In the South Jersey area there is a regional business…East Coast Roofing and Siding…where the proprietor often acknowleges his success to “Our Lord Jesus Christ”.
I don’t find this offensive, but it was pretty odd to slip witnessing in a commercial adverisement.
What are the moral, ethical, and legal rammifications of this practice?
I don’t know about legal, but morally or ethically I see nothing wrong with it. He risks losing the business of people who don’t agree with his views, but it’s no different than if he thanks his mother for his good business sense.
The only ethical problem is, whether the guy is lying about his religious beliefs in order to gain business from people with a similar religious belief, or from people who might think “Oh, he’s born-again Christian, so he must be honest in his commercial dealings.” I’m not suggesting this particular guy is dishonest, but I’d be more inclined to believe his statements about such matters iof they were likely to lose him business, rather than gain business.
Can’t think of any, though IMO it’s a bit tacky.
Well, Jesus was a carpenter, so he might have better roofing and siding skills than, say, Allah, Buddha or Satan.
We have an appliance dealer here who periodically runs a commercial to explain that his stores are closed on Sunday because “it’s the Lord’s Day.” Irritating, perhaps, but he’s losing business, he knows it, and he’s okay with it, so it’s okay with me.
Wow … this might be the only GD thread ever where I’m an expert…
He’s not (Assuming it’s the same people running it as ran it back in the 80s).
I have a friend in New Orleans who tells me there’s a “Jesus is Lord” plumbing company. I’m waiting for the “There is no God by Allah and Mohammed is His Prophet” electrical contractor and the “I am Awake” Buddhist carpentry shop.
I think it’s tacky and stupid, but then I probably view God and Jesus a bit differently then the roofer.
All the same, if he did good work, had a good reputation, and had a good bid I’d hire him.
Hell, he’s a contractor: if he showed up for the estimate on time and wasn’t high, I’d hire him. 
What possible legal ramifications could there be? This is America for god’s sake you can’t get in trouble for proclaiming you love God in a commercial.
I wouldn’t hire someone based on their religious faith, whether they shared mine or did not. I’m more concerned with the quality of their work and their prices.
There seems to be a fair amount of unfounded belief (not necessarily held by the OP, but similar ideas have popped up here in the past) that SOCAS makes public religiosity illegal.
Back in my Charleston Days, Sonny Goldberg’s Furniture Store always pointed out in their commercials that they were closed on Saturday for Sabbath Observance. Chick-Fil-A is also closed on Sundays, and they like to point that out all the time.
Here in the South, many, many businesses advertise their religious piety, either on their work trucks or by putting religious symbols on their business cards. I tend to be suspicious of this practice, but I don’t see anything reprehensible about it.
If he takes his religion seriously then that means he’s honest and hard working and will ask a fair {not inflated} price. I see nothing wrong with a “Thank God” in any form in buisness. It would be unwise to assume this person is honest and hard working simply because he mentions Jesus.
A friend of mine here in TN had her driveway done by a Christian Pastor and he did a lousy job. It started cracking in just a few weeks. When she tried to get satisfaction he said his buisness was seperate from his duties as pastor. Nice guy!
I’ve been getting junk Email from some company that advertises Christian family loans. What the heck does that mean? They’re Jesus approved? They only loan to Christians?
I work in retail and often Christians will ask for a special discount becuase it’s for a church. To one pastor I responded. “I guess you just have to render unto Ceaser what is Ceaser’s” Fortunately he laughed.
This idea of God (as some kind of cosmic Santa Claus, who doles out favors) is pretty weird to me. It seems to me that d Christianiy is in any sense valid, it is to say that God does NOT act like a big “santa Claus”-YOU have to make it happen (by being honest and ethical). I can’r belive that God favors tradesmen because they “witnees” for him.
and where in the OP did anyone suggest that? Did it just make you think of a pet peeve?
He may not be suggesting favoritism from the diety. If someone believes God is the source of all blessings then being grateful for everything in life means being grateful to God.
I’ve always been suspicious of tradesmen who use God or religious symbols. It seems to me that a tradesman’s ethics and good busisness practice should speak for themselves. If someone closes on Sunday (or Saturday), even if the reason isn’t obvious, they are just choosing their business hours. They won’t lose my business unless I just can’t wait and I go find somebody else. Making a point of religious beliefs isn’t necessary.
“My loan was Jesus approved, so I know my money is safe from the heathens. If your loan statement doesn’t have the official Jesus thumbs up logo, it isn’t Jesus approved!”
Have a look in the yellow pages and see how many Jesus fish are popping up. I think they are playing on the gullible tendencies of the fundies, who think that anyone who flashes the fish must be trustworthy.
I dunno about that Fear Itself. People on the SDMB tend to overestimate how many fundies there actually are. And as a religious movement it hasn’t been as prominent as it is now in a long time. I’ve seen these religious ads a ton all the way back to the 'decadent" 70s.
Martin, I was in my thirties for most of the 1970’s. It’s not that I think that there has been such an increase in the percentage of fundamentalists – although I really don’t know the statistics. But many of the fundamentalists today seem to be more strident.