I'm not sure if the group above, Clowns for Christ, Inc. (complete with Gideon the Parrot, Precious the Super Dog, and illustrated Bible messages, songs, and clown tricks), is the group responsible for the training videos that I posted yesterday. If it's not, though, apparently clowning for Christ is more widespread than I thought, because Googling "Clowns for Christ" or "Clowns for Jesus" brought up a lot of hits, including:
- Clown Ministry
- Clowns for Christ (a different group)
- Clowning4Christ
- Christ the Rebel Clown (which led to The Rebel Clown Army, which bills itself as wanting "to make clowning dangerous again, to bring it back to the street, restore its disobedience and give it back the social function it once had: its ability to disrupt, critique and heal society.")
- Clowning Resources for Children's Ministry
- The Gnostic Depiction of the Clown as Christ
- Show Me Clowns For Jesus
So, maybe it's just me. Clowns still kind of creep me out, and the thought of clowns preaching religion creeps me out even more. To each his or her own, however. Kids of a certain age do appear to like them.
Clowns scare me, too. I'm convinced that either you're afraid of clowns, or you have a job as a clown yourself. Combining the abrasive outfits with Christian discipleship is a particularly frightening combination--regardless of what you thought before, you come away with negative associations all around.
Is it just me, or does that clown on the left look like he's wearing a mouth gag? If it's actually supposed to look like that, the possible symbolic motivation is -- uh -- intruiging.
Regular clowns: Fine with me.
Preaching clowns: Approaching "We all float down here."
This could be the beginning of an entire circus. Clowns for Christ, Mimes for Mormonism, Jugglers for Judaism, and Acrobats for Atheism! I'm trying to think of more, but my brain just stopped working. Maybe the clowns are trying to eat it.
Sword-Swallowers for Scientology?
Sastra: Actually, I was kind of reminded of that woman who burned off half her face with bloodroot: http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Cancer/eschar.html
Can't sleep -- Clown'll eat me. Can't sleep -- Clown'll eat me...
Clowns for Christ? Thanks, I'll stick to getting my daily dose of guilt and shame from guys in black suits with white collars who wear funny-looking robes on Sundays. Getting it from a clown would just be really messed up.
Isn't the name redundant?
Thank you so much for totally creeping me out. I'm not sure if kids really like them or if they are just being good in the hopes of not being eaten.
Remember folks, you just need to take a cue from Billy and wear lots of tangelos -- they mess with clowns' equilibrium.
If you don't, the clowns will surely DESTROY US ALL! (repeat ad infinitum)
Here, clowns are a political weapon too. A group of guys (and girls) in red noses and fright wigs, calling themselves the BAC (Brigade des activistes clowns) carry out some crazy political actions. For instance, they made a parody of the Manpower logo, with a guy chained to a circle, arms and legs outstretched, saying "come and test your flexibility".
http://www.brigadeclowns.org/index.php?title=Current_events#4_Octobre_2…
Better than Clowns for Christ, isn't it?
Creepiest....photo...ever.
I don't know any kids that really like clowns - my kids sure don't. Then again, I've suffered from Coulrophobia as long as I can remember, so maybe I've just passed it along to them. All I can say is if one of those bloody-mouthed ghoul-faced things showed up in my hospital room talking about God I'd probably have a reaction that would put Linda Blair to shame.
Christophe,
The only really interesting circus/street carnival stuff I have seen has come out of France and Belgium. Who are those folks who did the tour of French cities (and Antwerp and London) with the giant animatronic elephant and the girl puppet, an adaptation of a Verne story? Saw it in London and it was the most amazing thing ever.
Not so sure I need clowns doing crazy political actions, esp given that my own politics are a lot more "Anglo-Saxon" than theirs, but I am sure the BAC folks are a lot more fun than Clowns for Christ!
I will be the first to admit that there are bad clowns and some scary clowns but I have been clowning for almost 13 years and have helped teach more kids than I can count about Jesus ,Clowning when done corectly can be used as a draw to tell children about Jesus in a child like way.
Our clown group has been invited to festivals and events that other church groups were band from attending.I know alot of peaple have had a bad clown exsperiance but there are good clowns out there that are spreading the Gosple with great success.