Jesus The Bobblehead

United Church Launches Controversial Humour Campaign Featuring Jesus

Religion, by its very nature, is seen as being sacrosanct and serious.

It's rarely viewed as a product to be bought and sold, and it certainly isn't something most people take with a sense of irreverence.

Which is why a new ad campaign by the United Church is getting so many people hot under the clerical collar.

The unusual ad scheme is being used to project a sense of humour in the hopes it will attract the one thing many religions are losing - young congregants.

The campaign involves using the kind of ad come-ons you only used to see on The Simpsons. One features a Jesus bobblehead doll on a car dashboard.

Another sports a can of whipped cream and a caption that asks, "How fun can sex be before it's a sin?"

A third features a picture of Jesus sitting on Santa's throne, wondering why Kris Kringle seems to have replaced the religious figure as the symbol of Christmas.

A fourth shows a well-marked Bible with the choices "Agree" or "Disagree".

And one even dares to explore the concept of same sex marriage.

Church officials agree the idea is - you should pardon the expression - unorthodox, but argue it's simply a method to bring religion back into the spotlight, and prove how important it remains in the lives of those who otherwise don't discuss it.

The ads point people to the church's new website, where it hopes to engage the interest of younger people.

"The advertising is asking questions," points out the Right Rev. David Giuliano "You'll notice a lot of the ads pose a question and invite people to come to wondercafe.ca and engage their contemporaries in a conversation about it. As far as getting people to come to church, that will probably be a secondary step in this whole process."

And the movement doesn't come cheap. The church is spending $10.5 million on the recruitment campaign.

"More than half of the budget on this program is being spent on helping congregations to be more welcoming and open in the conversations they're having with people," Giuliano notes. "We're perceived as judging, as not listening, arrogant and so on. And some of those accusations may be true of some churches. Not only other churches but some of United Church congregations."

Giuliano admits that in a world where humour and controversy are employed to sell everything from sex to soap, it only makes sense that religion make use of the same techniques.

"One of the barriers I think we're trying to get across is that somehow religion is heavy and burdensome and always, always serious," he adds.

The reaction from parishioners has yet to be assessed. The campaign only officially began on Tuesday.

Chances are they'll hear a lot more about it come Sunday.


To see the ads for yourself, click below.