What's that on Winchester?

A Memphis area church is set to unveil a new monument on July 4th. The 72-foot tall statue is a Statue of Liberty look-a-like. The trademark torch has been replaced with a cross and the tablet is now the Ten Commandments. The church is calling it “The Statue of Liberation Through Christ.” NL and LL have named it “The Statue of Religity.”

I’m all for a person’s freedom of religion, but is a $260,000 statue the best way to renew someone’s faith? The price tag is not a typo. In most cases, the purpose of contributing to the donation plate it assist the poor, fund church programs and to cover other expenses. In this case, it purchased a big green statue. Sources close to the church have said several members opted to switch churches after hearing of the plans and then seeing the construction of the monster statue.

Maybe something better would have been traditional religious symbols. A cross or a statue of Jesus. This is too easy and would limit merchandising opportunities. Merchandising? That’s right. The church website has established a store to sell Lord knows what commemorating the statue.

With all of the issues in Memphis today, I would think the money could be better spent in the community. The city is in dire need of youth programs. Why not enhance the current church programs? Or start new ones like drug prevention or helping the homeless. The 260K could feed approximately 450 seniors every day for the remainder of the year via M.I.FA. This seems like the Christian thing to do.

Unfortunately, the Christian thing to do might get you great PR, but at the end of the day it can’t guarantee you financial wealth.