Calif. Man Raises Funds to Translate Bible Into Emoticons

A Los Angeles-based marketing specialist has started a fundraising campaign so he may translate the Bible to contain only emoticons, or small digital images used to express words.

 Kamran Kastle, founder of the Los Angeles-based marketing agency A Hollywood Ending Studios, has started a Kickstarter campaign vowing to translate the entire Bible into emoticons for the price of $25,000.

Kastle states on the Kickstarter page that if the project is completed, half of the Biblical text will be communicated through emoticons, while the other half will be written using plain text.

The marketing expert added that he doesn't foresee any challenges in going forward with the project. "Since I have already started translating the Bible into Emoticons, I do not foresee any challenges. With your help, I hope to translate one of the most influential books of all time into images commonly used for text messaging so that the Smartphone Generation will be encouraged to read it [...] in addition to everyone else."

Kastle also said in an interview with Vice magazine that he thinks translating the Bible into emoticons would be the most effective way to get younger generations to read the Holy Book.

"I read a line and then figure out which emoticons I should use to represent that Biblical verse," Kastle told the media outlet. "In the future, I believe lots of places/things/people will use emoticons so that people who speak other languages will be able to comprehend something."

Kastle is seeking to raise $25,000 for his project by November 28. So far, the project has attracted six backers and 19 dollars.