by Alexandria Tuffington
Catholic Consumer Affairs Reporter

PlayGod Toys, Inc., best known for such successful toys as "Miracle of Birth Mary" and "Kung-fu Grip" Joseph, is being sued by a leading Jewish watchdog group for violation of copyright. The group, Jews Investigating New Gentle Lies Everywhere (JINGLE), claims to be "sick and tired" of Christian groups stealing their ideas.

What Is Old Is New Again

With the economy in the condition it is this holiday season, toy manufacturers are going with what works -- and PlayGod is no exception.

"Action figures are a mainstay in the Christmas market," said PlayGod president Steven Connelly. "I can remember opening up the J.C. Penny catalogue and seeing page after of new action figures that weren't even on the shelves yet. That catalogue was sacred. It was like the Bible to me."

And with that idea in mind, PlayGod has modified some famous action figures to have a more Christian application.

A Call To Action

"One toy that I developed was a new line of Transformers," said lead toy engineer Skip Jensen. "They're called Transubstantiation Transformers. Basically how it works is that you've got a regular looking piece of bread, but then it can transform into Jesus. We thought this would help kids with a tough concept."

Another tough concept for many is war, but PlayGod realizes that patriotism is important so they have created a new toy line called G.I. Joe - Occupied Israel.

"With our troops occupying Iraq right now, we wanted to let the kids have a chance to pretend to be like their heroes," said Jensen. "Most people forget that what we call Israel was occupied by Roman troops during the life of Jesus. Not a safe place to be."

The world Jesus lived in wasn't safe, and to make middle class suburban kids realize that, PlayGod has created "Hulk Smash Herod." Mild mannered King Herod is content to live the good life until he is bombarded with gamma rays emitted from John the Baptist's "voice in the wilderness." He then becomes green, rips his shirt, and demands a beheading every time he gets mad.

Adding The "New" To The Testament

While some may view PlayGod's retooling of old classics to be an excellent marketing concept, the watchdog group JINGLE sees it as just "par for the course" for Christian organizations.

"They have been stealing our ideas and passing them off as their own for years," said JINGLE chairmen Max Weinstein. "They even managed to steal the Jewishness from Jesus. While I don't believe he was the messiah, I know that he would have celebrated Hanukkah, not some Winter Solstice tree decorating holiday."

But what JINGLE finds most offensive is the way their bible has been changed.

"We were the first to enter the covenant, and we get poor recognition," said Weinstein. "Now our faith tradition is called the 'old' testament. I think they added the word 'new' to theirs as a marketing ploy to sell more. You know, it's like 'check this out -- it's new and improved.' That's ridiculous. There's no need to improve on God's covenant."

Another item Weinstein takes issue with is the way Christians use the Hebrew Scriptures only to prove that Jesus is the Messiah.

"You want prophecy, get a magic eight ball," said Weinstein. "Our scriptures aren't about foretelling anything."

For example, Weinstein mentioned that the often quoted "virgin" text from Isaiah was not about Jesus. "The text in Hebrew speaks of a 'young woman' conceiving a child that would bring hope to the kingdom. That kid was Hezekiah. Jesus was born seven hundred years later. That's a little too long, even for my people, to wait for a sign."

Court Date Set For After Holidays

The case against PlayGod will be heard on January 18. When asked about the case, PlayGod had no comment, but they did mention a few of their ideas for next season.

"We were thinking of maybe having a dreidel that would have the Trinity on it," said Connelly.

Apparently some things never change.

Copyright 2003 by Nick Popadich
All rights reserved.