Ship of Fools (website)

Infobox Website
name = Ship of Fools



caption =
url = http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/
commercial =
type = web magazine
language = English
registration = Registration required only to use forums
owner = ??
author = Simon Jenkins and Stephen Goddard
launch date = April Fool's Day 1998
current status = Active
revenue = ??

Ship of Fools is the name of a UK-based Christian website, which was first launched as a magazine in 1977. The magazine folded in 1983, and was resurrected as a website on April Fool's Day, 1998. Subtitled "the magazine of Christian unrest", Ship of Fools pokes fun and asks critical questions about the Christian faith, "which we love but also question". The site is partly a magazine and partly a web community.

Ship of Fools was founded and is edited by Simon Jenkins (editor) and Stephen Goddard (co-editor). Jenkins is an author, designer and cartoonist from London, while Goddard is a journalist and public relations consultant; both have formal theological education. They also perform a show, Ship of Fools Live, in churches, universities and elsewhere, with excerpts from the site's featured content (see below). The show toured in the USA in February 2004.

The website presents itself as ecumenical/pan-Christian, although the prevailing ethos is English-speaking Trinitarian Christianity.

Some notable features of Ship of Fools are:

* "The Mystery Worshipper" - reports on churches made by users of the site. The intention is that churches can find out how they appear to outsiders.
* Discussion Boards - where registered members can debate issues. The 10 boards include some of the following topics: "Ship's News, Announcements and Deck Swabbing"; "The Rite Stuff"; "Biblical Unrest".
* "Gadgets for Gods" - shows kitsch Christian-based products on the internet.
* "Signs and Blunders" - showing unusual or comic church signboards and unfortunate slips of the tongue.

Activities sometimes leave the site to take place in the real world. There are frequent "Shipmeets", where shipmates get together at different locations around the world, and Ship of Fools also ran a Ned Flanders Night at the Christian festival "Greenbelt".

The site is free to use, and is funded by advertising and donations to the "Organ Fund", often in exchange for custom avatars or subtitles.

Ship of Fools' most recent project was Church of Fools, a unique online 3D interactive church. Church of Fools ran as a multi-user environment from May to September 2004, and as a single-user environment since that date. The Church of Fools has now renamed itself St Pixels.

External links

* [http://shipoffools.com Ship of Fools]
* [http://churchoffools.com Church of Fools]
* [http://www.stpixels.com St Pixels]