t like the thought behind the shirts because I don’t believe people wear them to express their love for faith in God. If I did have to choose which shirt was “better”, than the black and white shirt would be it because I don’t see it as really offensive.
On the other hand, who am I to tell people what to wear or not to wear? If people want to wear these shirts them by all means they can wear them. I just don’t think people’s intentions behind wearing the t-shirts are the same as the designers who first put them out.