God, Mammon, and the Fate of Pedro's Soul

I am not a fan of T-shirt designs that spoof popular T-shirt designs and brand logos. Frankly, I expect T-shirt designers to be more creative. During my rock 'n' roll years I came across several such silk-screened parodies; bands seem especially fond of them. Now that I work for the church I often see such T-shirt spoofs marketed to Christian teens. Profiting from stolen ideas hardly seems Christlike to me, but I'm probably over-reacting.

This afternoon, at an event for youth and youth ministers in the Tennessee Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, I saw a shirt that played on the popular Napoleon-Dynamite-inspired "Vote for Pedro" design. It read "Jesus Died for Pedro," and it was for sale at the event. Did Jesus die for Pedro? Personally, I have found that Christian theology is complex enough without adding to the conversation the salvation of fictional characters. Again, I'm probably over-reacting.