The joke, it turns out, is on the people who thought the joke was on fundamentalist Christians.

In recent weeks, the "Christian side hug" has become something of an Internet buzz item, propelled to viral status largely by a Christian rap video apparently extolling the virtues of the "side hug," a more chaste way for humans to greet.

"Because you will definitely go to Hell if your genitals get anywhere near other peoples' genitals," the New York Web site Buzzfeed said in putting up the video. Bloggers for alternative newspapers in Washington, D.C., and Denver also posted the video, along with commentary bordering on the derisive.

"I think Christianity just jumped the shark," wrote a commenter about the video when it was put up on The Huffington Post.

But Ryan Pann, the 23-year-old Californian who wrote and was lead performer of the tune, the chorus of which commands, rather catchily, "gimme that Christian side hug," said he wrote the song as self-deprecating humor.

The line, "When I hug people, I leave room for the Holy Spirit," may have been the giveaway.

The side hug is a real practice, with people putting arms around each other's shoulders or waists, as if posing for a photo. But clearly, even some in the Christian community greet the concept with, well, a side hug.

"We think it's hilarious because some people think (the video) is serious," said Pann, reached at The Father's House, a Vacaville, Calif., church that sponsors the Encounter Generation Conference, an annual Christian youth gathering at which the video was shot.

"It's not a mockery of the faith," Pann emphasized. "It's a mockery of the act of the Christian side hug."

-----------

sajohnson@tribune.com

Talk back! Have something to say about what you read here? E-mail The Talk at thetalk@tribune.com