The Far Right Is Funding Evangelical Super Bowl Sunday Ads

Authored by jacobin.com and submitted by ladyem8

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The foundation behind a $20 million Super Bowl advertising campaign to promote “the Jesus of radical forgiveness, compassion, and love” has also bankrolled a conservative nonprofit leading efforts to roll back abortion rights and allow businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ+ customers. During the Super Bowl next weekend, viewers around the country will watch two Christianity-themed messages from a company called He Gets Us. Underneath the inclusive-sounding ad campaign is a little-known money machine quietly helping drive US policy far to the right. He Gets Us is a subsidiary of the Servant Foundation, a Kansas-based charity also known as The Signatry that says it “exists to inspire and facilitate revolutionary, biblical generosity.” Between 2018 and 2020, the Servant Foundation donated more than $50 million to the Alliance Defending Freedom — a nonprofit that’s led big policy fights over abortion and nondiscrimination laws at the Supreme Court and in states around the country. The nonprofit is designated as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Alliance Defending Freedom says it helped draft the 2018 Mississippi abortion law at the heart of the Supreme Court decision last year allowing states to ban the procedure — and also helped argue that case before the high court. This term, the Alliance Defending Freedom is leading a new Supreme Court case arguing that businesses should be able to discriminate against LGBTQ+ customers. While the Servant Foundation reported having nearly $1 billion in assets and making $390 million in grants in its 2020 tax return, its contributions to the Alliance Defending Freedom were among the five largest donations given out by the foundation in each of those three years, according to our review. “He Gets Us is a movement to reintroduce people to the Jesus of the Bible and his confounding love and forgiveness,” said a spokesperson for the company. “The campaign is governed by the Servant Foundation, a 501(c)(3) [charity] with a 100/100 Charity Navigator rating.”

“Openness to People That Others Might Have Excluded” He Gets Us says it wants to help people “understand the authentic Jesus as he’s depicted in the Bible — the Jesus of radical forgiveness, compassion, and love.” The company has aired three different ads during the National Football League playoffs, and plans to run two more ads during the Super Bowl on February 12. In one ad, the company says, “Jesus struggled to make ends meet, too.” A family-focused video says, “Jesus disagreed with loved ones. But didn’t disown them.” Another ad describes Jesus as “an influencer who became insanely popular” — before he “was canceled.” The company presents its campaign as inclusive, writing on its website that it has “included many voices in our work here — welcoming diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences to help us address the many concerns and issues we all face.” “We are also about sharing Jesus’ openness to people that others might have excluded. His message went out to all,” the group adds. “And though you may see religious people as often hypocritical or judgmental, know that Jesus saw that too — and didn’t like it either. Instead, Jesus taught and offered radical compassion and stood up for the marginalized.” Elsewhere on the website, the group also discusses how “Jesus promoted women’s equality.” Jason Vanderground, a consultant involved with He Gets Us, told Christianity News that the company’s “goal is to invest about a billion dollars over the next three years” toward its branding campaign. “Funding for He Gets Us comes from a diverse group of individuals and entities with a common goal of sharing Jesus’ story authentically,” said the company’s spokesperson. Some of the money has come from billionaire David Green, the devout Christian cofounder of the arts and crafts chain Hobby Lobby. Green and Hobby Lobby fought the Obama administration’s contraception mandate all the way to the Supreme Court, leading to a 2014 ruling finding that closely held corporations do not have to comply with the mandate if their owners voice religious objections. Last fall, Green spoke with conservative pundit Glenn Beck about his involvement with He Gets Us. “You’re going to see it at the Super Bowl — ‘He Gets Us,’” said Green. “We are wanting to say — we being a lot of people — that he gets us. He understands us. He loves who we hate. I think we have to let the public know and create a movement.”

IThinkTheClockIsSlow on February 12nd, 2023 at 17:55 UTC »

Hobby Lobby and it's billionaire owner are in Oklahoma. Oklahoma introduced 40+ anti LGTBQ bills this year alone. This State is doing more crazy shit than Florida. They just aren't getting the same press.

EdenG2 on February 12nd, 2023 at 17:21 UTC »

God industry is very very profitable

SnooPoems443 on February 12nd, 2023 at 15:38 UTC »

it's never the drag queens knocking on your front door to convert you.