{"id":156653,"date":"2022-03-22T12:10:36","date_gmt":"2022-03-22T18:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=156653"},"modified":"2022-03-22T12:10:36","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T18:10:36","slug":"what-100-million-ad-campaign-would-jesus-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/22\/what-100-million-ad-campaign-would-jesus-do.html","title":{"rendered":"What $100 Million Ad Campaign Would Jesus Do?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A $100 million ad campaign is being launched to <a href=\"https:\/\/julieroys.com\/100-million-ad-campaign-young-adults-reconsider-faith\/\">attract young adults back to Christianity<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>This week, an alliance of Christian media ministries announced the launch of an extensive $100-million-dollar national ad campaign to share inspirational messages about Jesus Christ with \u201cskeptics and seekers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/hegetsus.com\/\">He Gets Us<\/a>\u201d campaign features stark ads with messages such as \u201cJesus was homeless,\u201d \u201cJesus suffered anxiety,\u201d and \u201cJesus was in broken relationships.\u201d They direct people to a website where they\u2019re then connected to national ministries and local congregations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As an example &#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"He Gets Us | Jesus Was Born To A Teen Mom (0:30)\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4_HG5Q4VTRY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>So let&#8217;s put to the side whether spending $100 million to actually <em>help<\/em> homeless people, anxious people, or people in broken relationships would be more in keeping with Jesus&#8217; actual message.<\/p>\n<p>The problem, I think, is that the target of the campaign is totally misaligned.\u00a0The research that went into it actually makes the case.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Starting in April 2021, a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. adults answered an online survey designed by Haven, followed by additional quantitative polling and interview-style qualitative research. [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>Skeptics of Christianity represent one-fourth of the U.S. population, according to the research. Half of them, \u201cespecially those with children,\u201d are open to learning about Jesus, if obstacles can be overcome, Haven states. The biggest obstacle: Jesus\u2019 message has been distorted as \u201chate-filled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Based on these insights, Haven\u2019s goals became to \u201ccommunicate that Jesus is for everyone and is a worthy example to live by\u201d\u2014and that his teachings are \u201cpositive for society as a whole.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I mean, that&#8217;s cool &#8212; but maybe a more productive goal would be figuring out <em>how<\/em> &#8220;Jesus&#8217; message has been distorted as &#8216;hate-filled.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I suspect the problem for &#8220;young adults&#8221; is not with Jesus&#8217; message or perceived relevancy. It&#8217;s that they see Jesus&#8217; ostensible reps here on earth spending their money on jets (and ad campaigns) and preaching to mega-churches (and the press) about how those young adults&#8217; gay friends are going to hell, and how wealthy companies should get tax breaks because capitalism is God&#8217;s way, and if you just donate enough money then God will reward you with a bunch of money, too. Oh, and that Jesus&#8217;s representatives should take over the country on behalf of all the white people.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_46163\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-46163\" style=\"width: 3200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/One-Nation-Under-God.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-46163\" src=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/One-Nation-Under-God.jpg\" alt=\"One Nation Under God\" width=\"3200\" height=\"2160\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/One-Nation-Under-God.jpg 3200w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/One-Nation-Under-God-150x101.jpg 150w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/One-Nation-Under-God-300x202.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/One-Nation-Under-God-650x438.jpg 650w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-46163\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is the message the Religious Right sends about Jesus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I believe the evangelical Religions Right &#8212; the brand of Christianity that has spent the last fifty years elbowing itself in front of the microphone as the One, True Representatives of Christianity in the US &#8212; has done more with its venality and cruelty to drive people away from Christianity in this nation than any &#8220;sex, drugs, and rock and roll.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>More impactfully, by the Religious Right locking themselves in with the Republican Party in the pursuit of the power to force their agenda on the rest of the nation, they have become associated inextricably with folk like Trump, Cruz, McConnell, DeSantis, Gaetz, MTG, Boebert, Hawley, etc.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_135287\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-135287\" style=\"width: 506px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Trump-and-Bible.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-135287\" src=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Trump-and-Bible.jpg\" alt=\"Trump and Bible\" width=\"506\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Trump-and-Bible.jpg 506w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Trump-and-Bible-150x79.jpg 150w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Trump-and-Bible-300x158.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 506px) 85vw, 506px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-135287\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is the face of US Christianity to too many people.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>These &#8220;young adults&#8221; now see <em>those<\/em> deplorables as the representatives of Christ (because they claim to be\u00a0 and\/or there are plenty of religious types willing to assert they are), and it&#8217;s profoundly unappealing to them.<\/p>\n<p>After all, who&#8217;s going to be believed as to what Jesus&#8217; message is?\u00a0 A slick ad campaign, or the religiously-anointed political representatives of the church trying to kick people off welfare, force LGBTQ folk back into the closet, require rape victims to give birth, suppress the vote of people of color, lock down the borders to desperate refugees, kick homeless out of town, and legalize discrimination under the banner of &#8220;religious freedom&#8221; &#8230; all with the blessing of various groups and ministers saying that this is all being done in Jesus&#8217; name.<\/p>\n<p>There are a lot of Christians and churches that <em>aren&#8217;t<\/em> into all that, to be sure, that focus on charity and compassion and humility &#8212; but they&#8217;re not the ones parading around, wrapping themselves in flags and waving around crosses. They&#8217;re not the ones crowing about how Christianity is all about\u00a0 nationalism, capitalism, partisanship, guns, and power.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_156663\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-156663\" style=\"width: 704px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Trump-being-prayed-over.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-156663\" src=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Trump-being-prayed-over.png\" alt=\"Trump being prayed over\" width=\"704\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Trump-being-prayed-over.png 704w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Trump-being-prayed-over-300x170.png 300w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Trump-being-prayed-over-650x367.png 650w, https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Trump-being-prayed-over-150x85.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-156663\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This may garner some votes, but it probably doesn&#8217;t encourage &#8220;young adults&#8221; to go to church.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Maybe Jesus&#8217; ad campaign shouldn&#8217;t be focused on trying to draw unchurched young adults to faith. Maybe it should be focused on changing the hearts of those who are driving those young adults <em>away<\/em> from Christianity. Because right now they&#8217;re drowning out Jesus&#8217; words, whether or not He Gets Us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An effort to attract back unchurched young adults has a good message, but the wrong target<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[109,533,27,378,110],"tags":[2076,1169],"class_list":["post-156653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-state","category-demographics","category-religion","category-intolerance-persecution","category-religious-zanies","tag-christianity","tag-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/4_HG5Q4VTRY.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23033,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/10\/the-c-word-and-presidential-politics.html","url_meta":{"origin":156653,"position":0},"title":"The &#8220;C&#8221; Word and Presidential Politics","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 10-Oct-11 12:07pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I am, of course, speaking of cult. As Mitt Romney continues to be a strong contender in the 2012 GOP Primaries, the Right-Wing Christian Fringe is in full-bore assault on Mormonism and the LDS church, of which Romney is a member. For example: The pastor who introduced Texas Gov. Rick\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Elections 2012&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2012","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2012"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/romney_ask-mitt-anything-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":26443,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/16\/why-spam-exists.html","url_meta":{"origin":156653,"position":1},"title":"Why spam exists","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 16-Feb-12 8:35pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It exists because it works.\"But who would possibly respond to such a ridiculous email?\" you might well ask..But the cost of sending email is so cheap, that only getting 1 response for every 12.5 million spam emails sent is enough to turn a tidy profit.Given that you can probably convince\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4752,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/01\/12\/wont_you_be_my.html","url_meta":{"origin":156653,"position":2},"title":"Won&#8217;t you be my neighbor?","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 12-Jan-04 12:24pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Howard Dean's been getting more religious out on the campaign road, but his theology on loving your neighbor is a bit dubious. Later, Dr. Dean flashed his much-talked-about temper at...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics &amp; Law&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics &amp; Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33014,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/04\/02\/religious-roots.html","url_meta":{"origin":156653,"position":3},"title":"Religious Roots","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 2-Apr-13 6:13pm","format":false,"excerpt":"As a companion piece to the +Yonatan Zunger\u00a0article I just shared (which is linked to at the bottom), a look at the history and fracturing of Judaism in ancient times, and how early Christianity ended up in pulling together many of the \"weird\" threads from those diverse foundations.It's fascinating because,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18241,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/08\/24\/birtherism-begins-to-shift-to-um-baptizederism.html","url_meta":{"origin":156653,"position":4},"title":"Birtherism begins to shift to, um, Baptizederism?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 24-Aug-10 3:28pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Oh, Lordy. \u00a0The folks who demand to See The Birth Certificate seem to have met the Obama Is A Closet Muslim, and their love \u00a0child appears to be folks who demand to See The Baptism Certificate. Because, of course, a Baptism Certificate will clear up whether Obama is a Christian.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics &amp; Law&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics &amp; Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Hitler_Baptism_Certificate.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Hitler_Baptism_Certificate.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Hitler_Baptism_Certificate.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Hitler_Baptism_Certificate.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Hitler_Baptism_Certificate.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Hitler_Baptism_Certificate.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9022,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/03\/03\/way_to_go_guys.html","url_meta":{"origin":156653,"position":5},"title":"Way to go, guys!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 3-Mar-06 6:17pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The Missouri state legislature is considering a ... truly remarkable bill. Missouri legislators in Jefferson City considered a bill that would name Christianity the state's official \"majority\" religion. House Concurrent...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics &amp; Law&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics &amp; Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156653"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156665,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156653\/revisions\/156665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}