In 2001, two Australian Christians had an extraordinary idea that quickly mushroomed.

As global travellers they were often called upon to make donations to small, struggling communities. As liberals, with an acute awareness of the harm that aid can often engender, their challenge was how to make such donations in a way that would empower those communities and further their unique cultures rather than just be part of a western cultural imperialism.

They had other agendas, too. Both were former school teachers in challenging areas who knew how frustrating it was to be involved in worthwhile charitable ventures that had no start-up capital; both were acutely aware that the cultures of churches sometimes lacked the entrepreneurial energy which they knew was essential if any small business was to thrive.

Oh, and they found many pictures of Jesus showed him as a miserable, negative individual whilst their own reading of the Gospel suggested he was no such thing.

After all, they reasoned, though we have no idea what Jesus looked like we can reasonably assume that he was swarthy, probably undernourished, and almost certainly charismatic.

And so the happy Laughing Jesus project was born.

Simply put, artists from many different cultures were invited to create pictures of Jesus laughing, and were paid a fee. Some of these artists lived in tribes deep in the forests of Papau New Guinea, some were horsemen on the plains of the Mongolian, some were commercial artists working in the West.

All were chosen for the strength of their spirituality rather than the technical quality of their work.

What resulted was an exhibition that, at the time of writing, has been displayed at more than twenty different locations. Very few of those who have seen it liked every picture, but there are none which have been disliked by everybody!

Our fans include: a former archbishop of Canterbury, a former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and perhaps most excitingly, dozens of people who would not normally enter a church, but have been drawn in by the originality of the concept.

It is genuinely an attempt to glorify the life of a simple man, whose message has touched many millions of people from many different cultures for over two thousand years. School teachers, ministers all simply art-lovers, are invited to use these images in whatever way they wish with the sole proviso that if they make money from them, they send us an appropriate donation to enable us to continue this administration.

Enjoy!

-- Sir Maxwell Macleod, Event Coordinator
Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh