Bible Emojis: A Desperate Attempt to Attract Millennials?
Is the Bible trying too hard to be cool?
In an odd and somewhat desperate attempt to reach a younger generation of teens primarily disinterested in religion, the Bible has been translated into emojis—the new teenage language. Bible Emoji: Scripture for Millennials is a free iPhone app available through iTunes that replaces as many words in the Bible as possible with emojis. The idea started as a Twitter feed that regularly posted Bible passages using emojis.
So, why emojis? According to the New York Times, the unnamed writer insists, “What makes emojis so great and part of the symbolism I wanted with this project is that emojis are universal in the strictest sense. Emojis have no gender, no race, and no agenda.” (Although, looking at the select emojis below, they do seem to reflect genders, race—and perhaps motives—as well.)
But even the secular community also struggles with a youth deficiency, so perhaps the creator of Bible Emoji is onto something. We thought the American Humanist Association should give it a shot too. So, here it is—our mission in emoji form:
