Of course, evangelical satire isn’t entirely new. The venerable Wittenburg Door, for example, enjoyed a long run for several decades. Launched in 1969 as a four-page mimeograph for southern California youth workers, the first issue spelled “Wittenberg” incorrectly. The chagrined editors (Paul Sailhamer and Gary Wilburn, who were then followed by Bob Patterson, then Mike Yaconelli, then Ole Anthony, then Bob Darden) decided to let the mistake remain, as if to violate traditional literary convention as much as the insipid middle class conventions of their parents.

If you haven’t run across the Babylon Bee yet, check it out. It’s the evangelical version of the satirical online news source The Onion, and it’s made a big splash. In its first three weeks, the Bee has scored more than one million page views.

Even the Washington Post has noticed, last week running a profile of the evangelicalOnion. The Bee’s popularity is well earned. It’s really quite funny. Take, for example, the following fake headlines:

• “Witty Church Sign Sparks Revival”: It includes the following quote: “I’ve never talked to God in my life,” claimed area resident Darrell Jones, “but when I saw that ‘Son screen prevents sin burn,’ I pulled right over, dropped to my knees, and begged God for forgiveness. Right there on the side of the road I gave my life to Jesus Christ. Later on, Brother Dwayne told me that’s called ‘sending God a knee-mail.’”
• “Mountain Climber Recovering after Decision to Let Go and Let God”
• “Worship Leader Caught in Infinite Loop between Bridge and Chorus”

The Bee is the brainchild of Adam Ford, a 32-year-old father from Detroit who has suffered from anxiety and clinical depression. In some ways, Ford has followed the trajectory of one of his favorite targets Joel Osteen, who says in one fake story, “Well I just decided one day I wasn’t going to let the enemy hold me back anymore, and I started boldly declaring before God each and every day that I was going to fly.”

Of course, evangelical satire isn’t entirely new. The venerable Wittenburg Door, for example, enjoyed a long run for several decades. Launched in 1969 as a four-page mimeograph for southern California youth workers, the first issue spelled “Wittenberg” incorrectly.

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