{"id":13450,"date":"2015-01-02T10:00:21","date_gmt":"2015-01-02T15:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/?p=13450"},"modified":"2015-01-02T10:00:21","modified_gmt":"2015-01-02T15:00:21","slug":"near-death-american-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2015\/01\/near-death-american-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"The (Near) Death Of The American Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"ajwallpaper2\"<\/p>\n

I started this blog more than 4 years ago with my friend Wes as a way to share funny videos and stories we found in the deep recesses of the Christian internet to which\u00a0decent people shouldn\u2019t venture.<\/p>\n

A lot<\/em> has changed since then.<\/p>\n

The blog has grown significantly, Wes moved on and got a real job, and while many of the funny videos and stories are still here, if you\u2019re a longtime reader (you\u2019re awesome and I love you),\u00a0you\u2019ve probably noticed\u00a0that my original posts have\u00a0outnumbered the oddball videos and news stuff for a while now.<\/p>\n

Change is inevitable. Sometimes it\u2019s intentional, sometimes not, but it\u2019s almost always a good thing in the long run (Except when Fox<\/em> cancelled King of the Hill<\/em> and left American Dad<\/em> on the air instead. Worst. Decision. Ever.). I\u2019ve changed in the past for 4 years and I\u2019m sure you have too.<\/p>\n

Well, the times they are a changing once more.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m dropping the American Jesus moniker. From here on out, it\u2019s just me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that I\u2019m embarrassed of The American Jesus<\/em>. Far from it. I\u2019m quite proud of it and I still think the Americanization of Christianity in general and Jesus in particular is a hugely problematic issue in the Church. So, even though the name is changing, I\u2019m not going to stop talking about the Americanization of the faith. But after 4+ years, the American Jesus moniker has become confining for me and I find that it often hurts more than it helps whenever I\u2019m trying to have a serious conversation.<\/p>\n

And, if nothing else, I\u2019m tired of getting emails and comments from people convinced that I think I\u2019m Jesus or that I worship the American Jesus and have created a blog in his honor. (Yes, some people really are that dense even when you put up an About page<\/a> explaining the name of your blog)<\/p>\n

But more than anything, I want to feel like I have the freedom to write about whatever I want to write about instead of feeling obligated to tie everything back to American Christianity.<\/p>\n

So, if all goes to plan, come Monday morning (or probably sometime this weekend), The American Jesus<\/em> will be no more.<\/p>\n

Well, kind of<\/em>\u2026.<\/p>\n

Fear not. American Jesus Madness is going nowhere<\/em><\/strong>. It\u2019ll be back in March in all its glory to determine this year\u2019s champion of American Christianity \u2019cause there are certain things that are too important to the foundation of human civilization to be abandoned.<\/p>\n

Likewise, I\u2019m not going anywhere<\/strong><\/em>. I\u2019ll still be here blogging and I\u2019ll still be writing about the same sorts of things I\u2019ve been writing about for the past couple of years. In fact, I\u2019ll still post plenty of funny videos and oddball Christian stuff whenever I find something I think will make you laugh\u2026.or cringe.<\/p>\n

What will change is the blog URL, my Twitter handle, and my Facebook page<\/strong>. However, the great thing is with all that newfangled technology they\u2019ve got these days you won\u2019t have to do much of anything to keep up with the change. I\u2019ll do almost all of the tweaking on my end; all you\u2019ve got to do is go along for the ride.<\/p>\n

On the most basic level, the blog will look nearly identical<\/strong> and all my old posts will still be here (as long as I don\u2019t screw anything up in the digital move). The only big visual change you\u2019ll notice will be the name on the header at the top of the page. It\u2019ll say \u201cZack Hunt\u201d\u00a0at the top instead of \u201cThe American Jesus\u201c<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The URL will change<\/strong> from theamericanjesus.net to zackhunt.net, but since I\u2019ll be redirecting the old URL to the new one, even if you forget to change a bookmark or type in the old URL by mistake, you\u2019ll be automatically directed to the right page. Ain\u2019t technology grand?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve\u00a0changed my Twitter handle<\/strong> from @theamericnjesus to @zaackhun<\/a>t (which matches my Instagram handle<\/a> if you\u2019re not already following me there).\u00a0If you already follow me on Twitter, you\u2019ve got nothing to worry about. My handle will be different, but I can change it and keep everything else as it is without you having to unfollow the old handle and follow the new one.<\/p>\n

Last but not least is the matter of my Facebook page<\/strong>. Fingers crossed, there won\u2019t be any disruption there either beyond a name change (from The American Jesus to Zack Hunt) and a new URL, the latter of which I should have soon, but shouldn\u2019t affect you in any way \u2019cause who in the world goes to a Facebook Page like that by typing in the specific URL? Anyway, Facebook allows you to change your Page name once and I haven\u2019t done so yet. However, it\u2019s something I have to request and I don\u2019t know how long they will take to respond. Hopefully they get back to me within the next week and hopefully they say \u201cyes\u201d to my name change request. But if Zuckerberg turns me down, then I will have to create a new Page and shamelessly ask you to \u201clike\u201d it. I\u2019ll definitely let you know either way, but, again, fingers crossed it won\u2019t come to that.<\/p>\n

Oh, and if you\u2019re signed up for email updates, those should continue without interruption. Of course, if you\u2019re not signed up for email updates, sign up today<\/a>!<\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s about it, but if there\u2019s something I missed, please don\u2019t hesitate to ask me about it.<\/p>\n

I want to stress again, that all that\u2019s really changing about the blog is the name<\/strong>. When it comes to tone and content, nothing is really changing. What you found on my blog last week is the same sort of stuff you\u2019ll find on my blog next week. I\u2019ll still be writing about faith related issues and because I live in America a lot of posts will deal with issues particular to American Christianity.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s time for a change.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s also time to say thank you.<\/p>\n

Without your support over the years, I would have given up on this writing thing a long, long time ago. I am incredibly grateful to all of you for your dedication\u00a0to continuing to read my posts, your willingness to\u00a0contribute your own voice to the conversation in the comments and elsewhere across the interwebs, and your generosity in sharing my posts with your friends.<\/p>\n

It really and truly means a lot to me and I can\u2019t thank you enough. Seriously.<\/p>\n

So, fear not.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll still here on Monday.<\/p>\n

But if I\u2019m not and you can\u2019t find me anywhere, know that it\u2019s because I\u2019ve been raptured and you\u2019ve been left behind.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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