Religious tattoos

This morning, as I was leaving the 7-Eleven to head into work, I glanced at a guy still standing in line. My path took me close enough to him that I noticed his tattoo on the side of his neck. While I can’t be absolutely sure from a two second glance, I’m relatively certain that the tattoo was of Jesus’s head. For some reason, this struck me as totally odd.

I honestly can’t say why it struck me as odd. I’ve seen plenty of religious tattoos in my life. Indeed, in my faith community, tattoos that have some sort of religious or magical signficance are rather commonplace. (Indeed, there are days where I feel like I’m the oddball among my friends for not having any such tattoos.)

I’ve even seen tattoos with signficance within Christianity. I’ve seen crosses and doves before. Some of them are quite beautifully done. And yet, a tattoo of Jesus’s head struck me as weird. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s just some weirdness on my part. In the end it doesn’t matter.

I’m curious, however. Does anyone here have any tattoos of religious signficance? If so, what are they? Why did you get them? Do they serve any sort of purpose in your mind?

8 thoughts on “Religious tattoos”

  1. no tatoos here but i’ve seen lots of people with tatoos of crosses… i dunno, maybe they think it’ll show they’re more sincere

  2. That’s possible. Someone else on another blog pointed out that one friend got a Sacred Heart tattoo because he was afraid of wearing crosses on a chain only to have the chain break. There’s a certain bit of logic to that, if you ask me.

  3. All my tattoos are spiritual, but none so simple as a cross. The first is a butterfly with the elements of wind water and flame surrounding it and the reference Psalms 104 – signifying a season of transformation in my life. The second is a snake and a dove intertwined with flames behind it – meaning wise and gentle, and the third is a skull with vines and flowers growing out of it – signifying life from death.

    I don’t think it makes me look more sincere, simply because from looking at them, most people won’t know what they mean. But they are a constant reminder why I follow Who I do and a good conversation piece.

    I think Jesus’ head would be weird, because we don’t know what he looked like. So it’s like having a tattoo of some random person….which I guess is fine if you’re ok with that.

  4. no tatts for me — i’m terrified of needles though i’ve adjusted to them in a medical context.

    of those i know who have religious tatts, most are crosses of some nature. one of my co-workers has one in memory of her sister who was stillborn. others have them in discreet places as a kind of private sign of their commitment to Christ.

    if i was to get one, it would probably be a celtic cross and i’m not sure where i’d put it per se. i’d possibly do it on my upper arm so i could hide it with a short-sleeved shirt but i also might go for another place like my ankle.

  5. Do you have any idea what symbol you’d use, Tina? I seem to recall that Larry posted one such symbol he’s considered on Multiply a while back.

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