# Gruesome Church Advertisements **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 2, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933 "2004-04-02T18:45:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wartime\_Consigliori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@Wartime\_Consigliori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wartime_Consigliori)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/1 "2004-04-02T18:45:08Z")
Here in my little corner of the Bible Belt, it seems that The Passion of the Christ has sparked a game of “My Savior was scourged worse than your Savior!” among our local churches. TV and print ads for churches around here are displaying increasingly nauseating images of Christ in various stages of suffering and torment. As an example, just the other day a new billboard went up on the route I take from work. It displays a grisly image of a horribly mutilated and bloody hand and forearm lying on a piece of wood. Lots of intense red colors. At first, I thought it was an ad for a Sam Peckinpah film retrospective. The caption on the billboard described the church as “A Lively, Loving Blood-Bought Family” What could I do? I had to pull over and throw up. I’m not necessarily picking on anybody here. I’m Catholic, and I can attest some of our churches feature quite gory Crucifixion images. I’m just not convinced that such images are really what you want for an ad campaign. Call me old-fashioned. I’m just wondering if this phenomenon is being observed nationwide, or if this is just one of those Southern religious things I haven’t quite gotten accustomed to, even though I’ve lived here all my life. Any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/2 "2004-04-02T18:54:23Z")
Don’t know what to tell you. This whole _Passion_…er…passion has struck me as borderline mass hysteria. It seems a large number of “Christians” have _missed the entire point of their religion_. Jesus was not unique for his suffering and death. Crucifixion was a common form of execution in Roman times. The whole point of the religion is Jesus’ life and resurrection. Tens of thousands of people were scourged and crucified. Only 1 got up three days later. Of course, ascribing common sense to fundies is useless. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/3 "2004-04-02T19:13:08Z")
I just popped in to say I love the OP’s user name. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/4 "2004-04-02T19:35:55Z")
It’s clearly time for Passion on the Christ II: _He’s back and he’s forgiving!_ ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/5 "2004-04-02T19:56:01Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > It’s clearly time for Passion on the Christ II: _He’s back and he’s forgiving!_ And since we are talking Hollywood here, if there is a buck to be made we can count on the prequel ‘The Ennui of the Christ’. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/6 "2004-04-02T20:10:58Z")
Or, _Jesus II: Electric Boogaloo_. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/7 "2004-04-02T20:12:36Z")
Next stop: the new Dark Ages! Now with twenty-five percent more viscera. Also available in anti-bacterial and non-perfumed versions. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/8 "2004-04-02T20:18:20Z")
> [@Wartime Consigliori](#): > > I’m not necessarily picking on anybody here. I’m Catholic, and I can attest some of our churches feature quite gory Crucifixion images. I’m just not convinced that such images are really what you want for an ad campaign. Call me old-fashioned. So you regularly cannibalize your god, and a bloody arm makes you puke? Priest: “The body of Christ.” Parishoner: “Oh god! I’m gonna hurl!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/9 "2004-04-02T20:41:59Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > It’s clearly time for Passion on the Christ II: _He’s back and he’s forgiving!_ The Passion 2: Beyond Thunderdome. ---
**Author:** ![Wartime\_Consigliori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@Wartime\_Consigliori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wartime_Consigliori)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/10 "2004-04-02T20:51:20Z")
> [@js\_africanus](#): > > So you regularly cannibalize your god, and a bloody arm makes you puke? > > Priest: “The body of Christ.” > Parishoner: “Oh god! I’m gonna hurl!” > > 🙂 I guess you can call me inconsistent as well as old-fashioned, JS. And I don’t mind a good horror flick every now and then, either. I was more curious as to whether or not other folks are noticing an increase in these types of religious ads in their neighborhoods. Oh, and my vote for Mel’s next movie: “The Passion of 2nd Macabees” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/11 "2004-04-03T00:56:18Z")
I saw a brilliant ad at a local church just this afternoon. They had ‘Passion’ posters in all the windows, and a banner on the front lawn. But what really made me look twice was the backlit marquee that read “Meet the cast this weekend”. I literally did a double take…then the penny dropped. Ahhhhh… ---
**Author:** ![Lillith\_Fair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@Lillith\_Fair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lillith_Fair)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/12 "2004-04-03T01:30:29Z")
My pastor (and boss) told people that before they went to see the movie they should read the book. Someone actually asked him if it was at Borders. I think the excessive gory church advertisements are southern. Around here (Ohio) the church signs say things like: “Seen the Passion? Come in and get your questions answered,” or “Jesue Christ has a passion for you.” I overheard someone at the hair salon last week saying, “You wouldn’t let your kids see an execution; why are people letting their children see an R-rated movie which is basically an execution?” When Kitten Blue told me that the whipping scene was about 4 minutes too long I knew I wasn’t going to be able to see the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Lillith\_Fair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@Lillith\_Fair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lillith_Fair)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/13 "2004-04-03T01:31:33Z")
Well, I meant Jesus, not Jesue. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/14 "2004-04-03T02:17:41Z")
**The Passion of the Christ II: The Empire Strikes Back** ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/15 "2004-04-03T02:19:40Z")
Jesue sounds like a good Southern name for the Second Coming. “Howdy y’all. Sorry it took so long. All sorts of things kept croppin up, if’n you know whut I mean. I’m fixin’ to reward the faithful and extract vengence on the sinners, I’ll tell you whut.” ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/16 "2004-04-03T03:38:46Z")
> [@Wartime Consigliori](#): > > Here in my little corner of the Bible Belt, it seems that The Passion of the Christ has sparked a game of “My Savior was scourged worse than your Savior!” among our local churches. TV and print ads for churches around here are displaying increasingly nauseating images of Christ in various stages of suffering and torment. \ That is one of the oddest and funniest things I’ve read all day. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/17 "2004-04-03T03:46:50Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > **The Passion of the Christ II: The Empire Strikes Back** Will bike riding past a local movie theatre today, I noticed that if someone took a picture of the title board and cropped it correctly, it would look like they were showing **The Passion of Scooby Doo**. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/18 "2004-04-03T03:49:14Z")
> [@jk1245](#): > > Jesus was not unique for his suffering and death. Crucifixion was a common form of execution in Roman times. In fact, I’d venture to say that most of the people executed by Vlad the Impaler suffered worse than Jesus. I mean, _Jesus_ didn’t even get get anything shoved through his butt! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/19 "2004-04-03T04:00:56Z")
Holy shit! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933/20 "2004-04-03T04:17:32Z")
Damn. I’m going to Hell now, I’ll tell you whut. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gruesome-church-advertisements/237933.md?page=2)