The Detroit News published an informative article last week.

At the International Christian Retail Show, companies hawked products like Follow the Son flip flops, which leave a “Follow Jesus” imprint wherever they go, Christian Outdoorsman’s camoflauge baseball cap with a cross on the front, and Revelation Products’ Gospel Golf Balls.

Among all those relatively pedestrian products bound for religious bookstores, one product was particularly eye-catching.  Or rather, nose-catching.

Christian perfume.

The new fragrance, called Virtuous Woman, is intended to be a tool for evangelism, according to Milton Hobbs, the man behind the smell: “It should be enticing enough to provoke questions: ‘What’s that you’re wearing?’  Then you take that opportunity to speak of your faith. They’ve opened the door, and now they’re going to get it.”

There are countless jokes to make based on that product, and I’m sure most of them have already been used.  I’m not looking to make jokes; I’m just wondering if there is any way to make this sort of thing stop.  I’m tired of seeing products best suited for a Saturday Night Live spoof commercial marketed instead as a serious product; I’m tired of fighting through a river of what some call “Jesus Junk.”  I just want to be Christian without being told to buy Christian.  I want to be able to say the word “Christian” and have it mean people, not things.

I do not want to look, sound or smell Christian; I want to BE a Christian.