Christians are supposed to see Jesus in everyone, but might not appreciate seeing everyone in Jesus. Or so say the iPhone gatekeepers at Apple. This week Apple rejected a new application that allowed users to crop a picture of their mug or a friend’s into one of several standard depictions of Jesus. The inventor of “Me So Holy,” Benjamin Kahle, complained his Jesus-ifying app didn’t violate published rules against violent or offensive, instead calling it “fun and positive.”
As pop-culture Jesus gags go, “Me So Holy” is pretty innocuous. (See: “Homeboy, Jesus Is My.”). And Jesus might prefer it over iPhone apps that invite users to hone their expertise in blowing things up with tanks. But given Muslim sensitivities over depictions of the Prophet, there may be wisdom in Apple’s restrictive standard: if Jesus becomes a cartoony presence on the iPhone, can Muhammad be far behind?