LOLCat Bible Translation Project

The LOLCat Bible Translation Project is "a project dedicated to translating the entire Bible into lolspeak." Lolspeak being, of course, the unofficial language used by people when they SMS or chat online. Common examples are LOL (Laugh Out Loud) and BRB (Be Right Back). Here is an example from Genesis...

Boreded Ceiling Cat makinkgz Urf n stuffs

1 Oh hai. In teh beginnin Ceiling Cat maded teh skiez An da Urfs, but he did not eated dem.

2 Da Urfs no had shapez An haded dark face, An Ceiling Cat rode invisible bike over teh waterz.

3 At start, no has lyte. An Ceiling Cat sayz, i can haz lite? An lite wuz.4 An Ceiling Cat sawed teh lite, to seez stuffs, An splitted teh lite from dark but taht wuz ok cuz kittehs can see in teh dark An not tripz over nethin.5 An Ceiling Cat sayed light Day An dark no Day. It were FURST!!!1

The irony behind undertaking such a project is profound. For the large percentage of the US population who believe that the bible is the perfect word of God, this project is nothing less than complete blasphemy. Still, this endeavor is immensely ambitious and if, due to its casual approach to one of the world's most influential books, it cannot be respected, it can at least be recognized as an impressive effort.

What I find more interesting though is what it says about who we are and how our society treats the incontrovertible truths known as Dogma. With the exception of a very select few, most of us don't follow all the dogma that has been bestowed upon us by the bible, instead opting to eat meat on Fridays and cutting the hair that grows over our temples without a second thought. This seems to demonstrate that while certain "absolute" truths remain important in our society such as not committing murder and not stealing (although that even seems to be under consideration as most of us have illegally downloaded music before), huge swaths of previously strictly adhered to rules are now considered optional and even at times are rejected entirely (i.e. the right to own slaves). All this points to the fact that our society has shown a consistent willingness to reevaluate religion and its texts in an attempt to make them fit more closely to our current beliefs.

This project is, on a large scale, an attempt to do just that. It reflects our society's increasingly casual approach to religion and is demonstrates how we are trading in being preached to in favor of personal interpretations from which we draw very personal conclusions.