KIM LAWTON: In Chicago, Amy Carlton proudly shows off her collection of what she calls "religious kitsch."
AMY CARLTON: This is where the bulk of my collection is, mostly nuns, which is what I kind of started collecting.
LAWTON: From her first piece -- a singing nun in a snow globe -- Carlton has branched out to include images of Mary and Jesus. One of her favorites: the concrete Jesus in her living room.Ms. CARLTON: The best part is it lights up!
LAWTON: Carlton says the collection appeals to her sense of the absurd. She admits some of her own relatives are offended by her hobby. But she insists she doesn't mean to be mocking.
Ms. CARLTON: I don't want to make fun of people who draw spiritual solace from religion. But I just tend to think that these items I collect are just not really religious things. They're plastic commercial objects. And that's sort of what I'm making fun of.LAWTON: Virginia Frohlick is a serious religious collector. She's Catholic with a special devotion to Saint Joan of Arc. Her home in Albuquerque is filled with Joan of Arc objects. Frohlick says the items bring her closer to Saint Joan -- and to God.
VIRGINIA FROHLICK: I do try to develop a deeper spiritual relationship with Jesus because of Saint Joan. She is my guide.
LAWTON: The two women have different motivations, but they're both consumers in a booming American enterprise: the marketing of religiously themed products. From the ritualistic to the ridiculous religious "stuff" is everywhere.
Professor COLLEEN MCDANNELL (University of Utah): Americans like stuff. They like things that are new and different. There's something about the way the feelings are embedded in objects that's very much a part of our everyday life. And the more commercial our economy, the more heightened that becomes with our religious life as well.LAWTON: Colleen McDannell is professor of history and religious studies at the University of Utah, and author of the book MATERIAL CHRISTIANITY. She says while religious people have long used tangible objects to practice and express their faith, technology has created a new explosion.
Prof. MCDANNELL: These things have become more and more popular. They've become less expensive. It's easier to move them around, easier to make. You can make them in Hong Kong and ship them to the United States for not very much money. And so you just see more and more of that.
LAWTON: The items are available at religious bookstores and gift shops, through mail-order catalogues, and, of course, over the Internet, where collectors can also link up with others of like interest. There's something for almost every religious taste: Hindu deity finger puppets, "Wash Away Your Sins" body lotion, breath spray, and a matching shower curtain. There's a plastic Jesus that goes on the dashboard of a car. And a mosque-shaped alarm clock that shows when it's time to pray.
There are toys to reinforce children's religious traditions and teach them basic beliefs. Bible action figures, for example, from Adam and Eve to Moses, Job, Mary, and Jesus.
Prof. MCDANNELL: Any kind of institution that's serious and powerful is going to be made fun of. So you have political humor, you have political satire, you make fun of important people. So of course, the same sort of impulse will also make people make fun of religion. Sometimes it gets serious, but usually it's rather lighthearted. And sometimes people who are part of that religious tradition enjoy this as well.
Prof. MCDANNELL: We could have a similar saying in Latin on beautiful embroidered vestment, and everyone would think that was just wonderful and beautiful and artistic. But if it's in English and on a comb, some people think that's profaning very serious sentiments. But for many religious people, what it's doing is saying religion is part of everyday life. Jesus is part of everyday life.
LAWTON: Some fear religious collectibles trivialize the faith, but their growing popularity says they have become a unique part of contemporary American religious life.
