Related articles and links |  1 of 3

Joel Kilpatrick, a 1995 graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, is not as readily recognized as other alumni such as Patrick J. Buchanan, Howard Fineman, or Steve Kroft. But his satirical LarkNews.com has a devoted fan base that includes evangelical and mainline pastors, an editor for the satirical newspaper The Onion, and musical satirist and filmmaker Steve Taylor.

What keeps fans coming back for each month's fresh material is a wit so sharp that, as with The Onion, people sometimes mistake its satirical stories for real news. In February 2003, for example, Kilpatrick made up an item that Zondervan would publish a gay-friendly version of its New International Version of the Bible. Like many gay advocates within churches, the theoretical gNIV assumed that Jonathan and David were lovers. Enough people sent in horrified e-mails that Zondervan issued a statement calling the report "a sick joke."

Meanwhile, homeschooling bloggers fell for "Harvard forcing homeschoolers to 'Fit In,'" which played off of stereotypes that such students need more social skills. And Christian radio stations were duped by "Wal-Mart rejects 'racy' worship cd": "The latest Vineyard Music worship cd, 'Intimacy, vol. 2,' has raced to the top of the Christian sales charts, but Wal-Mart is refusing to stock the album without slapping on a parental warning sticker. The groundbreaking—some say risqué—album includes edgy worship songs such as 'My Lover, My God.'"

Ron Poarch, pastor of Grace Reformation Church in Woodland, California, admits that he too was tricked when he discovered LarkNews, and he quickly became a fan. Poarch says he and about eight church members visit the site together at the end of Bible studies because of the truths behind the punch lines.

"It has fueled some conversations about what's behind this, and it correlates with our evangelical culture," Poarch told Christianity Today. "Joel has a real insight into the faddishness of the church."

Poarch discovered LarkNews in 2005, and a couple of months later he was diagnosed with cancer in his abdomen. Poarch says a member of his church kept his spirits up by passing along the latest LarkNews jokes.

Kilpatrick mentions Steve Taylor, famous for his satire-laced songs such as "I Blew Up the Clinic Real Good" and "Since I Gave Up Hope I Feel a Lot Better," as a longtime influence. Taylor, in turn, admires the shtick at LarkNews.

"Most other efforts I've come across feel pretty dated—jokes about flannelgraphs and potlucks—and just make me wince," Taylor told Christianity Today. "At the other extreme are movies like Saved that made me wince for different reasons, but ultimately seemed equally out of touch and strangely paranoid. Lark keeps surprising me."

"I'm a pretty tough critic," Taylor added. "When I got a link to the first few editions, I thought some of the headlines were amusing, but the stories weren't quite cutting it. And there were the obvious similarities to The Onion, which is the current gold standard. But the Lark site kept getting better—the photos improved, the stories got funnier, and the satire got sharper. It's now the best thing going since the glory days of The Wittenburg Door."

The Door, founded in 1971 by Mike Yaconelli and now published by the Trinity Foundation, calls itself "the world's pretty much only magazine of religious satire." Bob Darden, who edits The Door, sees LarkNews less as competition than as a similar voice in a different medium. "They shoot a little differently than we do," he says. "One of the great things about the Lark is that they're just funny. I think our calling is different, to be the boy who stands at the side of the road and calls out, 'Yo, the emperor's buck nekkid, people.'"

next page... |  1 of 3

share this page

January 2008, Vol. 52, No. 1