Borrowed from angryasianman.com...

Now this makes me angry. Every year, churches across the country use 'Vacation Bible School' curriculum to reach their kids with Christian education. Well, LifeWay Church Resources has designed VBS curriculum called Rickshaw Rally�and yes, it's as bad as it sounds. It looks like someone's well-intentioned attempt at diversity, but it completely comes off stereotypical, racially offensive material. Talk about cultural insensitivity�did the people at LifeWay consult with anyone about this? As an Asian American Christian (having grown up my entire life in church), this absolutely incenses me. Rickshaw races? Kimonos? Chopsticks? Karate uniforms? The ignorance is astonishing. There are children in churches across the US whose first exposure to Asian culture could be these stereotypical, narrow-minded images, and that thought is simply staggering. And I'm not down with that.

Here is some contact info:

Jerry Vogel
Director of VBS Curriculum
jerry.vogel@lifeway.com

Louis Hanks
Director of Publications
louis.hanks@lifeway.com

LifeWay Church Resources
c/o Your VBS
MSN 136
One LifeWay Plaza
Nashville, TN 37234-0136
Phone: 1-800-458-2772
customerservice@lifeway.com

While certainly not as blatantly offensive as Abercrombie's t-shirt designs or the 'Kung Fool' Halloween costume, Rickshaw Rally is still a few giant ugly leaps backward. Absolutely aggravating. That's racist!

This is so insulting, I'm speechless. Just goes to show that the Christian church here in America has a long way to go in learning how to be sensitive to the Asian American community. And they wonder why the majority of Asian America remains non-Christian... sheesh.

Talk about reinforcing the bad stereotype that Christianity is still the "white man's religion"... I encourage everybody to fill up their e-mail boxes and let them know how you feel.
posted by G at 10:26 PM   |

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33