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Me So Holy for iPhone

The iPhone was originally referred to as the "Jesus Phone" but Apple has rejected an application for its smartphone that allows users to superimpose their own faces on religious figures, including Jesus.

The company has rejected "Me So Holy" on the grounds that it's objectionable and violates its developer agreement.

"Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive, or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple's reasonable judgment may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users," the company's developer agreement states.

The maker of "Me So Holy" has complained on his Web site that Apple has placed his application in the same category as those that contain violence, "urine and defecation."

"We feel that Apple is being too sensitive to its perceived user group and are disappointed that this otherwise creative, freethinking company would reject such a positive and fun application," the developer wrote in a blog posted Monday on his Web site, mesoholy.com. "The message to developers is that they should think inside the box, rather than outside it."

The developer, Benjamin Kahle, said that Apple's rejection letter shows that a battle of values is playing out over what users can and cannot view on their own screens. The App Store approved Kahle's Animalizer application, which allows users to morph their faces into images of animal look-alikes.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

About two weeks ago, Apple announced that customers have downloaded 1 billion applications from the App Store. The company boasts more than 35,000 applications available throughout 77 countries to millions of iPod and iPhone users.

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