World's Biggest Jesus

There seems to have always been a battle among nations (and peoples) to have the biggest and best of something (like world's tallest building, etc.).   It looks like religion is not immune from that kind of silly contest.   There is a town in Poland that wants to have the world's biggest statue of Jesus.

At one time this dubious honor was held by Brazil.   It's world famous "Christ the Redeemer" statue looking down on Rio de Janiero stands thirty meters tall.   But in 1994, Bolivia completed its "Cristo de la Concordia" statue.   It is 34.2 meters tall and stands on a 6.2 meter base, bringing its total height to 40.4 meters and making it the world's largest statue of Jesus.

But the small Polish town of Swiebodzin (population 21,000 people), located near Poland's border with Germany, is nearing completion of an even larger Jesus statue (see picture above).   The Polish statue will be completed in November and will be 33 meters tall and sit on a 16 meter base, making it about 9 meters taller than the Bolivian statue.

Now you may be thinking this statue is being built because of a reverence the town has for Jesus and christianity.   That would be wrong.   The real impetus for the building of the statue is one of the world's oldest vices -- greed.   The people of Swiebodzin want tourist dollars, and this is their way to get them.

Listen to what one local official told a weekly magazine.   He said,   "If we had opened a racetrack or a gold course here, tourists would have come only for the season.   But with a statue of Jesus the season will last the whole year."

This may surprise some christians -- the ones who didn't know capitalist greed was a christian virtue.