Jesus MySpace

Jesus Christ has been recruited to the Internet phenomenon MySpace with an allegedly humorous online page advertising his love of beards, extreme water- skiing and the Monty Python film Life of Brian.

He will be sent into cyberspace as part of an advertising crusade that also features an image of his face on the side of a beer glass. The campaign, run by the ecumenical charity Churches' Advertising Network, aims to provoke debate about God among young people this Christmas.

Thousands of posters showing the face of Jesus in beer foam will be accompanied by the question: "Where will you find him?" The ads will direct readers to a page on social networking site MySpace, a global internet club with 108 million members.

Those responsible for the campaign hope it will encourage youngsters to go online to debate the appeal of Jesus.

"It may be very arrogant to set up Jesus's MySpace," said Simon Jenkins of Churches' Advertising Network. "But it is a voyage of exploration. Let's hope God is guiding it in the right direction. MySpace is hugely culturally significant. It is the place where young people are most likely to meet up and we need to go to our audience."

The charity, which has teetotal Salvation Army representatives and Methodists as well as members of the Church of England, denied that the pint- glass posters would encourage drinking.

"Binge drinking is a huge problem," said Methodist minister Tony Miles, "but this is an image that young people are familiar with and is meant to illustrate that you find God in unexpected places."