Toying with God

The World of Religious Board Games, Toys, and Dolls

By Nikki Bado-Fralick and Rebecca Sachs Norris

Welcome to our world--the world of religious games, toys, and dolls. We have wandered through a fascinating and often humorous land filled with cuddly Jesus dolls and dolls with hijabs, resurrection eggs, Passover plague toys, karma points, celestial weapons, and Jesus bandages. Sometimes we find them perplexing or offensive, other times amusing or educational. They evoke the magic of childhood combined with the mystery of religion, all through the mundane media of plastic, cardboard, and paper.

Our book "Toying with God" explores how the historical connection between games and religions set the stage for the variety of religious board games on the market today. For many, linking religion with games or play is contradictory or even sacrilegious, but religious toys are often manufactured to teach religious ideals and ethics.

In this gallery we showcase 18 of the fascinating religious board games, toys, and dolls featured in our book. See how they all have the same goal in mind: to teach adults and kids aspects of faith through play.

Authors: Rebecca Sachs Norris is associate professor and chair of the Religious & Theological Studies Department at Merrimack College in North Andover, MA, as well as the Regionally Elected Director of the New England-Maritimes region of the American Academy of Religion. Nikki Bado-Fralick is associate professor and director of the Religious Studies Program at Iowa State University in Ames, IA.

Photographer: Courtney Cutler

Some photos and text are reprinted from "Toying with God” by Nikki Bado-Fralick and Rebecca Sachs Norris, with permission of Baylor University Press (www.baylor.edu). Copyright 2010. The content cannot be reprinted, republished, or redistributed without further permission. All rights reserved.

Fulla Dolls

Although marketed as an anti-Barbie and as the "moral Muslim choice" for young girls in Syria, the differences between Barbie and Fulla are only skin deep.

They're both manufactured at the same company in China and they even have the same tippy-toe feet. At the moment, Fulla occupies herself at home and in being a good shopper, but career options such as a Fulla dentist and teacher emerged in 2008. Along with the hijab, Fulla comes with high heels, makeup, and a pretty floral dress to wear when out of the public eye.

From left to right: Original Fulla that comes with prayer rug and prayer beads (in front), Singing Fulla in evening dress, Talking Fulla that says the evening prayer, and a Walking Fulla with purse, luggage, and luggage cart.

Snakes and Ladders

Chutes and Ladders derives from the older game of Snakes and Ladders and is reportedly based on an ancient Tibetan game about the stages to liberation or enlightenment.

Originally known as "Rebirth," the game was invented in the early 13th century by a Sanskrit scholar and it was meant to "reveal the Tibetan Buddhist map of the universe." Modern Chutes and Ladders come in Sufi (Muslim), Buddhist, Sikh, Leela (new age), Hindu, and Jewish versions.

Clockwise from lower left to right: Variations on Snakes and Ladders. Sufi Snakes and Ladders, a modern rendition of the original Tibetan game of Rebirth, Sikh Snakes and Ladders (rear, standing up), Leela (lower right), and a contemporary Hindu Snakes and Ladders (center).