I just found out about something called the Alpha Course which is apparently (or was - my sources are three years old) gaining ground in Anglican Christian circles as a sort of hip, possibly cultish group. I haven’t quite figured out what they are all about yet, but I did find this article in the Guardian about how they teamed up with a marketing firm which prompted them to start a campaign with a cute Pin-up girl selling God to Britons.

As cool as that sounds though, they are supposedly all homophobic and a bunch of other bad buzzwords, so I’m gonna check em out more. Here’s a bunch of press clippings that I just found about them.

Ah, here’s their corporate site. Very cleverly done. They must be raking in money (although they claim to have free courses with suggested “donations”). But they also seem secretly evil. Just a gut reaction though. This deserves more looking into…

Here’s their marketing pitch encapsulated:

“…to introduce people to Christianity in an easy-to-understand, down-to-earth and informal way.”

Incredible, they actually sell you materials to promote THEIR brand, and they actually come right out and say as much. There’s actually a bold headline that says “Church posters are key to building the Alpha brand”. Crazy. No prices listed though, unfortunately. Also, you can buy tapes and books on how to run courses. Genius. Apparently, prices are only available through their newsletter.

Aha! Here’s the USA version of their website. Finally some goddamn pricing info! WHOO! It’s pricey! I bet you weren’t expecting it to be really expensive, right? The “Just Beginning Kit” for starting your own course is a mere $425.

I wish I could find a description of the basic tenets of what they teach. Apparently that’s the “secret” info you have to go to the meetings for.