Is anyone really surprised that BigChurch.com, a Christian dating site, is owned by Penthouse Media, which also owns AdultFriendFinder.com (glad we had our pop-up blocker enabled for that one) and bondage.com?

Only the Christians.  

Well, only the Christians using the site. And even then maybe we should narrow it down to only the Christians using the site who also believe that anything with the world "Christian" in it is somehow looking out for them. 

As our friend Rev. Bryan Hooper (yes, even sex bloggers have pastor friends) said in an email, "Penthouse is a business. Their goal is to make money. The same is true for BigChurch.com. It has nothing to do with religion — good or bad. It's just another marketing angle."

Amen to that.

The financially-struggling Penthouse group recently moved into the social networking world after its old core magazine business was undermined by the explosion of pornography on the internet.

But a series of other Christian websites are highlighting the marriage between the pious and the promiscuous in an effort to woo the devout away from the BigChurch embrace.

No matter who owns it, it appears to be working for some people... if the testimonials are to be believed:

"I feel blessed to have met Shawn on BigChurch.com. I feel like my prayers of finding a respectable man have been answered! Thanks BigChurch!!"

Try to think of it like enjoying the fact that you live in the United States even though you don't agree with the morals of the people running it... oh, wait... 

[Telegraph via Fleshbot]