Monday, February 13, 2023

What Is It About Religion?

Somebody I read early this morning (a "progressive" web site, not the Bulwark or National Review) described this (these?) ad(s?) as presenting a "progressive-ish" Jesus, in stark contrast to the money sources behind the ad, including the owner of Hobby Lobby. For the life of me I can't find that article again now, but it's very much of the "eye of the beholder" point I would make here.

To begin with, I did watch half of the Super Bowl yesterday, but I wasn't really focused on the ads (I usually am if I watch the thing at all, which I don't usually do).  The Golden Child and her husband had a Super Bowl party so the Lovely Wife and I attended.  There were lots of Millenials there, and us, two aging Boomers.  And 6-7 dogs, at one point.  Post-Covid Millenials love dogs, it seems.  

Anyway, paying attention to the game or the ads was not Job #1.  Though I did get to hear Michael Keaton say "I'm Batman!" in the ad for the new Flash movie which won't be out until June.  Yeah, I still enjoy seeing movies starring the comic book heroes of my childhood.  Anyway, that one stuck with me, but I missed the rest, except for the Ben Affleck in a Dunkin' Donuts drive through window (is that even a thing?  I had no idea.  I know there are drive through windows for the local donut chain here, and nobody but a few benighted Yankees go to Dunkin' for donuts.  Apparently Dunkin' is a Massachusetts thing (who knew?) and Affleck goes there or something?  The Millenials hooted and explained it had something to do with social media, I think.  I dunno.)  Long and short of it: I missed the ad about Jeebus.

Not that I missed it at all, but I never saw it.  Apparently it harped on the Holy Family being immigrants (Las Posadas), although oddly not on Jesus being homeless most of his adult life.  And something about social justice and I dunno; that article I can't find touched on the "Big 3" issues the ad supposedly addressed. It seems, as ever, quite a dodge for the people paying for it, who want to reach "the young people" by...lying to them about what they think Christianity is?  I say that with a question because the ad campaign (I've seen a couple of the non-Super Bowl ads) seems closer to something the UCC would have sponsored than some moss-backed hardcore Southern Baptists.

And while I'm on the topic I understand from NPR that ad rates for the game were up to $7 million for 30 seconds, which means this ad did cost quite a bit to present in that airspace. So if you want to join AOC and criticize the expenditure, I won't stop you.
I'd actually thought about linking this ad campaign to "Buddy Jesus," because it's such a lame (and expensive) attempt to appeal to the yout' by suckering them into thinking "Jesus is cool!", or something. The flip side of that is not that I think Jesus can only be presented as standing by watching sinners in the hands of an angry God, or through singing 19th century hymns or even 21st century (mostly bad, IMHMusicalOpinion) gospel numbers.  Which kind of brings me back to AOC's (poorly, IMHO) stated opinion linking this ad to fascism.

As I say, I didn't see the Super Bowl ad (and I'm not looking for it.  I'm gonna chase down the trailers for GOTG 3 and "The Flash," thank you very much.  Even in retirement my time has some value.), but I doubt it had much directly to do with promoting fascism.  Yeah, you can consider the politics (and legal actions) of the owners of Hobby Lobby to be despicable (come sit by me), but that doesn't make the message of the Gospels fascistic.  And from what I've seen, as I say, those ads could have come from the very liberal UCC.  (And yes, there is a delicious schadenfreude in having endured decades of derision from culturally dominant arch-conservative denominations like the Southern Baptists taunting the likes of the UCC for declining attendance in worship because, the taunts went, they were too "liberal" and were not presenting/preaching "the real Jesus."  What goes around comes around, as the yout' apparently no longer want the arch conservative Jesus of Guns, God, and 'Merica!  Oh, and abortion control and blocking access to birth control for employees because it's the employers insurance policy, by God!)  So "fascism" seems to relate to the money behind the ads, which is a curious criticism since it besmirches the message of the ad, which I don't have a serious problem with.

If you want to shoot the messenger, doesn't that usually mean you don't like the message?

It's probably the problem of addressing something like this on Twitter.  You need a short sharp jab of outrage (even Elie Mystal's address to the subject is meant to just provoke a reaction, not a conversation.  Well, not a very intelligent one.  How much money is he giving to the poor?, one wants to ask.) in a very concentrated dose.  This ad was not outrageous (not to my mind) so much as it was misguided (and yes, a waste of money that could have been better used).  It's a muddled message, especially coming from this messenger.  Is the story of Jesus the story of his life?  Or of his teachings?  The Protestant side has historially focused more on the latter than the former, hence the Puritans of New England banning Christmas celebrations and hardly observing Easter in the accepted forms we do today.  I'm not saying that to back the Protestant traditions, but that is where the Southern Baptists are rooted, whether they know it or not.  They are very much out of the Reformed traditions, tattered and tenuous as those traditions may be today.  Of course, they owe a great deal more to Augustine (largely through Calvin, but still...) than they probably want to admit (because Augustine was a Catholic, you see....).  Ironies and inconsistencies abound, in other words.  And the focus on Jesus life is in some ways a salutary one, but in other ways a tricky one (especially if you pay too much attention to how his life incarnated (enfleshed, I only mean) a life lived in intentional conflict with the values of this world, although hardly in ascetic conflict.  But certainly not in harmony with the late-stage capitalism that makes a TV ad campaign possible and broadcast time during the Super Bowl even reachable (much less affordable).

But I'm still not sure that gets to fascism.  I'm not a fan of this ad or the politics of some of the people who financed it, but "fascism" is a term that shouldn't be thrown around too lightly or, like "woke" (a term I think still has meaning and value), it can quickly become devalued.  Yes, my political opposites want do devalue "woke," and there's not much I can do about that.  But I don't want my political allies devaluing terms with real power and meaning just to keep up with the Joneses.

I honestly think Jesus might have something to say about all of this, and none of us would particularly like it.  And let me just slip this in to say it ain't all about commercials for Jeebus, which is also something I think Jesus would note:
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